Best Self Storage In The UK

Looking for the best self storage in the UK?

We’ve got you covered.

As most of us know, it can be surprising just how many possessions squeeze into one house, and many Brits moving abroad — whether searching for a property, travelling frequently without a fixed place of residence in the UK, or moving overseas short term — need to keep their furniture and personal belongings safe while they’re away.

The best solution for keeping possessions safe and secure is self storage.

Time to find out more…

What is Self Storage?

Self storage centres offer a selection of room sizes from small to large that you can rent short or long term.

Simply bring your possessions to the self storage centre, load them into your chosen size of room storage, and lock them up safely.

Normally only one key is given out per storage room rental to ensure maximum security, and once you have the key you can come and go as you please during opening hours.

Almost anything can be kept safely in self storage, including furniture, clothes, kitchen appliances, electrical goods, important documents, DVD collections, toys, bikes, and more.

The more pertinent question is — what can’t you put into self storage?

Inadvisable items include perishables, live animals or plants (that might seem obvious, but stranger things have happened), anything flammable or toxic such as gas bottles, corrosive substances, fertilizers or paint, very valuable or irreplaceable personal items including jewellery or cash.

We’ve searched for the best self storage services in the UK to give you the all details in one handy summary…

Best Self Storage in the UK

SafeStore

With 120 self storage facilities conveniently located across England, Scotland and Wales, you are sure to find a Safestore not far from your current location.

In the major cities such as London, Manchester, Glasgow and Bristol there are a choice of several sites, all of which are within easy reach of motorways, major roads and public transport connections.

At SafeStore storage units are available to rent for any length of time, from one week to as long as you may need and can be made available at very short notice.

Storage unit sizes range from 10 sq ft to 500 sq ft or even larger.

The useful SafeStore storage size tool can help you choose the right size unit for your possessions, and you can choose to increase or decrease the size of your unit at any time after your first week if your storage needs change.

Safestore customers are the only keyholder for their storage unit, with unlimited access to during opening hours, and with some facilities having 24 hour accessible storage areas.

All SafeStore centres have staffed receptions, alarm systems and 24hr CCTV surveillance for maximum security.

Prices and discounts vary depending on the location of the storage centre you choose — for example if renting a 25 sq ft unit in east London it will cost you around £28 per week.

If you’re planning a long storage period, SafeStore has a 10% discount for pre-paying for a year or 5% for six months. SafeStore also offers everything for all your packing needs in their online box store.

Shurgard Self Storage

Operating out of of 25 locations in London, as well as Camberley, Reading, and Wokingham, Shurgard Self Storage is ideally place for those based around the city and in the Thames Valley.

Storage prices vary depending on the location you choose.

All locations are equipped with CCTV cameras, perimeter fencing, alarms and PIN code security. Plus only you can access your unit with your own lock and key.

On-site managers take pride in looking after their facilities, maintaining them to very high standards and keeping security levels tight.

Access to your storage unit is possible 7 days a week between 6am and 11pm.

Parking at the storage centre is free, and trolleys are provided to load and unload your belongings.

Whether you need to store just a few boxes or the entire contents of your house, Shurgard Self Storage has a unit to suit you, with storage units ranging in size from 10 sq ft / 1m² to 300 sq ft / 29m², as well as 3 feet high lockers for storing very small quantities.

Not sure what size you need?

The Shurgard Self Storage website features a useful storage size estimator to help you calculate the amount of space you require, and if it turns out that you have more or fewer things to store than you thought, you can always move to a bigger or smaller unit at any time without incurring a transfer fee.

Certain, more delicate, items such as large volumes of documents and papers, fabrics or paintings, may require a ventilated storage unit to protect them from moisture.

This is available as an upgrade option to a standard unit.

Storage units can be rented from as short a duration as 1 week, to long term or indefinite – rental contracts are month-to-month agreements and have a 2-week notice period.

If considering a long term rental it’s advisable to set up a direct debit or pay in advance.

You can reserve online for free without obligation to rent, and there is no deposit required. Weekly prices start at £7.38 for storage units less than 40 sq ft, and from £38.49 for units 130 sq ft and over, including VAT.

In addition Shurgard Self Storage offer for sale a range of high-quality moving and storage boxes in different sizes as well as bubble wrap, tape and protection covers to ensure your possessions are stored correctly.

LoveSpace

Not only do LoveSpace offer storage facilities, they will also collect your ready packed possessions from your current address and transfer them to one of their storage centres across the UK where items are kept safe and monitored 24/7 by CCTV.

This innovative concept is ideal for smaller quantities of items, as pricing is calculated by the number of boxes you want to store.

For example, LoveSpace charge £2 to £6 a month per box or item (this is dependent on the number of boxes you want to store and how long you want to store them for), with free collection from your location and then £7.95 for the return delivery of the first box (whether to the same address or a different one somewhere else) and £3.95 for each additional one.

This is a great, hassle free service for students or people travelling frequently without a fixed residence in the UK who don’t have a large quantity of personal possessions.

