Last Updated on March 3, 2023
You may have noticed some fairly speedy construction happening next to the (relatively) new Burger King on West End Road in the heart of Ipswich. This area of central Ipswich has undergone significant development in recent years. First the Royal William was demolished to make way for Lidl. Then The Mermaid pub was built sitting on the junction between London Road and Yarmouth Road. Next the BMW dealership that faced The Mermaid was demolished and (eventually) replaced by Burger King.
When the Burger King was built on the plot left empty by Cooper BMW it didn’t occupy the entire site, leaving Ipswich residents to speculate as to what would fill the gap. It was likely to be fast food establishment but which one? For a long time nothing happened, but then late in 2016 Barnes Construction moved their equipment onto the site and building began. But what was being built? Most fast food outlets can be named by the shape of the building, long before any signage is bolted to the building. But the new building next to Burger King didn’t look like a family shape, leaving the people of Ipswich to wonder what was going on.
After doing a bit of digging (on Google) we have discovered that the new building will be a Starbucks with a drive through. While drive through Starbucks are hardly as rare as hen’s teeth there aren’t many in or around this part of Suffolk, which may explain why people didn’t identify with the shape of the new building.
The Burger King on West End Road is owned by Kaykem Fast Foods Limited. It is Kaykem who are behind the ‘installation’ of the new Starbucks location.
The arrival of a new Starbucks in Ipswich might surprise some locals. The large Starbucks in Ipswich town centre has closed down and so has the Starbucks that was in the Buttermarket.
Apparently there were plans to build a drive through Boots Pharmacy but these were abandoned.
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