⏩ The Gloucester Start: Monday March 3rd
Eastgate Street gates | £10k arsonist jailed | Community Noticeboard
Good morning, welcome to Monday’s Start after a glorious sunny weekend - long may it continue! Welcome to a flurry of new subscribers and thank you for signing up - here’s what the Start is about and what you can expect. Please do tell a friend or hit share if you like it.
🚧 Large metal gates ‘years in the planning’ have been installed across the bottom end of Eastgate Street to help enforce night-time road closures when the area’s clubs and bars are busy. They were put in on Friday. - Butlers Bar on Facebook and 👇
🔥 Arsonist Anthony Reed-Metcalfe lit three separate fires in one night, causing £10k-worth of damage including to the empty Station Hotel building, last September. He’s been jailed for more than three years. - BBC Gloucestershire
☀️ Today’s weather: We’re well set for another glorious day. Bright sunshine throughout.
💪 Gym-goers lifted nearly 54,000kg in a fitness challenge to raise money for the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity. Members of Crossfit Paratus in Mercia Road also rowed, skied and cycled more than 11,000m and learned CPR plus how to use the defibrillator recently installed there. - BBC Gloucestershire
🚗 Charges at Gloucester City Council car parks won’t go up this year amid concerns on the impact of city centre businesses and ‘ghost town’ fears. Rises in fees had been proposed as part of budget discussions but were voted down last week. - Gloucestershire Live, via the Local Democracy Reporting Service
↪️ A 2.99% rise in the city council’s portion of the council tax bill was approved at the same meeting. It means a band D property in the city will pay £237.04 next year for city council services. - Gloucester News Centre, via LDRS
🎒 Children leaving primary school this year will find out today (Monday) where they are going to secondary school. More than 80% of pupils have received a place at their first choice, with 6,800 Gloucestershire children being offered one in total. - Gloucester News Centre
😠 Parents and carers have spoken of their fears and anger after the merger of two Gloucester primary schools - closing one - was signed off by the Department for Education. It’s been slammed as ‘nothing but a money-saving decision’ by some and will see Moat Primary shut, amalgamating with Robinswood Primary Academy. - Gloucestershire Live
👷 Reviewing the stonework at Shire Hall will be added to a list of planned work after loose masonry was reported at the Gloucestershire County Council HQ in Westgate Street. Fire crews attended on Wednesday to inspect it. - Gloucestershire Live
🚉 Gloucester Railway Station’s underpass finally reopened on Friday after two years of upgrade works were completed, giving access from Great Western Road to Bruton Way for pedestrians. - Gloucestershire Live
🏉 Gloucester-Hartpury are one win away from a third straight Premiership Women’s Rugby title after seeing off Bristol Bears in the play-off semi-final at KingsQueensholm on Sunday. They won 36-20 and will face Saracens Women in the final on March 16th. - BBC
↪️ It was a bittersweet occasion for two of the players lining up on opposing teams - Gloucester-Hartpury’s Mackenzie Carson and Bristol’s Sarah Byrne are partners off the field. - BBC
↪️ Supporter bus travel for the PWR final at StoneX Stadium goes on sale from noon today (Monday) - places on the coach organised by Gloucester-Hartpury are £32.50 excluding booking fee.
⚽ Elsewhere on the city’s sporting landscape, there was less to shout about for football fans as Gloucester City fell to a 2-1 home defeat against promotion rivals Walton & Hersham. - Gloucestershire Live
↪️ And Gloucester Rugby are out of the Premiership Rugby Cup - which they won last year - after a young side fell to a 22-17 defeat at Newcastle Falcons. - Gloucester Rugby
📌 Community Noticeboard
This section is for your community news, events, appeals, new openings, announcements and more to get some attention. Submit items for inclusion through this form.
📌 SHED is a dance-theatre show that uses projection, spoken word and dance to raise awareness of the mental health issues many young people face. Thursday 6 March 2025, 7:30pm, pay what you can. Takes place at GL1 leisure centre. Details here. -Thanks to subscriber Kate for this submission
📌 Focaccia - a new eat-in or takeaway sandwich shop - opens today. It’s replaced the former Hungry Bean Cafe in St Catherine Street, Kingsholm. More here.
📌 To celebrate the completion of Afterlife Inc. Volume 7, you're invited to a FREE exhibition showcasing artwork from the new book and an amazing team of comic creators. At Jolt Studios from March 15th-21st, free entry. Info and booking here.
📌 Roots Gloucester is looking for more people to join as friends, giving £10 a month or whatever you can afford in order to help keep it sustainable and thriving. The reborn cafe, refills shop and community venue in Alvin Street celebrated its first birthday on Saturday. More here. -The Gloucester Start was among the stallholders there at the weekend - a huge thank you to everyone who came and said hi, and to Roots for putting on such a wonderful day.
The top posts from Friday’s Start:
🛤️ Railway station underpass to reopen
⛺ Charity’s concerns as number of people sleeping rough rises
👩🎓 Gloucester nurse set for long-awaited graduation after illness