10 hours ago
Coventry arcade demolition starts as City Centre South begins
A £450m project to transform Coventry city centre is is the biggest redevelopment project in the city centre since it was rebuilt after being devastated during World War scheme, called City Centre South, has started with demolition work on the former site of City Arcade, on Queen Victoria final project will cover an area the size of nine football pitches, around a quarter of the entire city centre and is expected to deliver around 1,300 homes, hotels, restaurants and shops.
It has been funded by Coventry City Council, supported with more than £100m from the West Midlands Combined Jim O'Boyle, cabinet member for regeneration on the Labour-run authority, said it would be the largest project to be delivered since the city centre was rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s. He said he was "very confident" it would be delivered fully after previous schemes failed to get off the ground over the past two decades.
He said: "Coventry is a big city, it's the 11th or 12th biggest city in the country, we're a growing population, we need places for people to live."But it needs to be vibrant as well. We want shops, we want cinemas, we want places for people to visit. That's what Coventry will deliver, and City Centre South will deliver."Around 200 retail units were taken over by the council using compulsory purchase powers to prepare for demolition cafe Coffee Tots was one of those businesses forced to move, having been based at City Arcade since 2010 until 2023. It now has a new base in the city centre at The Wave, on New Union Street.
Catherine Bartlem, co-founder of Coffee Tots, said it was "hard" to know the buildings were now being said: "I know change happens and change is necessary, and so on. And I know that City Arcade has been falling apart for years, but it's been home for a lot of us."She added: "I don't want to see it being [knocked down]. I know it's going to happen, but I don't actually want to see it. I'm going to wait until it's knocked down before I look."
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