Facelifts herald a new era for Trowbridge shopping centre (From Wiltshire Times)

How about you turn any web addresses you quote into hyperlinks? that way people who are interrested in them can click on them? If you are not prepared to do this then don't bother writing the links in.....

Sounds great but what about the Bowyers site development? I thought this was going to have a cinema too? Or are they going to do a 'deal' with each other and have just houses on the old Bowyers site?

Jungleist wrote:
Sounds great but what about the Bowyers site development? I thought this was going to have a cinema too? Or are they going to do a 'deal' with each other and have just houses on the old Bowyers site?

The Bowyers site owners submitted their planning application on 7th Oct (outcome due 6/1/2012). With more jobs a named cinema operator and more parking and easy rail access, my monies on the Bowyers site and I back it 100%.

The LGP plan's lack of parking spaces has no appeal and Morrisons will offer cheaper deals on fuel, a good rival to Tesco. LGP could open a Bowling Alley instead.

Just by giving it a clean and a new floor wont change the fact it is full of mainly crummy shops, a crummy market and crummy people.........

Having seen the Innox Riverside development plans, I think that site - which already has full financial backing and partners with Morrisons and Cineworld - would be far better, with good levels of parking, great links to the railway station and would also have the benefit of a supermarket petrol station - it's about time there was some real petrol price competition in Trowbridge, and it is the supermarkets rivalry that drives this.

The Castle Place site isn't really practicle - the multi-level carpark is already packed full during the day and on weekends, even getting to the gym in that building is a pain. I would also agree that just putting in a new floor isn't going to change the fact that the shops in Castle Place are pretty poor.

The Bowyers site is best suited for the development, and is also in desperate need of it! The listed buildings will be retained, the cycle/pedestrian roots will be improved, new jobs will be created and the site will actually look good, rather than its current mess - I fully support the Innox Riverside/Bowyers development.

