THREE new businesses could move into Southend High Street with plans submitted to the council.

Southend High Street is home to a number of different shops with two shopping centres at either end.

Here are three businesses that you could see in Southend High Street soon.

1. Poundstretcher:

A new discount shop in set to open in the former Poundland in Southend High Street.

Poundstretcher has confirmed it will open in a new shop at 113 High Street on April 9 to take over a shop that has been empty for more than six years.

Poundstretcher is a national chain selling homewares, from kitchen goods to bedding, at discounted prices.

Poundstretcher already has a store in Greyhound Shopping Park, in Southend but bosses have confirmed the new store is an additional site, and the Greyhound Poundstretcher will remain open as normal.

2. British Heart Foundation:

Southend High Street’s former job centre site is set to be revamped after plans for a new charity shop were unveiled.

The British Heart Foundation has submitted two planning applications to take over the former Job Centre site at 107-109 High Street.

The High Street job centre, which was set up in the wake of the pandemic, shut its doors in July last year.

The new planning applications are for signs as well as refurbishment of the doors and paint work.

The charity already has a store in Southend, which is located at 13 High Street. This current site is much smaller than the proposed one at the former vacant Job Centre unit, near KFC. It is unclear at this stage if the current store will close if plans are approved for the bigger site.

3. Wendy’s:

A fast-food giant has revealed plans to open a restaurant in an empty Southend High Street shop.

Famous American hamburger restaurant chain Wendy's is set to transform the former Ponden Home interiors store in Southend High Street, just one door away from rival McDonald's. 

Wendy's is the world's third largest hamburger fast-food chain with thousands of locations around the globe, including 22 in the UK.

If the plans submitted to Southend Council are approved, this will be the chain's third restaurant in Essex, having opened its first in Colchester, and its second set to open in Basildon.

4. Black Sheep Coffee:

A revealed by the Echo today, Black Sheep Coffee an up-and-coming coffee chain with almost 100 sites across the UK, has submitted plans to replace the signs and open in the old Post Office that closed in 2017.

The coffee shop chain already boasts businesses in Colchester and Chelmsford, but this would be the first in south Essex.

The former Post Office, based in Southend High Street, closed its doors in March 2017 and reopened in WH Smith, 30 metres away.