Ipswich retail park set to become full with arrival of new Dunelm store

Dunelm is moving to Anglia Retail Park in September. Picture: PAUL GEATER Archant

Anglia Retail Park on the edge of Ipswich is set to be full for the first time in years by the end of the summer as furniture and household retailer Dunelm moves to the site.

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It is moving to the park, off Bury Road, from its current site on the Suffolk Retail Park in London Road once its new unit has been created.

It is taking a double-unit at the Anglia park – including the former Mamas and Papas site that closed at the start of the year.

It was revealed that Dunelm would be moving to the park in early 2017, but work had to wait until the lease on the occupied unit expired to give the owners the chance to create the large retail space.

The Anglia Retail Park is owned by Ipswich Borough Assets which is in turn owned by the borough council – and chairman Colin Kreidewolf said that when Dunelm opens at the start of September there would be no vacant units at the park.

He said: “The retail park is now very successful and with this all the units will be occupied – but there will still be quite a lot to do to improve the area generally.

“The only area that could still be available for more development is the former outdoor garden centre of the old B&Q store, but that is something to look at in the future.”

The retail park has been transformed over the last two years. In 2016 it was rocked when its largest tenant, B&Q, announced it was pulling out.

Since then it has re-invented itself with the arrival of new retailers The Range, B&M, and Go Outdoors alongside new leisure operator Bounce Trampoline Centre and Billy Beez children’s play centre.

Ipswich Borough Assets bought the retail park for £42m at the end of last year – providing an annual rental income of £3m a year which helps to fund council services across the town.

It has recently been working to repair some of the worst damage to the car park and road surfaces on the site – but more is expected to be completed over the next few months.

The park is now busier than it has been since it was created in the 1990s – with shoppers often combining a trip there to a visit to the Asda superstore on the opposite side of Bury Road.