However, there are limits to the items that can be stored with LoveSpace.

Things such as white goods, mirrors, antiques, or anything that isn’t safely secured in a cardboard box are not accepted.

Bikes weighing under 25kg are accepted as long as they are boxed in a LoveSPace bicycle box. Furniture can currently only be collected and stored if both the collection and delivery addresses are in Greater London (within the M25).

Fragile items will not be covered by LoveSpace insurance while in storage or during collection or delivery.

SpaceWays

With SpaceWays there’s no need to go to a storage unit yourself, simply order your boxes online, have them delivered to your door, pack up your stuff, and have SpaceWays take them away to a secure storage facility on your behalf.

If you live in London within the M25, SpaceWays provide a free pick up and delivery service (outside of the M25 a small surcharge for collections and deliveries may be applied).

The collection driver will wait for up to 30 minutes outside your door, or alternatively return to you up to 2 weeks later to collect your packed boxes. Service hours are Monday to Saturday from 9am to 4pm.

You can store as many items as you need, provided they are packed in the supplied SpaceWays boxes made from durable, waterproof polypropylene.

Boxes have a capacity of 67 litres, with the dimensions are 60cm W x 40cm L x 37cm H, and certain larger items can also be stored at an additional cost.

Each SpaceWays box is provided with a unique barcode and can be tracked by going to “My Inventory” in your SpaceWays account to review what you’ve stored.

Boxes are stored in a warehouse located just a few miles outside London with 24 hour CCTV security, security alarm system, reinforced steel barred windows with break sensors, and no public access.

When you want your boxes back, you can have them delivered to any London address within 48 hours.

Pricing is simple and you can pay as you go, so there are no contracts to worry about and you can reclaim your items at any time.

Collection is free, and you can order as many boxes as you like — you will only be charged for the boxes you fill.

Storage is charged at a flat rate of £4.90 per box, per month, and £9 per month for larger items. Redelivery of your boxes is charged at at a flat rate of £19. Insurance is included in the price.

Big Yellow Self Storage

With a network of 96 storage facilities nationwide across London and the UK in high profile, easy to access locations off main roads, Big Yellow Self Storage is one of the UK’s biggest self storage companies.

Storage units range from 10 sq ft to 400 sq ft, as well as larger warehouse space and industrial units, and Big Yellow’s size estimator tools give you a good idea of the space that’s right for you.

Storage units can be rented by the week with no maximum length stay, simply contact Big Yellow for a quote. If you need them, packing boxes can be supplied by Big Yellow at additional cost.

Once your items are ready, simply deliver them to your reserved space and use the free trolleys to move your stuff in.

Digital CCTV cameras monitor all access points, emergency exits and areas outside each Big Yellow storage facility 24 hours a day.

Out of hours, external security companies monitor each facility using these cameras and intruder detection systems.

Every storage room at Big Yellow is individually alarmed, and customers are provided with unique PIN codes to access their personal storage unit.

In addition to this, every facility has secure perimeter fencing and electronic coded access gates which can also be opened with the unique customer PIN.

Staff are on site seven days a week to provide assistance and react to any suspicious behaviour.

Prices depend on the size of storage unit that you choose and the location of your chosen Big Yellow storage centre.

As an example, prices for 25 sq feet in a central London location start at around £69 per month, and £176 a month for 100 sq ft.

All customers are required to pay a security deposit before storing their items, and the amount is usually the equivalent of one week’s storage fees for our the chosen unit. Storage is paid in advance and 4 weekly.

Access Self Storage

Access Self Storage have over 55 storage facilities nationwide, all with flexible storage options (minimum rental period is 1 week), and most with 24 hours access.

In addition, all Access Self Storage centres work with local removal partners and local van hire companies to offer customers great low rates and help make moving their items easy.

Units are available in sizes from 9 sq ft to 500 sq ft, and benefits include 24 hour 7 day a week CCTV surveillance, gated and fenced perimeters, alarm systems both for the building and for each individual unit, access to a forklifting service and access to trolleys and pallet trucks for heavy items, plus the option to upgrade or downgrade unit size whenever you need.

Customers are provided with padlocks with unique key variations, or combination locks with over 4,000 code variations. An 8 digit PIN code is also required to access each unit.

For a 10 sq ft unit, prices start at around £20 per week, and £212 for a large 320 sq ft unit. 7 days written notice is required when you want to vacate your storage unit, with any unused days being refunded. Storage insurance is available for £13 a month on top of the standard self storage prices.

A comprehensive range of packaging materials, including boxes, bubble wrap and accessories is available to buy online or in the reception areas of each facility to pack everything up safely.

Access Self Storage also offer an additional storage by the box service to customers living in London within the M25.

Order free plastic crates online and have them delivered to your door, and pack them up ready for the driver to collect to be safely stored in a nearby Access self storage facility.

When you need your belongings back simply use your online account to choose the date you want your boxes returned to you.

Prices start from £3.12 per box per month depending on the quantity of boxes you wish to store, and how long for.

Have you used any of these UK Self Storage facilities before?