THE Daily Echo today publishes images of how Ikea's planned new Southampton store will look.

Today's paper features dramatic pictures of the four-storey retail store which will be built on the empty former Pirelli cable works site at WestQuay.

After 16 months' preparation the retailer has handed in planning documents - backed with positive reader comments from the pages of the Daily Echo - together with its £50,000 application fee.

It hopes to persuade planners the store would be a "positive step forward for the city centre in Southampton".

The 35,000 square metre store opposite Leisure World and 891-space five-level multi-storey car park would have a main access from West Quay Road.