THE supermarket chain, Aldi has said it will open 100 new stores in the UK - and has named the nine places on its North East hitlist.

The chain, which already has dozens of stores across the region, is wanting to expand even further as it hopes to meet a target of one new opening a week, nationally.

Revealing it is planning to invest £1.3b in new stores by 2023, Aldi said it was adding to a retail estate of more than 920 locations.

It also said it would be investing in the development of new and expanded distribution centres as part of the huge plans.

Read more: Take a look inside new Turtle Bay Caribbean restaurant in Durham Riverwalk

In the region, new locations across County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Teesside have been named as potential locations.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Richard Thornton of Aldi UK said: “We’re continuing to gain even more customers - with over 60 percent of UK households shopping with Aldi in the last year.

“Our focus is on expanding our store estate, making sure Aldi is accessible to as many of these new shoppers across the country as possible.

"Looking ahead, we are excited to provide millions of new customers with access to Aldi’s award-winning quality and unbeatable value as we create even more places and more ways to shop with us.”

Here's where it wants to build

Aldi has today released a list of places it wants to build, with the chain wanting to open more than one supermarket in the same town.

- Newcastle 

- Whitley Bay

- Jarrow

- South Shields

- Blaydon

- Sunderland

- Houghton Le Spring

- Durham City

- Stockton

The chain says it is on the lookout for sites that are big enough to accommodate a 20,000 sq ft store and around 100 dedicated parking spaces.

Meanwhile, it says that such locations are preferably on a prominent main road and with good visibility and access.