Invisibleyousee and Mazzer are 100% correct about the Bowyers site being far better than the St Stephens Place development and I will certainly go to the Castle Place centre Friday to quiz and question Legal and General asking the right questions. I repost my letter of Sept 17th (with slight amendments to the original figures) re. my feelings about the 2 sites.
' Firstly let me just say that i have a wealth of experience working for several multiplex cinema companies in their head offices in London and prior to that worked for 12 years in local government here in West Wiltshire. Theres not a great deal i dont know about how things work and certainly I have striven behind the scenes to get a cinema operator here for years. Now that we have 2 proposals put forward, i have to say by far and away the best of them all, at this stage, is the Bowyers site and for very good reason--550 plus FREE 24hr car parking spaces. The St Stephens Place proposal, from what I have seen so far, isnt worth contemplating because it hasnt even addressed the fundamental operational requirements of a modern multiplex cinema operation.To assume these multiplex cinemas only work at 9pm is folly to say the least. In holiday dates or when popular films are showing they are running at 75% capacity. We are not talking about the 60's or 70's single screen cinemas here but what will turn out to be a very popular 8 screen multiplex covering a 20 minute drivetime of upwards of a catchment of 150000 people in this area and beyond.An 8 screen cinema with a total seating capacity of between 1400-1800 seats-divide by 8-thats an average of 200-250 seats per screen-The pyramid multiplex design is usually 2 screens of 350 seats-2 x 250-2 x200 and 2 x 150.
Case scenario-August 2013-The Hobbit opens on 3 screens thats the 2 x 350 seaters and a 250 seater running every hour with new digital equipment-Thats nearly 300 people coming and 300 people leaving(primarily in cars) every hour after 3 hours from an 11am start and thats just in three sell-out screens (not even assessing the other 5 screens with popular films in). Because The Hobbit is a simultaneous worldwide release to prevent piracy the advance booking went on 3 weeks before resulting in every performance of it selling out friday to sunday evening. And dont say they dont sell out--THEY DO!!.I have worked as a film booker/buyer and seen these multiplex cinemas maxed out in many screens with Star Wars/Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Now--- same date-- theres a county fair in the park attracting hundreds and in the evening a dinner and dance for 600 people in the new Civic Hall--All the rooms are taken in the new 80 bedroomed hotel on the site for which the developer added 106 car park spaces but 80 have been allocated to the hotel when it opened because they will probably demand to have them for their use-The 7 restaurants with 50 plus place settings each are also sold out. The current multistorey cannot cope because 6 levels (180 Places) are filled each and every day by workers leaving 7 levels (220 places) left which have 2 hour restrictions. Yes going to try to park to go to the cinema here in this development is going to be an absolute nightmare expecially when most cinema programs are 2-3 hours long.(OHHH WHATS THIS-INSTANT PARKING TICKET).The developer has indicated that even if the Peter Black site is acquired no provision will be made for additional car parking. The result-utter chaos round the county way area-a complete logjam with irate cinema patrons 4 in a car who have booked on the internet trying to find a space only to miss the show because they are stuck on the Bradford/Bradley/Fro
me/Wingfield or Hilperton roads.Also the residents in the retirement home and in the flats off of Court Street will object to the late evening traffic and this will mean a restrictive licence for the cinema kicking out its patrons by 11.30pm. This i'm afraid for a cinema operator we be a financial disaster.Most modern multiplexes have 3am licences and many have 24hr licences to cater for boxing live from Vegas or World Cup Football from the other side of the world and Opera and Live 3D shows which are nearly always sold out.The St Stephens site would be far better housing an 18 lane 10 pin bowling company/a bingo hall and a really good all age nightclub/live band venue and restaurants and the hotel. Result-Numbers of people and traffic far less in this area. I hope all of you objectors to the Bowyers site are are now getting the picture to coin a pun.
Regarding the Bowyers site, it is 4 times the size of the old tesco site meaning that Cineworld will no doubt provide large screens and wont be restricted by space unlike the proposals for the St Stephens Place which may mean very small screens. Morrisons are a highly reputable company and with the building of the petrol station on the site, this will give Tesco's a highly deserved kicking when it comes to petrol pricing.Why the hell are we being fleeced when 15 miles up the road its 5p a litre cheaper. No- Morrisons who have always led the way with reducing their forecourt prices will give them a run for our money and not before time.I made some proposals about the roads such as removing the crossing and lights at the Gateway slope and making it mini roundabout.Moving the pelican crossing to where Next is and synchronizing with the other crossing.Crossings put on the Shires slope and Asda access road but not pelican ones and the Stallard St pelican crossing not a traffic light one. Entrance to the development to be in by the railway and exit by town bridge.And the bus station moved to the railway station-utterly pointless by the town hall.With these car parking spaces and being sufficient distance from the St Stephens site, the traffic flows should be better because it should just be used for the Supermarket, Cinema and restaurants.
'
This was my original post but i would like to add a few key things.
Cinemas work on very narrow margins-nearly 70-80% of the box office is given away to the distributor on an opening weekend of a new film. So it has to find its revenue from somewhere else. One is from food like popcorn and coca cola which is why its so much more expensive in a cinema and the other is from on screen advertising and lately from alternative content(boxing/opera etc.
Any developer should know this-If he doesnt and leads a cinema operator down the line to what may be a loss making concern because a high lease or rent is charged -a too high ticket price might turn the public away and if there is a lack of car parking spaces-DISASTER
The reason why Bowyers has a supermarket and the cinema is on that site is that ultimately the developer will make its money from the Supermarket and restaurants and not the cinema. The payback for a cinema to a developer may take a decade or more. Its a fact. I cite the case of the 2 Europa Cinemas which were on the top of the multi storey car park between 1974-1980. That closed because because it was poorly run in its later years. Because of a system of film barring in those days it could not get main release films until 3 weeks down the line. Also it was in the wrong position where nobody could see it. It thus became run down. Finally the lease costs of around £20000 p.a were astronomical for the time. The 2 x 180 seaters were not capable of paying that back because they were just too small.
A cinema operator will have to survive especially in these economic times with higher business rates and fuel costs and only a major player is going to be capable of doing this and is why Cineworld for Trowbridge is the dream ticket especially with its £14.99 unlimited monthly 'see as many films as you want' pass.
So I say again to objectors who seem to have not stepped foot outside of Trowbridge for 50 years-your time is past.
To the Council I say this-dismiss this crass stupid £40,000 report about parking in Trowbridge raised by some body in Southampton who clearly has no idea about market towns and their right to an existence-yes a cinema will bring traffic in but weve lost Bowyers/Ushers and countless other companies with hundreds of employees-start the ball rolling to get some life back into this town and area but keep your financial hat on too and be aware of where the best site for a cinema should be.

I have to agree with Sazzer I'm afraid.

Will need different shops to tempt me in. With the possible exception of Wilkinson's, which is OK for some household basics, but generally it's all just a pile of tat.

I don't think a hotel is necessary. Who will use this hotel? After several months it will become empty and closed down due to administration or lack of funds.

I don't think a hotel is necessary. Who will use this hotel? After several months it will become empty and closed down due to administration or lack of funds.