BL adds to St James

British Land is opening a Starbucks drive-through at its St James Retail Park in Northampton.

The 1,800 sq ft unit is scheduled to debut early this year and it is one of only a few of its kind in the UK.

The new unit will complement St James Park’s lifestyle mix of brands, which includes Bhs, Next Home, Mothercare, Homesense and Laura Ashley. Adele Reast Duggan, Starbucks director of property, said the store would be built to a green building standard which would result in 20 percent less energy and water usage than other buildings.

The news follows the successful opening in September of Caffè Nero’s first out-of-town location, a 1,355 sq ft unit at Leamington Spa Shopping Park, owned by The Crown Estate and Hercules Unit Trust, the specialist retail warehouse fund advised by British Land and managed by Schroders.

Morgan Williams acted for British Land and Starbucks acted for itself. CBRE and Wilkinson Williams acted for Leamington Spa Shopping Park and Twenty Retail acted for Caffè Nero.