with footfall hitting 7 million at the end of last year and really making Gloucester a destination for shoppers and visitors alike. Peel’s owner, John Whittaker, started investing in land around Gloucester Docks over 20 years ago. He always had faith in the city’s future, when others didn’t, and it has now paid off for everyone. Peel has so far ploughed over £300 million into developing the Quays and their associated land holdings. I have always hoped that Peel would be allowed to bring their expertise into the city centre to develop it properly. It really is in a lamentable state, particularly King’s Square, after so many false dawns.
King’s Square was one of the failures of the GHURC - I have to admit that. I hope that the city has now finally got its act together to really sort this eyesore, which is unbefitting to our city. I am afraid that the Railway Triangle was another failure. We were very hopeful of getting millions of pounds of government money to help us build a new all-purpose stadium, cinema and entertainment complex on the land. Tom Walkinshaw, bless his soul, as the owner of Gloucester Rugby at the time, appeared to be excited by the plan too, which would have involved moving the ground from Kingsholm. But in the end, after a lot of hard work by us, he was unable to agree to the deal.
Canalside glimpse of Gloucester's history
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