Discount grocer Aldi has launched a new, smaller ‘Local’ brand store in south-west London in a one-off trial.

A spokesperson for the discounter said the format was designed to “help shoppers distinguish between our London high street stores and conventional-sized Aldi stores” in the capital.

The new store, in Balham, is part of a one-off trial but Retail Week understands the format could be rolled out more widely across London, depending on results.

The Balham store is around 6,400 sq ft, which is roughly half the size of a conventional Aldi store, and will stock 1,500 of the grocer’s 1,800 SKUs.

Retail Week also understands the Local store will not offer any general merchandise items and will focus instead purely on grocery, with less duplicate lines.

The spokesperson added: “These high street stores bring our outstanding food offering and everyday low prices to customers living in busy metropolitan areas. The results of the trial will be evaluated in full before any further decisions are made.”

Aldi opened its first UK store in 1990 and now has over 620 across the UK and Ireland.