Business And IP Centre, Southampton Central Library

About Business And IP Centre, Southampton Central Library

The Business and IP Centre (BIPC) Southampton is part of the British Library's national network, based inside the Central Library in the Civic Centre. It offers free business databases, market research and intellectual property information, and runs workshops, coffee mornings and networking events for people starting or growing a business.

• Paid parking
• Near station

Finding the door

Southampton Central Library, in the Civic Centre on Commercial Road; the BIPC is inside the library

Head into the Central Library and ask at the desk for the Business and IP Centre. The October 2026 funding session runs 10:30am–12pm as a coffee morning.

Parking

No library car park. Southampton City Council car parks nearby: the Civic Centre Forecourt surface car park (72 spaces) and West Park, Marlands and Grosvenor Square multi-storeys, all 2–6 minutes' walk. Pay by machine or phone app.

• Civic Centre Forecourt car park

  Nearby · 2 min walk · 72 spaces

• West Park multi-storey car park

  Nearby · 4 min walk · 506 spaces

• Marlands multi-storey

  Nearby · 6 min walk · 810 spaces

  Charged 08:00–midnight: 1 hr £1.60, 2 hrs £2.90, 3 hrs £3.80, 4 hrs £4.70, 5 hrs £5.60, 10 hrs £7.00, max £9.00

  05:30–midnight daily

• Grosvenor Square multi-storey car park

  Nearby · 4 min walk · 532 spaces · EV charging

  Time limit: No maximum stay; multi-day stays allowed

  Charged 08:00–midnight: 2 hrs £2.90, 3 hrs £3.80, 4 hrs £4.70, 5 hrs £5.60, 10 hrs £9.00, 24 hrs £11.00, then £5 for each extra day

  05:30–midnight daily

Getting here

Southampton Central station is about 570 m away (roughly a 9-minute walk). Many city buses stop within a minute or two at the Art Gallery stops on Commercial Road and at the Civic Centre and Cenotaph stops.

• Cycle stands outside the library

  OpenStreetMap shows several sets of 12 stands along the library frontage.

• Southampton Art Gallery (Stop HF) · 1 min walk

  4, 16, 17, N17, 19, 19a, 61

• Southampton Art Gallery (Stop HG) · 1 min walk

  7, 18, N18, 28

• Southampton Art Gallery (Stop HE) · 1 min walk

  7, 16, 17, N17, 18, 19, 19a, 28, 61, Unilink U2B

• Southampton Cenotaph (Stop HA) · 2 min walk

  1, N1, 2, N2, N9, 20, 21, 22, 28, Unilink U1C, U1N, U2C

• Southampton Civic Centre (Stop AO) · 3 min walk

  506, Unilink U1A, U1E, U1N, U2, U2B, U6H

• Southampton Central · 9 min walk

  South Western Railway, Great Western Railway, Southern, CrossCountry

  Estimated from straight-line distance (about 570 m).

Inside

Food and drink

Coffee is served at the BIPC coffee-morning sessions; no café details confirmed.