Frozen food retailer Iceland is preparing to move back to Ipswich town centre – returning to the Tower Ramparts unit it first occupied nearly 25 years ago.

During the early years of the shopping centre, Iceland occupied the lower ground floor of the Littlewoods store which faced on to the Tower Ramparts bus station.

Now the food retailer is hoping to return to that unit next year as part of a nationwide expansion plan.

Its existing store on St Matthew’s Street would remain open and a spokeswoman said it should be unaffected by the new store.

She said: “It is our hope to open in Tower Ramparts – we are currently planning to open about 60 new stores across the country.

“There are still details to be completed, but we would like to have it open next year.”

Iceland had a concession on the lower ground floor of Littlewoods during the early years of the Tower Ramparts centre from the late 1980s.

However it was taken back by Littlewoods, which finally closed its doors in the centre in January 2006.

Since then the store has only seen brief use – Madhouse opened both floors for a few months at the end of 2010, but until this latest development there has been no sign of a permanent tenant emerging.

Would the arrival of a new Iceland store be good for the town centre as a whole? Write to Your Letters, Ipswich Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail starletters@archant.co.uk