News that developers behind a £200m ‘sporting quarter’ in South Bristol hope to break ground in 2025 has been warmly welcomed by the city’s hoteliers.
A legal challenge against the application has been dismissed, paving the way for the development to go ahead and create Bristol’s biggest indoor sporting and cultural venue. The Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter, close to Ashton Gate Stadium, home of Bristol City Football Club and the Bristol Bears rugby club, will feature a 5,000-capacity multi-purpose arena and convention centre. This would provide a permanent home for the Bristol Flyers basketball club. The development also features a four-star hotel, flats, offices and a multi-storey car park.
Planning permission was granted by Bristol City Council a year ago but the development was delayed when local waste firm ETM asked for a judicial review into the authority’s decision to approve plans to build 500 new homes on nearby land, which would help fund the sporting quarter. A High Court judge dismissed ETM’s challenge, enabling the project to be re-started, with hopes of breaking ground next year.
The news has been warmly welcomed by the Bristol Hoteliers Association (BHA), which says it’s a very welcome investment in the south of the city.
BHA Chair Raphael Herzog said: “These plans were first unveiled in 2018 and we’re delighted that the recent High Court ruling means that things can start moving forward and some top-class new facilities can be created in the south of the city. With the 19,000 capacity YTL Arena in the north of the city – the fourth largest UK venue – expected to be up and running by 2027, and potentially generating 300,000 ‘bed nights’, there is cause to be extremely optimistic about the future of Bristol’s hospitality sector.”
“The past few years have been extremely challenging, coping with the fall-out from Brexit, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis,” he continued. “We’ve been left disappointed by successive Government budgets, which have not given our sector the support we have been calling out for. But it’s not all doom and gloom, with these two developments alone signifying significant investment which will inevitably have a positive impact on existing hospitality providers in the city.”
He concluded: “We can’t wait for these new developments to be realised and for Bristol’s appeal as a go-to destination to be massively increased. Business is still tough in the current climate, but there is definitely cause for optimism. The dismissal of the legal challenge to the Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter means there is a brightening light at the end of a long tunnel for the city’s hospitality sector.”
To find out more about the BHA, visit www.bristol-hoteliers.co.uk
