A UK self-storage company, listed in London and based in Bagshot, Surrey, that runs well over 100 Big Yellow and Armadillo storage centres.
Big Yellow Group runs self-storage centres, which are large buildings where people and businesses rent a room or unit to keep belongings for as long as they need. People use them when moving home, between homes, while studying, after a life change or to keep business stock. The company describes itself as "the UK's favourite self storage company" and "the driving force behind modern self storage". Its corporate website says it operates 115 stores, including 24 Armadillo Self Storage stores, with over 71,000 customers. It is part of the FTSE 250 list of mid-sized listed companies.
Big Yellow's story began in October 1998 with the formation of Cubic Self Storage, followed by the purchase of the Big Yellow Self Storage Company at Staples Corner that December. The first store opened in Richmond in May 1999 and the company listed in London in 2000. The history page does not name the founders. Over time it opened its 25th store in West Norwood in 2003 and its 50th in Sheffield in 2008, became a property investment trust (REIT) in 2007, and bought the Armadillo Self Storage brand in 2014 and 2021. More recent store openings include Kings Cross (2023), Slough (2024) and Staines (2025). In 2018 it launched the Big Yellow Foundation, its charity arm.
The company's head office is at 1 The Deans, Bridge Road, Bagshot, Surrey. Stores are found across London and the south of England and in other cities, including Sheffield and Aberdeen, where a trading store was bought in 2022. Its biggest concentration is in and around London, where land is expensive and storage is in demand. We did not find a full list of regional offices.
On culture, the company's history page says it was named in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For in March 2009, which is a dated third-party ranking. We found no values statement or employee count on the pages we could read; a 'Our Values' and 'Our Culture' page exist on the site but their content did not load, so we have not described them. Its Foundation supports charity partners, according to the site menu.
A storage business needs many kinds of people. Store teams welcome customers, show them rooms, handle sales and keep the buildings clean and secure. Behind the stores are staff in property and development, who find sites and plan new buildings, finance, marketing, customer service and IT. Skills such as friendliness, organisation and sales confidence matter on the front line, while surveying, planning and finance suit the head-office side. The company's careers pages on its website list current vacancies.
Website: corporate.bigyellow.co.uk
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE