Gloucester ‘eyesore’ hotel revamp plan ‘dead in the water’
The council are looking at ‘bitesized’ refurb alternatives
A “bold vision” to redevelop Gloucester city centre “eyesore” The Fleece Hotel is “dead in the water”, according to council chiefs.
A new “bitesized” approach to redeveloping the 15th-century timber-framed Westgate Street building and the nearby Longsmith Street car park is being drawn up.
Initial revamp plans for the site stalled and no detailed designs were forthcoming from the council’s previous preferred development partner Dowdeswell Group.
But after announcing to great fanfare last year that the site would be transformed into a community and business hub – these plans are now “dead in the water” says Gloucester City Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton).
The Phoenix Village Project was hoping to regenerate the historic hotel which has been empty since 2002 along with the multi-storey car park.
Their scheme would have offered supported accommodation with skills training and assistance to people with health and mental health issues to help them reach their full potential.
But the business case, which would have involved a £60m capital investment, would have been reliant on Gloucestershire County Council placing youngsters there.
A new approach is now going to be taken which looks at developing each of the site’s four parts separately.
The site is made up of the inn, the car park, salt barn area and Gloucester Academy of Music site.
Cllr Hilton said: “I think doing them in bitesized chunks is the best way forward.
“It’s a very difficult site. The car park itself has a short life expectancy.”
“The project meant they were securing £60m in capital. That was based on the fact there would then be youngsters put in place there by the County Council.
“They were going to fund it based on guaranteed income from the County Council.”
Council chiefs revealed in January 2023 that the initial £6.3m of Government funding for The Fleece was reallocated to the University of Gloucestershire City Centre Campus and the Forge which is part of The Forum project.
Cllr Hilton believes the reallocation of this funding meant The Fleece’s previous redevelopment project could not be progressed.
However, he said there was a risk the City Council would have lost the funding altogether as it needed to be spent by a specific date.