Market town waterfront could get ‘Gloucester Docks style’ revamp
Talks are underway to transform an historic Gloucestershire market town's waterfront, putting an historic flour mill and warehouse at its centre, in a 'Gloucester Docks-style' redevelopment.
Dear reader,
Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Raikes Journal.
It’s been a busy week behind the scenes here at Raikes this week. But more of that in the near future.
On Monday we went big on the publication of a book for business leaders aimed at helping them drive growth, written by Dr Stewart Barnes of Gloucestershire-based leadership development specialists QuoLux and University of Gloucestershire professor Malcolm Prowle. There’s an even pending all about it. You can read that here.
And then we decided to share the news from the Western Gateway, of which Gloucestershire is a part, as it picked up an idea once championed by a one-time Gloucester firm to capitalise on the energy potential of the tidal flow within the Severn Estuary. Read that here.
But today we’ve gone big on some more exciting plans for the county away from Gloucester and Cheltenham, which so often steal the limelight.
(Last week we did that by focusing on exciting plans going ahead to convert a listed farm beside a forgotten Gloucestershire abbey into a restaurant and vineyard. Read that here).
And we have some great news below too for the UK’s emerging army of B Corps - the offer of expert help from leading PR and marketing firm apt marketing & pr. And more B Corp news to follow on Monday too. If you know a B Corp, do share this with them please!
But back to that main lead - it’s all about plans emerging to transform one of the great historic mill buildings of the UK, in an historic Gloucestershire market town, into a development akin to Gloucester Docks.
We’ve paywalled this main story for our members who help make what we do sustainable. A mssive ‘thank you’ to them. Please do feel free to join them.
Have a great weekend.
Remember, for every person you refer to The Raikes Journal’s email service you get points towards a free membership allowing you to see beyond our paywalls. Please do sign up (free or otherwise), send the referral link to a friend or colleague, and help us grow.
Andrew Merrell (editor).
If you have a story, an issue, a news item, a charity or an interview you want us to write about or investigate, challenge the powers that be about, then please email me: andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
NB: We believe Raikes now publishes probably the best-read business-related email ‘newsletter’, pound for pound, in Gloucestershire.
Raising a glass in congatulations!
In an earlier edition of The Raikes Journal we had the pleasure of a sit-down interview with Greg Pilley, the founder and owner of Stroud Brewery, a B Corp certified business (you can read that here). It’s a business this reporter has been following since its beginnings (and enjoying its wares too), so it is great to be able to help it celebrate its latest win. This week it was named Sustainable Business of the Year at The Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) BeerX Awards. Mike Power, sales and operations manager at the Brimscombe-headquartered canalside brewery and taproom, called the award “a massive honour”. And a massive congratulations from us!
And speaking of B Corp… free marketing and PR for you from top agency
A Gloucestershire marketing and public relations agency has launched what it is calling the ‘B Corp Brand Bank’ to celebrate B Corp Month – and support businesses from the county and beyond.
The brand bank, the brainchild of Cheltenham-based apt marketing and pr, is providing B Corp businesses UK-wide access to a free ‘bank’ of 250 hours of team time to use on strategy and creative ideas.
Any B Corp accredited company can claim up to five hours of agency time to help with brand, marketing, or pr strategy, but if you want to benefit you need to be quick.
Apt marketing & pr is a purpose-led business working with purpose-led brands and charities - its mission is to ‘amplify impact’ so that the businesses and organisations it works with can do more of what they do best.
Victoria Petkovic-Short, agency director, said: “We’ve been an established Gloucestershire-based for 25 years now, and in that time a lot has changed.
“We started this year with a renewed focus on our purpose and as a business and on our ambition to become B Corp accredited.
“Through my involvement with B Local Gloucestershire I’ve met so many incredible business owners and founders, all of whom are doing amazing work in their respective fields in pursuit of a better way of doing business for people, planet, and profit, and who deserve access to professional brand, marketing, and PR support to support them,” said Petkovic-Short.
To be eligible to claim a share of the 250 hours, brands must be either already B Corp certified or be actively working towards accreditation.
Some small print: Brands can claim up to five hours each from the B Corp Brand Bank, however apt marketing & pr will determine the total number of hours of the five ultimately required. apt marketing & pr reserves the right to decide if it can support brands at its discretion. Hours are first come, first served and capped at 250 hours/50 businesses total.
