Plan hopes to bring new life to Leamington railway arches

The ‘creative’ may be taken out of the core of Leamington’s Cultural Quarter in efforts to fill empty units in the town.



It has been two-and-a-half years since Warwick District Council opened the Court Street Arches at what had been a derelict site under the railway bridge in Old Town – but so far only three of the nine refurbished arches have been occupied.

The site, together with the Althorpe Enterprise Hub and Hybrid Arts and Heartbreak Productions studios nearby, form what the council has been promoting as the Cultural Quarter, part of the regeneration of the south of the town and to encourage growth in arts, design and other related sectors.

But the council’s executive committee has voted in favour of removing a restriction for the arches to be occupied only by the creative sector, in a bid to help fill the empty units.

Councillors also agreed for the council to spend £22,000 on installing a ventilation system.

In a report submitted to members of the committee, the council’s enterprise development manager Ray Smith said: “When the units are shut and then re-opened, they can smell musty, accumulate mould growth and encourage damp, which is discouraging potential tenants when they are shown around.”

The council needs to let the remaining units as quickly as possible if it is to meet the terms of an agreement made with Advantage West Midlands (now the Department for Business Innovation and Skills), which provided the funding for the development of the arches.

While four of the units take up two arches each, the remaining five are single arches and each one is unique in layout and size, meaning rent prices vary. They start from £7,000 per year.

Any firms or individuals interested in viewing the arches should call Gayle Spencer on 333222 or email gayle.spencer@warwickdc.gov.uk