Lidl's planned Stone store can sell alcohol 7am to 11pm daily after councillors granted the licence in full despite six objections. Planning is still undecided.

Lidl has been granted a licence to sell alcohol from 7am to 11pm, seven days a week, at the supermarket it wants to build at Horns Cross in Stone. Dartford Borough Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee granted it “as applied for” at a hearing on 7 October. The minutes, which include the formal decision, have now been published. (Licensing Sub-Committee minutes, 7 October 2026)

The store still does not have planning permission. The licence does not change that.

What the panel decided

Six residents had objected, mainly over anti-social behaviour. No responsible authority objected: not Kent Police, environmental health, planning, the fire service, child protection or trading standards. We set out the objections before the hearing.

The licence is for off-sales only. It carries the mandatory conditions and those in Lidl’s own operating schedule, which include Challenge 25 and CCTV kept for at least 28 days. The panel added none of its own.

In its written decision the panel said residents had given “substantial detail” about existing anti-social behaviour, “particularly” drug use and fires on the common next to the site. But the police had not objected, and the panel was “not clear” that the licence would harm the licensing objectives.

It also said residents’ doubts about whether Stone needs a supermarket there are for the planning process. Licensing law does not let the panel weigh them.

What Lidl was asked to do

The panel cannot impose a local alcohol partnership, but it pressed Lidl on two points:

  • to work with the local police and partners on anti-social behaviour, before the store opens as well as after
  • to support a Community Alcohol Partnership, which Lidl said it funds but cannot set up itself

It asked Stone’s town council and other public bodies to back that work too.

What it means for you

If problems arise once the store opens, anyone can ask for the licence to be reviewed. That includes residents, not only the police. The panel reminded residents of this. A review needs evidence that the store is not upholding the licensing objectives.

Anyone who took part in the hearing can appeal to the magistrates’ court. The minutes say there are “strict requirements” for that and advise parties to get their own advice.

The planning application, 26/00897/FUL, is the bigger decision. Its target date is 5 November. When we last checked the register on 22 October, Lidl had still not filed revised traffic or drainage plans to answer the holding objections from Kent County Council’s highways and flood teams and from Stone Town Council. You can follow it on the planning register. Our Dartford planning applications guide explains how decisions are made.

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