To claim, businesses must email purpose@aptmarketing.co.uk with the subject ‘B Corp Brand Bank application’, proof of their B Corp certification, and what they would like to use the hours for. The deadline to claim is 11.59pm on 31 March 2025.
Your briefing notes…
👩🏽⚕️Actor and chancellor of Hartpury University, Martin Clunes, officially opened the university’s new Veterinary Nursing Technical Skills Centre this week. The centre was designed by Gloucester architects Roberts Limbrick and built by fellow city firm Barnwood Construction. Clunes drew film crews from ITV and Points West to the north Gloucestershire campus for the ribbon cutting, which was also a chance to showcase the new facilities. The centre is designed to “enhance hands-on learning, equipping future veterinary nurses with the technical skills they need to thrive in the industry”. This bit of footage shows it off nicely.
💁🏽 Hifsa O’Kelly, a senior associate solicitor at Willans LLP, has published a helpful distillation of why we should celebrate individuals with neurological differences, including those those diagnosed with conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyspraxia and dyslexia. The article was published to coincide with ‘neurodiversity celebration week’, which runs until March 23. O’Kelly says an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the UK population are neurodivergent and explains why it’s important for employers to recognise the challenges, strengths and legal considerations of neurodiversity in the workplace. You can read the full article here on the Willans website.
👂🏽🏗️ A public consultation has begun into the Golden Valley Development project, the plan to build a new business park and housing estate near Cheltenham often billed as a once-in-a-lifetime project for Gloucestershire and said to be worth £1 billion of investment here too. Cheltenham Borough Council, which is in charge of the project, and its partner, the development specialist HBD, is airing detailed plans of the first phase of the development. Locations to have a look and have your say at Gloucestershire College, Cheltenham Campus, from 5.30pm until 7.30pm tonight (Friday 21 March) and at the college again on Saturday (22 March) from 10am to noon. Or just visit here.
🏗️ A new bid to save plans for a new leisure centre and community hub from disaster has been approved as Gloucestershire councillors agreed to put in an extra £1.8m towards the scheme. Forest of Dean District Council has decided to borrow funds for the new facilities at Five Acres near Coleford. There have been fears the project, which was allocated £9.2m from the Government 2021, could go the way of the failed Cinderford Northern Quarter project. The latest iteration of plans for the site will no longer include a multipurpose sports hall and performance venue. Instead, a reduced footprint for that area. (Special thanks for Carmelo Garcia, BBC local government reporter, for this one).
Food for thought for the weekend…
📅 Friday:
🎸Stroud Sub Rooms will come to life tonight courtesy of Dire Straits tribute band Dire Streets. Doors open at 6.30pm. Find out more here.
🎭 Barn Theatre, Cirencester: Stephen Sondheim’s Company explores the complexities of relationships, love, and the elusive nature of happiness in modern life in this iconic musical, Company (just a few seats remain for tonight!).
Saturday:
⚽ Gloucester City AFC play Havant & Waterlooville away at 3pm.
⚽ Forest Green Rovers FC play Fylde away at 3pm.
⚽ Cheltenham Town play MK Dons at home at 3pm.
Sunday:
🏉🏉🏉🏉 Gloucester Rugby play Bath at 3pm.
* The Raikes Journal is a community interest company. Everything you read by us is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors Hartpury University and Hartpury College, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
If you subscribe and invite friends to The Raike Journal you will earn rewards towards complimentary membership (three referrals will get you one month, 10 will get you three months, and 25 will win you six months).
If you upgrade to paid you’ll be part of this CIC too. We are dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire, to championing the county, in particular its businesses, charities, education and training providers, and to helping create an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you will be able to see past the paywalls often put on our second and third email editions of the week, that lock all our archive after two weeks and lock our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series. You will be able to comment on our stories too. You’ll be helping make this CIC sustainable to deliver more original articles on our county.
You can sign up to receive your two extra editions a week and see past all our paywalls for just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once. Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members!
Market town waterfront could get ‘Gloucester Docks style’ revamp
Talks are underway to transform an historic Gloucestershire market town's waterfront, putting an historic flour mill and warehouse at its centre, in a 'Gloucester Docks-style' redevelopment.
There are plans afoot to redevelop an historic Gloucestershire market town mill and warehouse from the 1900s that has become a “sad eyesore”.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Raikes Journal to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.