Global furniture giant Ikea has confirmed they are opening a new experimental type of store in Norwich, despite the chain originally denying claims they had their sights set on the city.

There have been repeated calls for an Ikea closer to Ipswich, but will this new store mean the company will rule out ever opening here?

At 19,000 square feet, the store will open at the Sweet Briar Retail Park, off the outer ring road, and take on the unit currently occupied by Currys/PC World.

The Swedish company admits it would be much smaller than the majority of Ikea’s current outlets, and they are describing it as a “test” of a new retail format.

An Ikea spokesman said: “We want to provide our customers with a simple, convenient and enjoyable shopping experience. As such, we are reviewing our expansion strategy on an ongoing basis and exploring opportunities to become more accessible to many more people.

“We can confirm that we have identified a site in Norwich that we will use to test a new retail format that aims to make Ikea more accessible than ever before. We will provide further details on our plans for the site in due course.”

Last November, Ikea denied plans for a city branch in Norwich after a website link was circulated appearing to advertise jobs there.

The nearest Ikea outlet to Ipswich at present is Lakeside, a 130-mile round-trip. It would be a 90-mile round trip to the new store.

On calls for an Ikea in town, Paul Clement, chief executive of Ipswich Central, said: “Ipswich now has a commitment to significant investment in its retail and leisure offer with work started on the new Sailmakers scheme and planning just granted for changes to the Buttermarket.

“We can do much better on attracting missing high street names, but improvements to the overall town centre offer must come alongside appealing to new retailers”.

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