The Next group could have at least 12 stores with garden centres by the end of 2015.

The latest to be announced is a £9m Home and Garden Centre at Hedge End in Southampton, scheduled to open in spring 2014.

The  three-storey stone and glass retail building with mezzanine will have 8,310 sq.m. of floor space and encompass clothing, homewares, a garden centre and café.

The project involves car parking and a new access road as part of the redevelopment of the Wildern Mill site next to  Hedge End Retail Park, where 41 new homes are to be built.

Last month, the group’s fourth home and garden outlet – the biggest to date –   opened on the site of a former Homebase store at Camberley, joining existing stores at Warrington, Shoreham and Ipswich. Stores for Sheffield, Maidstone and High Wycombe are in the pipeline, possibly opening next spring, and planning applications for another four stores, at Manchester, Norwich, New Malden and Dundee, are awaiting approval, making 12 home and garden outlets in all.


The NEXT garden centre at Shoreham, Sussex.