As it cements its spot in the Top 4, boss Giles Hurley said it had gained 1.1million new customers in the past year.

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The discount retailer will be opening one new supermarket a week for the rest of this year.

Mr Hurley, the company’s UK and Ireland CEO, said the cost of living crisis meant Aldi had poached shoppers from rivals — even posh grocer Waitrose.

He said Aldi was also benefitting from the industry-wide shift to cheaper supermarket own-labels.

Last year the firm became the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket — behind Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda — and it has gained ten per cent of the nation’s grocery market.

Mr Hurley said these achievements, together with rampant sales growth, gave him confidence that it could keep scaling up in the UK.

The German-owned company opened its 1,000th UK store in Woking, Surrey.

Mr Hurley explained: “We plan to open a further 500 stores from Harrogate to Hackney, Bath to Brentford.

“The South East is an area of focus, having started in the Midlands, but there are white spots where we are needed all across the country.”

He added: “We firmly believe that access to healthy affordable groceries is a right, not a privilege.”

Recent industry figures showed Aldi’s sales are growing at 21 per cent — more than double the rate of Tesco and higher than Lidl (19.8 per cent).

Aldi’s strong sales come despite not doing online deliveries.

It posted a slump in profits last year, but the boss said it was a “benefit of private ownership that we can focus on the thing that matters most — which is offering the lowest prices in the UK and scaling the business”.

Aldi opened its first UK store in Stechford, Birmingham in 1990.

But it took until the last recession for its growth to explode as Brits discovered the discounter.

Since then Aldi has sponsored Team GB in the Olympics and launched a premium range of groceries and wine that attracted even well-heeled shoppers to call in.

It has also hit headlines for its cheeky versions of well-known brands, including Marks & Spencer’s Colin the Caterpillar cake.

JET2 HIT BY £13M BONFIRE

BUDGET airline Jet2 has taken a £13million hit from the recent air traffic control chaos and wildfires in Rhodes.

Around 2,000 flights were cancelled over the August bank holiday weekend after a systems glitch.

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That came just a month after Jet2 had to cancel flights to Rhodes after blazes tore through the Greek island.

Despite the extra costs, Jet2 told investors yesterday that it still expected to make higher profits than last year.

Travel firms have enjoyed a boom in demand from holidaymakers after almost three years of Covid pandemic restrictions.

Jet2 is the UK’s third biggest airline, flying 16.2million passengers last year.

It is also the most valuable company on London’s junior Aim market, with its shares rising 67p — 6.53 per cent — to £10.93 yesterday, valuing the business at £2.3billion.

PET FIRM VETTINGS

SHARES in veterinary firms CVS Group and Pets at Home slumped heavily yesterday after the regulator launched a probe into how big chains buy small practices.

Almost 90 per cent of vets were independent 10 years ago compared to 45 per cent today.

Shares in Pets at Home, which has a quarter of the vet and pet services market, fell by 8.7 per cent.

CVS Group, one of the biggest surgery firms, slumped 18.2 per cent.

BAT OUT OF HELL

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO is finally quitting Russia and selling its business to a local consortium, 561 days after the invasion of Ukraine began.

The maker of Dunhill cigarettes and Vuse vapes said 18 months ago that it was exploring options as Western companies came under pressure to cut off Putin.

BAT brands control about a quarter of the Russian market.

The firm said it would not gain financially from ongoing sales there but did not disclose how much it had made from the sale.

THEY SAID WHAT?

“It should be obvious that the sound of rain or a washing machine is not as valuable as a song from your favourite artist.”

Jeronimo Folgueira, Chief Executive of Deezer

WILKO BID HOPE

HOPES have been revived that as many as 200 Wilko stores can be saved as talks with HMV’s owner ramp up.

Sources said all sides were working towards a deal being announced next week to preserve thousands of jobs.

Doug Putman, a Canadian entrepreneur, who rescued HMV in 2019, is understood to have reached agreeable terms with suppliers.

Administrators announced 52 store closures this week — while B&M Bargains also bought 51 former Wilko stores in a £13million deal.