Pros
It's cheap to live in the midlands. - but you're better off at Sainsbury's or George or joules.. or if you don't like London go to Manchester where there's an array of "fast fashion" head offices.
Cons
Review process is subjective as to what area you work on and what your line manager is like and how organised. In the last 3 months next have lost (quit/forced out/fired) half their trainee buyers (unsure about merch) and the usual drop out rate for trainees is 1/4 which personally I think speaks volumes and is not only detrimental to the company but also the remaining trainees. As a trainee you can be on probation for 18 months, and you have no employee rights during this time which is really awful as next seem to use employee law loop holes in place for a solid HR policy for trainees which is a real shame