New 'high-quality' boutique hotel planned for Gloucester
A property investor with a focus on Gloucestershire has revealed plans to open a “high-quality” luxury boutique hotel, part major plans that will transform an area overlooking Gloucester Park.
Dear reader,
No big long reads on today’s edition, but plenty of stories I hope will keep you interested.
It’s easy to look at the high-profile arts and community projects we are lucky to have here in the county and miss out the precious ones happening in those less fashionable areas.
Which is why we like the story about Sir Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England and formerly director of the Tate and chair of the Turner Prize jury hanging out and enjoying himself in Matson. And not for the first time.
The Holly Gazzard Trust gets plenty of publicity and probably doesn’t need our help, but its latest partnership with Bridge Training also highlights a much-overlooked training provider doing great things in Gloucestershire and that deserves more credit.
And we run friend of Raikes, Ian Mean’s big interview with Cheltenham’s Borough Council’s chief executive, Gareth Edmundson about the Golden Valley Development. Expect social media to be swamped with PR even more than usual shortly as the spades finally go in the ground.
And for the main story we’ve picked some detail out that emerged in another tale altogether, and which spells out plans for a new boutique hotel for Gloucester, just one of two projects that promises to transform a forgotten area of the city centre.
Best regards,
Editor | 07956 926061 | LinkedIn: Andrew Merrell | andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk
Former Tate and Turner Prize director and a Gloucester arts project
Sir Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England and formerly director of the Tate and chair of the Turner Prize jury has highlighted the work of a little-known Gloucestershire arts project with his third visit. Sir Nicholas was the special VIP guest at a modest gathering hosted by the arts and cultural organisation Create Gloucestershire at Matson Library in Gloucester. His visit is said to have further underlined how the organisation Culture Matson is a leading light nationally when it comes to creating work that will inspire citizen-led creative projects. Founded and supported by Create Gloucestershire, Culture Matson celebrates its 10th anniversary next year. The partnership worked with local people to establish Culture Matson in 2017 to bring together local citizens and organisations who want to create a more joyful, creative community. More here.
Your briefing notes…
💷 It’s emerged that the recent sale of Gloucestershire-headquartered independent estate agency Move to ‘proptech’ lettings platform Dwelly was made possible by Cheltenham law firm Willans’ corporate and commercial team. Peter Raybould, a partner at the Cheltenham law firm, advised on all aspects of the acquisition, working closely with Move founder George Tatham-Losh. Raybould guided the transaction through to a successful completion while protecting the interests of the sellers and ensuring a smooth handover of the business. Tatham-Losh described the support he’d received from the firm as “excellent”. Dwelly uses AI-powered systems to digitise operations like rent collection and maintenance. It already managed more than 10,000 properties.
💷⛳ Businesses and friends of the children’s charity the Pied Piper Appeal gathered for its annual golf day at Brickhampton Golf Complex on Friday, raising more than £16,000 for the Gloucestershire-based charity. Teams of four took to the Staverton course to compete for the Rob Freeman Memorial Trophy in a Stableford contest which saw the winning team emerge as RBC Brewin Dolphin, with 93 points. Winning team members were James Badham, Jack Richardson, Jon Treen and Alex Horton. The Nick Brody Trophy for best individual player, created in memory of the late Brody who died in December from MND, was won by Dominic Johns from Orbio.
Charity of the Week: 12 years on and Hollie Gazzard’s legacy continues to inspire
Twelve years after Gloucester hairdresser Hollie Gazzard was murdered at her workplace, the charity founded by her parents is joining forces with Bridge Training Ltd to launch a brand-new training hair salon in her name in the heart of her home city. ‘Hollie’s at Bridge Training Ltd’ is a collaborative initiative between the Hollie Gazzard Trust and Bridge Training Ltd — one of Gloucestershire’s leading alternative education providers — combining vocational excellence with a shared commitment to safeguarding and opportunity for young people. Located on Westgate Street, Gloucester, the fully equipped 12-seat salon will open to the public in September 2026, a professional-standard space that will operate as a working salon and a classroom, supporting young people to gain recognised qualifications in hairdressing and beauty therapy. More here.
Golden Valley Development to start by the end of July
Construction of Gloucestershire’s £1 billion Golden Valley cyber and technology powerhouse project in Cheltenham will now start within weeks.
In an exclusive interview with Ian Mean, Cheltenham’s Borough Council’s chief executive, Gareth Edmundson, answers key questions about the project which is set to attract millions to the Gloucestershire economy over the next 20 years.
Edmundson talks about how the local authority hopes to recoup £60 million of the £100m-plus it will invest in the project, how it will benefit local people and just how many jobs he expects to be created directly in the first 10 years.
You can read the full story here: Golden Valley - the latest news.
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New ‘high-quality’ boutique hotel coming to Gloucester
A property investor with a focus on Gloucestershire has revealed plans to turn a parade of historic listed Gloucester buildings into a boutique hotel, which could help transform an forgotten area of the city.
A property investor with a focus on Gloucestershire has revealed plans to open a “high-quality” luxury boutique hotel in the middle of Gloucester.
Charles Perkins, who already owns the Judges Lodgings on Spa Road close to Gloucester Docks and Quays has bought another listed building in the city to add to his growing portfolio.
The entrepreneur and investor now has more than 40 properties in his name, with the most recent addition being the Neptune Apartments collection of 12 luxury serviced apartments on Cheltenham’s Promenade, for £2.5m.
It was with the announcement of that last piece of news - that revealed Perkins as the man who had stepped forward to take over the successful business from founders and owners Jim and Mandy Hawkins - that the other snippet of news came to light.
And if his plans go ahead they could help create a new ‘hotel quarter’ for the city beside Gloucester Park, with another business also planning to a similar development in the next street - as well as a significant number of new flats.
“The business has also just completed the acquisition of 2, 3 and 4 Beaufort Buildings in Gloucester, a prominent Grade II-listed terrace in the heart of Gloucester city centre.
“Subject to obtaining the necessary planning consents, the buildings will be sympathetically converted into a high-quality boutique hotel, bringing another distinctive hospitality destination to the city whilst preserving an important part of Gloucester’s architectural heritage,” said a statement from Prestbury Marketing announcing the sale of Neptune Apartments.
The Beaufort Buildings, as well as Neptune Apartments, will be looked after by Matthew Beavis, recently appointed by Perkins as the new managing director of his portfolio, which is grouped together under the company name Judges Lodgings.
Two, 3, and 4 Beaufort Buildings are Grade II-listed Regency townhouses located on Spa Road in Gloucester city centre, opposite Gloucester Park and the cricket pitch, and until 2021 were part of the administrative base for Ecclesiastical Insurance before the firm relocated to Brockworth.
Ecclesiastical’s main offices were around the corner in Brunswick Road, a building owned by ASBG Global Ltd.
That business secured planning permission for a 36-bed hotel for the Brunswick Road building in October 2025 and it has just won planning for 66 flats as part of the scheme.
If everyone’s plans come off it will make a significant transformation of a forgotten area of the city centre.