Home improvement and garden retailer Bunnings Warehouse officially opened its doors in Basingstoke today (13 December).

The new store, which is on the site of the former Homebase on Winchester Road, is 84,500 square feet and offers customers more than 30,000 leading home improvement and garden products from a wide range of global market-leading brands. Other services include everything from paint mixing to key cutting, a garden centre, timber cutting and in-store D.I.Y. Workshops.

Bunnings’ team members have already been busy ahead of today’s store opening, helping with projects in the Basingstoke area. These included refreshing the garden area for patients at the Swiss Cottage and painting the school hall for pupils at Lymington House.

Basingstoke Complex Manager, Richard Southworth, said: "All our team members have worked really hard to get the store ready for opening and have undertaken many hours of training to make sure we have the expertise to help customers with home or garden projects."

To celebrate the opening, James Cracknell, British Olympic Gold Medalist is joining a welcome breakfast for team members.

Mr Cracknell said: "I’ve had a great time opening my local store here today in Basingstoke. The Bunning’s team members have been very welcoming and I have no doubt the store will be a big success."

The store will host a weekend of events on 16-17 December, where customers can enjoy a range of family activities including the famous Bunnings Sausage Sizzle, face-painting, balloon modelling and even join Santa for a Story Time session.