Guildhall closure?

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
The advert on the station is a long-standing deal as they are also our landlords, I know the advert sounds odd but we are encouraging people to support what businesses are left. We are in constant contact with them and we are trying our best to find out what the future holds for the centre.

The staff working there are brilliant and i think they are as much in the dark as the rest of us. I've struggled to get the new owners to speak to me. Ill keep plugging away and update when i can
My comment about ’having the gall’ wasn’t aimed at your radio station but the Guildhall. I appreciate your positivity and determination to try and do something about it. It’s just a shame the new owners really don’t seem to care about the current tenants, or it seems Stafford.

Unfortunately there is nothing in the Guildhall to get me to part money for, and hasn’t been for many years. I can’t actually remember the last thing I bought from a shop in the centre.
 

Matt_S

A few posts under my belt
My comment about ’having the gall’ wasn’t aimed at your radio station but the Guildhall. I appreciate your positivity and determination to try and do something about it. It’s just a shame the new owners really don’t seem to care about the current tenants, or it seems Stafford.

Unfortunately there is nothing in the Guildhall to get me to part money for, and hasn’t been for many years. I can’t actually remember the last thing I bought from a shop in the centre.
It's not a problem, I didn't take the comment in a negative way.

Thought I would update you with what I know from the stations side both as media and tenants of the Guildhall
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
I think planning guidance has been changed fairly recently to make this more straightforward
If Beatties in Wolverhampton can be converted to housing then I'm sure Stafford's Guildhall shopping centre can too.
If more homes are needed, preferably not on greenfield sites, and people don't want to shop in town centres nowadays there can't really be much of an argument against such a change of use.
 

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
If Beatties in Wolverhampton can be converted to housing then I'm sure Stafford's Guildhall shopping centre can too.
If more homes are needed, preferably not on greenfield sites, and people don't want to shop in town centres nowadays there can't really be much of an argument against such a change of use.
With the growth of online shopping, there's a degree of truth in your statement.

However, the decline of Stafford town centre has been driven by seemingly incompetent Council's (both Borough and County) that have done little to help and, in some cases, have actually accelerated the decline of Stafford town centre.

In particular, the Borough Council haven't helped by not being able to decide where the town centre is, and by its anti-car strategy, at the same time as the County Council has decimated public transport.
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
With the growth of online shopping, there's a degree of truth in your statement.

However, the decline of Stafford town centre has been driven by seemingly incompetent Council's (both Borough and County) that have done little to help and, in some cases, have actually accelerated the decline of Stafford town centre.

In particular, the Borough Council haven't helped by not being able to decide where the town centre is, and by its anti-car strategy, at the same time as the County Council has decimated public transport.
Yes, there's certainly a need for proper public transport especially if it's hoped that those living in a converted Guldhall won't need to own cars.
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
People living in the Guildhall will still need cars. They will need them when they have to go shopping in other towns and cities because there aren’t any shops in Stafford.
No, there won't be shops in other towns and cities, and if there were they could go by train.
 

markpa12003

Well-Known Forumite
If Beatties in Wolverhampton can be converted to housing then I'm sure Stafford's Guildhall shopping centre can too.
If more homes are needed, preferably not on greenfield sites, and people don't want to shop in town centres nowadays there can't really be much of an argument against such a change of use.

Completely different buildings.

Beatties is / was a department store with lots of external windows on all floors. The Guildhall with its current configuration has very few external windows and therefore it would have to be a major rebuild to create a suitable residential development.

The issue isn't the principle of development. There is a presumption in favour of sustainable development and encouraging more residential development in town centres, however the two stumbling blocks / issues that will need to be overcome will be:

Can the development provide an acceptable residential amenity, most notably natural light / windows; and

(The application to convert M&S was refused on these grounds - a much easier building to convert than the Guildhall)

The Guildhall occupies a key location in the centre of town and therefore the council will be against the whole building being lost to residential. Hence, at the very least it will be a mixed use development. Plus, I'm sure there will be policies in the adopted LP preventing the total loss of retail.
 
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Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
Completely different buildings.

Beatties is / was a department store with lots of external windows on all floors. The Guildhall with its current configuration has very few external windows and therefore it would have to be a major rebuild to create a suitable residential development.

