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Southampton has been one of Great Britain’s principal ports for centuries.  Over the years the town has prospered from the volume of trade activity surrounding the port itself.  As a result, the concept of storage is nothing new to Southampton.  Imported trade items were stored in large warehouse-type buildings upon their arrival in port; ready to be transported around Britain, or exported further afield.  Through commercial and residential populations increasing, today’s society has placed pressure on land occupancy in Southampton; sacrificing much of the space previously used for storage in Southampton.  This issue has been somewhat remedied by the arrival of the “Self Storage” concept to the UK.

Self storage plays a particularly important role in servicing the storage requirements of Southampton’s commercial and residential populous.  Individuals and/ or businesses require storage facilities for a variety of different reasons and storage operators have been forced to develop the services they offer accordingly; ensuring their storage facilities offer suitable solutions to the wide range of storage problems faced by Southampton, whatever they might be.

With marinas springing up in the estuary, the Hamble has become a perfect haven for yachts and boating which has provided an entirely new customer base for self storage operators.   Boats of all shapes and sizes fill the marinas during the summer months, awaiting their owner’s arrival every weekend.  Over the winter months, the boats and their component parts need stored away in a secure, dry environment with storage centres being the most obvious and suitable option: short-term, cost effective and most importantly, secure.

The port in Southampton is used by cruise liners as a departure and arrival base for the sizeable numbers of passengers who holiday on the high seas; an associated requirement is therefore a sizeable number of staff.  A significant number of Southampton’s residents are employed by the Travel industry as a result, many of whom have properties rented out for several months of the year while away.  Self storage centres allow cruise liner employees somewhere to safely store their personal possessions while working away; some even use storage facilities as semi-permanent storage for their belongings.

Another transient population is focused around the Universities in the area.  Southampton University has grown substantially in recent years, as have the variety and status of the courses on offer; aiding the recruitment of students from all corners of the globe.  Many students return home or go travelling during the holidays so self storage let students traverse the globe without having to take their coursework and belongings with them.  Storage facilities offer a variety of storage options for students such as small lockers and larger rooms where groups of students can share.

Southampton’s business community also has many a reason to use self storage facilities that range from; retailers storing their stock not only during seasonal peaks but also many on a permanent basis, to plumbers and building contractors storing their materials and equipment.  Legislative compliance is also a reason to necessitate the use of a self storage centre; highly apparent where documents are concerned.  Legal firms, architects, accountants and other professional entities are required to archive all documentation for a legally specified time period.  Due to the sensitive nature of these documents, security is essential and is where storage centres solve the archive storage problem.

Southampton has changed significantly over the years with respect to its commercial and residential population’s property and storage needs and storage facilities have been forced to adapt as a result.  The continually evolving situation in Southampton encourages storage operators to be a step-ahead by offering a range of services at the best value for money possible, to remain competitive; ultimately the biggest beneficiaries of this situation are Southampton’s self storage customers.