⏩ The Gloucester Start: Thursday February 27th
A417 works latest | Sherborne celebrated | 'Cheekiest cafe in town' to open
Good morning, welcome to Thursday’s Start. As ever, a share or recommendation to a friend is hugely appreciated. Here’s everything I’ve been able to find for today’s edition.
🏗️ Road closures are coming up again next week, overnight from Wednesday to Friday, for more A417 Missing Link work. So far, more than 420,000 cubic metres of earth has been moved by National Highways contractors in the £460million scheme. - BBC Gloucestershire
☀️ Today’s weather: Should be largely bright and dry with temperatures peaking at 10C.
📽️ Gloucester’s brilliant Sherborne Cinema - a real gem of an independent venue in Kingsholm - has marked 10 years in business, with owner Mark Cunningham being awarded the Mayor’s Medal for his services to the community. - BBC Points West on iPlayer (at 16mins 30s)
🏫 Elmbridge Primary School had to be partially evacuated yesterday due to the strong smell of gas. Parents were asked to come and collect children in the infant section of the school. - Gloucestershire Live
❌ Plans have been rejected for a block of 47 apartments in Brockworth, criticised as an ‘overdevelopment’ of the site in Hucclecote Road. Tewkesbury Borough Council also said its scale and size was out of keeping with the area. - Punchline Gloucester
⛔ You’ve got a few days left to say whether or not Pinch Belly Alley - also known as Mercer’s Entry - should be gated off to stop anti-social behaviour and drug use. It’s the tiny cut-through between Westgate Street and Cross Keys Lane, and public consultation ends on March 6th. - Your Gloucester (public survey)
🚌 Planned improvements to bus services with an £8million investment are due to be signed off next week. The county council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan aims to get public transport usage back to pre-pandemic levels and is funded by a grant from the Department for Transport. - Punchline Gloucester
🏉 Gloucester Rugby have added another new signing to their roster for next season, securing former London Irish back Ben Loader from South African side Stormers. He joins Irish international Ross Byrne and one-cap England centre Will Joseph as a new recruit. - Gloucestershire Live
📌 Community Noticeboard
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📌 The ‘cheekiest, most hilarious cafe in town’ - designed and run by kids - opens in Gloucester city centre this weekend. Karen’s Kids Diner is the result of a project run in Podsmead to get children to come up with a real pop-up business idea. It’s open this weekend and next in the Eastgate Shopping Centre. 👇
📌 International Women’s Day Social Event on Saturday March 8th from 11am– 5pm organised by Jolt Gloucester. It’s at the Floodplains Shop, Eastgate Shopping Centre and is a free community event and a space for women-owned businesses, creatives, and the wider community to connect, share, and inspire each other. More here.
📌 Gloucester BID’s monthly city centre clean up takes place this Monday, with a helping hand always welcome. Meet in King’s Square by Subway from 10am and bring your own gloves and tools, if you have them - litter pickers, sweeping brushes etc. It’s the first Monday of every month. More here.
📌 There are two funding opportunities available through Together Gloucester: Kings Square Commissions: Proposals for projects and events to happen in King’s Square between April 2025 and March 2026. Bright Nights Commissions: Proposals for longer term permanent or semi-permanent light installations. The deadlines for both of these are March 9th. Find out more.
The top posts from Wednesday’s Start:
🚨 Spate of car thefts in latest police alerts
🍜 Thai restaurant Kinn Kinn opening at Food Dock
🚴 Plans for city centre cycle spine work to go on show
👀 Finally, the result of yesterday’s poll, which asked Start readers what you thought of the cycle spine after some very strong public comments on the city centre stretch of the works and, perhaps surprisingly, found more in favour than against.
