LIDL is looking to potentially building a THIRD discount supermarket in Taunton.

The company also plans to expand one of its two existing outlets in the town.

And it is interested in opening a store in Wellington too.

It is part of an aggressive nationwide expansion in a bid to capture more of the shopping market from established names such as Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda.

Lidl has earmarked almost 1,000 locations across Britain where it is interested in opening new stores or relocating existing ones.

It is considering north Taunton as a potential area for a new store.

And it has labelled its east Taunton shop for "relocation" - it is believed to be working on expanding the existing store in Roman Road onto land occupied by the former Six Acres, a centre for adults with learning disabilities that was closed by Somerset County Council at the end of March.

Lidl opened a store in Taunton's Castle Way in December 2015 after relocating from a site in Wood Street, where a development of retirement apartments is being built.

Opening the Castle Way outlet was widely viewed as an intentional attempt to lure customers from Tesco, which is sited directly across the road.

A Lidl spokesman said: "As part of ongoing national expansion plans, our dedicated property teams are working hard to identify suitable locations across England, Scotland and Wales.

"This is for both new stores where there is demand for a Lidl, and existing stores that we would like to remodel for customers, which may require a relocation to do so.

"We would encourage any landowners or agents who may be aware of suitable sites, to get in touch with our property teams to discuss."

A posting on Lidl's website says the locations it has expressed a particular interest in will help "continue our phenomenal growth".

It adds: "We will however consider opportunities in addition to those areas."

Taunton already has a number of supermarkets, including two Sainsbury's stores, Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and the Co-op, along with an Aldi store that was opened in Bathpool in November 2017.