Major sports retailer Decathlon has told Bristol Live it is "not currently progressing any plans around Cribbs Causeway" after reports previously suggested it was being lined up to open a new store at the site.
It's been over two years since a planning application hinted that Decathlon was eyeing up a retail unit at an under-construction leisure complex at The Venue in South Gloucestershire. While Planet Ice and All-Star Skates have now opened at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol remains the only 'big six' city in the UK without a standalone branch of the French sports retailer.
A Decathlon spokesperson said: "Whilst we're not currently progressing any plans around Cribbs Parkway, Bristol remains on our radar as an important city in the UK."
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The chain has over 1,700 stores in 60 countries and prides itself on offering “the best quality at the lowest possible price”. It boasts 47 UK locations, but of the 'big six' regional cities in the UK - Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester - only Bristol is without a Decathlon on its doorstep.
Plans for a standalone store in the Bristol area have been hinted at previously in the original planning application for a leisure complex site at Cribbs. Among hundreds of pages of planning documents, a 2018 retail statement said: "In keeping with the wider leisure and sports concept of the proposed development, it is envisaged that the proposed retail unit will accommodate a sports goods retailer.
"In particular, Decathlon, the international sports goods retailer, has a current requirement for Bristol, and the proposed retail unit could be accommodated with Decathlon’s requirements in mind.
"The applicant has identified this site as an appropriate opportunity to bring Decathlon to the Bristol area for their first store."
In the intervening years, the store never materialised. However, the sporting goods brand did launch a concession store in the Bedminster branch of Asda in 2021.
In 2019, a Bristol Live poll revealed that Decathlon was one of the brands readers were most keen to see in the city.
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