Much-loved robots in Northampton celebrate third birthday serving groceries to thousands in the town

Starship Robots, which delivers to thousands of households, is is celebrating its third birthday in Northampton.

It’s been just over three years since Starships Robots started its fully commercial service in Wootton and Hardingstone back in late 2020.

The robots deliver things like milk, eggs and bread right to customers' front doors after customers they place orders via the Starship mobile phone app.

The scheme was introduced during the Covid pandemic lockdowns and was generally well-received across the community at the time and ever since. One Northampton customer has even used the service 353 times since it launched here.

According to Starship, just under 80,000 households in Northampton now have access to the robot delivery service, a stark increase from the 30,000 it was serving in 2020.

Areas in Northampton that benefit from the service include Abington, Boothville, East Hunsbury, Great Billing, Hardingstone, Hopping Hill, Kingsthorpe, Spinney Hill, Upton, Weston Favell, Wootton, Blackthorn, Far Cotton, Grange Park, Southfields and Thornton Park.

A Starship Robots spokesman said: “This service remains in full operation today across the town, serving 79,000 households.

"Since being introduced to Northampton the robots have completed over 260,000 deliveries and contributed to a 64,000kg reduction in CO2 - by providing an alternative to driving in a car to collect groceries.”

However, in more recent times, the service has been axed at Tesco stores across the town after Starship paused its deliveries with Tesco in Northampton and Milton Keynes in mid 2023.

It has been reported Tesco has linked up with Uber to help with its rapid delivery service, Whoosh.

Tesco has been contacted for comment.

However, this move explains why robots in some areas are less visible than before and why deliveries may take longer.

A Starship spokesman said: “The robots travel to the areas where there is most demand at any one time - depending on the time of day, month and year etc. In other words, the numbers of robots in different areas of Northampton will be constantly changing.”

Meanwhile, Starship went on to enter into an agreement with cash and carry giant Booker, the company behind the Londis, Budgens and Premier convenience chains.

Despite Tesco dropping out, Co-op says its stores have expanded its online home delivery and quick convenience service at pace, through its own online shop – shop.coop.co.uk – and with partners, including Amazon; Deliveroo; Just Eat; Uber Eats and, autonomous robot deliveries through Starship.