New plans emerge for empty Lidl on edge of Black Country and Birmingham

A new planning application would convert the former, vandalised Lidl supermarket on Old Walsall Road in Hamstead—on the border of Sandwell and Birmingham—into a “flagship” indoor padel venue. The proposal, submitted to Sandwell Council by Padel 51, includes five doubles padel courts plus a bar, cafe and kitchen, a DJ booth and “spa-style” changing rooms. It follows approval last year for plans to turn the building into trampoline courts alongside padel, but that earlier plan was never carried out. The unit has been empty for two years; Lidl closed the store when it moved about 300 metres down Walsall Road onto a larger site at the former GKN factory end of 2021. Earlier bids by Crown Banqueting to create a wedding venue were rejected in 2024 after concerns, including insufficient parking.