Part 6 of the complete Southernhay history, covering southernhay today & what to look for.
Modern Southernhay remains one of Basildon's most important town-centre edges. It runs beside Eastgate and is closely connected with the railway station, bus interchange and the southern approaches to the pedestrian shopping centre.
Current highway improvements are changing how the western part of Southernhay functions. The scheme restricts general traffic on the section between Station Way and Clay Hill Road, prioritising buses, cycles, taxis and pedestrians. It also includes changes around the rail station and bus interchange, improved surface crossings, waiting facilities, cycle storage, taxi provision and alterations to nearby traffic flows.
Eastgate remains the dominant retail presence beside Southernhay. Some businesses that once occupied standalone Southernhay premises have either disappeared or moved into the shopping centre. Sports Direct, for example, now trades from Eastgate after leaving its former Southernhay unit.
The former Toys “R” Us property remains identifiable in planning records as the Toys R Us Building on Southernhay. Permission was granted in 2022 for a change from retail to urban self-storage, illustrating the continuing shift away from the large-format retail use for which the building was created in 1985.
Residential use has returned on a much larger scale than the original 1959 maisonettes. The Icon, opened in 2008, stands on the former motor showroom and filling-station site near the railway station. Kelting House is another prominent Southernhay building and is now associated with residential addresses.
Southernhay is particularly rewarding for anyone interested in how Basildon was planned and then repeatedly redesigned. The road contains or borders evidence of several eras at once: early New Town shop blocks, former leisure and commercial sites, Eastgate, the railway and bus interchange, later apartments and the modern transport project.