The issue isn't the principle of development. There is a presumption in favour of sustainable development and encouraging more residential development in town centres, however the two stumbling blocks / issues that will need to be overcome will be:

Can the development provide an acceptable residential amenity, most notably natural light / windows; and

(The application to convert M&S was refused on these grounds - a much easier building to convert than the Guildhall)

The Guildhall occupies a key location in the centre of town and therefore the council will be against the whole building being lost to residential. Hence, at the very least it will be a mixed use development. Plus, I'm sure there will be policies in the adopted LP preventing the total loss of retail.
Time will tell.
 

Theresa Green

Well-Known Forumite
£14.3 million is dropped into the bank of Stafford Borough Council by Central Government


An outside private investor buys a dilapidated shopping centre in the town centre

Stafford Borough Council well known for an historic association with Freemasonry refuses to discuss plans for the money

The new owners of the shopping centre refuse to discuss plans for the shopping centre or any association with Stafford Borough Council

What a time to be alive

What a time to be a consultant

What a time to be a lawyer

What a time to understand the meaning of fees

Maybe it's a surprise

Maybe it's Mini Merrie England

Maybe it's a Mini Food Excellence Centre

Maybe it's a new Brine Baths

Maybe it's Penthouse apartments with panoramic views of the last public toilets in the town centre and integrated food hall

Food Hall

Your gunna win Food Hall

[url=https://ibb.co/ctY0x6j] [/URL]
 

kyoto49

Well-Known Forumite
People living in the Guildhall will still need cars. They will need them when they have to go shopping in other towns and cities because there aren’t any shops in Stafford.
There aren't trains to Wolverhampton, Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool? Anyone who drives to any of those to shop when the train is so good is quite frankly mad imo! Covid permitting of course!

You're right about Stafford shops tho. I walked through the guildhall and town centre today, the council(s) have turned it in to a lost cause. Nuke the lot :(
 

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
There aren't trains to Wolverhampton, Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool? Anyone who drives to any of those to shop when the train is so good is quite frankly mad imo! Covid permitting of course!

You're right about Stafford shops tho. I walked through the guildhall and town centre today, the council(s) have turned it in to a lost cause. Nuke the lot :(
I’m obviously mad then. I drive to those places. It’s far more convenient to being able to arrive and leave when I choose and not when a timetable says I have to.
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
I’m obviously mad then. I drive to those places. It’s far more convenient to being able to arrive and leave when I choose and not when a timetable says I have to.
You must lead a very busy life if three trains an hour to or from Wolverhampton and Birmingham, two an hour for Liverpool and hourly for Manchester isn't a frequent enough timetable for you, and if you can't relax with a pint or two if you've a while to wait for a train.
Or, maybe just mad - and spouting nonsense since the day you learned to talk !.
 

kyoto49

Well-Known Forumite
I’m obviously mad then. I drive to those places. It’s far more convenient to being able to arrive and leave when I choose and not when a timetable says I have to.
Driving to any big city when there are good and direct train links served from Stafford multiple times per hour is quite frankly madness. Train to Wolverhampton is les than 15 minutes duration and there are trains approx every 15/20 mins during the day. Even accounting for the few minutes you might have to wait for the train it's quicker than driving. I'm genuinely stuck for any reason why a healthy adult not buying something big would drive given the cost of petrol, parking, time, congestion and overall negative impact on the environment. SMH
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Driving to any big city when there are good and direct train links served from Stafford multiple times per hour is quite frankly madness.
I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly, pre COVID. Now, I don't feel inclined to step into a potentially crowded metal tube, full of strangers that can't even be bothered to wear masks and are perfectly happy to breath and cough all over the place.

Trains are out of the question for the foreseeable future as far as I'm concerned (except for taking the car under the channel to France). Aircraft, I've never been really keen on anyway, so I don't think I'll fly again.
 

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
Driving to any big city when there are good and direct train links served from Stafford multiple times per hour is quite frankly madness. Train to Wolverhampton is les than 15 minutes duration and there are trains approx every 15/20 mins during the day. Even accounting for the few minutes you might have to wait for the train it's quicker than driving. I'm genuinely stuck for any reason why a healthy adult not buying something big would drive given the cost of petrol, parking, time, congestion and overall negative impact on the environment. SMH
Yes indeed.
Not that I have since coronavirus arrived but Wolverhampton, Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool are places that I'd go to by train or not at all.
With having little inclination to rush back from Manchester or Liverpool I've spent several nights in each over the past twenty years, not that it was the shops that I went for.
 
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