Coffee and tanning shops will join new estate agents at £3 million Northampton development

The launch of Winkworth Northampton, owned and operated by new franchisee Sunny Kooner of the Old Northampton Group, marks the company's return to the town following a five-year hiatus.

But the new estate agents is just the first part of a major development on the former Platinum Motors used car lot, which closed in 2016.

The £3 million scheme will see 18 apartments become available and its two ground floor units will be filled with a Costa coffee and an Indigo Sun tanning salon.

Mr Kooner said the Old Northampton Group, which owns The Old House, Sazeracs and is preparing a £10 million hotel scheme in Bridge Street, chose to invest in Wellingborough Road again because of its "vibrant" scene.

"Wellingborough Road has the right type of people, it's less expensive than town and it's got good parking," he said.

"It's a good place to be at the moment."

The Old Northampton Group bought the used car lot in 2016 with the aim of developing the site and stopping it from becoming an eyesore.

"This will bring more people into the area," added Mr Kooner. "It created local jobs in terms of the building and will bring residents in to spend money, which will help the other businesses round here - it will have a knock-on effect."

Lettings manager at Winkworth Estate Agents Claire Millward, believes the new outlet can capitalise on the growing number of people moving to Northampton in order to commute to London.

She said: "In Northampton you can buy a four-bed detached house for £400,000 - you can't even get a studio appartment for that in London.

"We are finding a lot of people working in London are coming up here.

"It's an hour and 20 minutes on the train, it makes perfect sense and there is a really good rental market here too."