IKEA Southampton

Update April

Fantastic news!
We have now submitted our planning proposal for the Pirelli site. We will keep you informed of any updates.

Thank you very much for all those IKEA fans who responded to our exhibition, many of you turned up in the wind and the rain to register your comments. Feedback from the 3500 people who visited was very positive.

One question which was constantly raised by yourselves, this was; why are we coming to a city centre site, surely we would be better placed out of town with good connections to the Motorway?

In answer to this, Central Government policy on retail development has changed in recent years, and now states that all retail development, no matter how large, should be directed to city centre locations. IKEA had previously applied for planning permission on an out-of centre site at Millbrook, and we argued this should be approved because no city centre alternatives existed. However, at the eleventh hour, the Pirelli site became available - leaving us with no alternative but to abandon the Millbrook location and pursue the city centre Pirelli site.

We already have experience of operating in a town centre, namely Ashton-under-Lyne - where we opened a store in October last year. Contrary to many people's expectations, traffic coming to our store flows freely. Town and city centre locations offer our customers realistic alternatives to visit the store by public transport, and to use our home delivery service. Our store would not open until after the morning rush hour, and would stay open until late in the evening - offering customers the ability to shop outside peak traffic times.

Please keep visiting this page to be updated on our Southampton developments.