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Weston has benefitted from two Heritage Action Zones in recent years thanks to a combined investment of £2m from Historic England.
The Great Weston Heritage Action Zone ended in September 2022, while the High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) continues until March.
As the programme nears completion, we’ve opened the ‘All Together Now’ legacy exhibition, along with Super Culture, in unit 27 of the Sovereign, just along from Waterstones.
The exhibition is a celebration of the project’s achievements, showcasing how buildings have been restored to their former glory, along with the artworks and experiences created with local communities.
See the exhibition from 10am to 3pm, Thursday to Sunday each week until 11 February.
Another exhibition can also be seen in the community gallery at Weston Museum, in Burlington Street.
This exhibition, which runs until Saturday 2 March, showcases the fantastic community engagement work which has been achieved during this time.
Latest shopfront improvements
Work is now taking place to sympathetically enhance and restore two more historic town centre shopfronts.
Both 10 and 12 Walliscote Road are the latest buildings to benefit from our Weston-super-Mare HSHAZ Shopfront Enhancement Scheme.
The work is being funded by the UK government’s Levelling Up Fund, Historic England and the owners of the buildings.
One of the two units, which sit opposite the recently reopened Plaza cinema, is occupied by the Frame Station and Studio Galleries. The other unit is currently vacant, having most recently operated as TSB bank.
Work includes replacing the existing shopfronts including surrounds, stallrisers, new timber framed glazing, entrance doors, windows and fascia boards for shop signage.
At the same time, the stonework is being cleaned on the upper floors of 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 Walliscote Road.
Businesses which have already benefited from the Shopfront Enhancement Scheme include:
- family-run department store Walker and Ling in the High Street
- independent restaurant, bar and music venue The Fork n Ale Taproom in Walliscote Road
- the old Kendall’s building, which stands on the corner of High Street and Regent Street, housing 11 business units including Greggs, Weston Hospicecare and Coffee #1
- The Albert, formerly The Lamplighters pub, and The Stage Door restaurant, café and bar, both in the High Street
- 4, 6 and 8 Walliscote Road, which now includes Sustenance Bakery and MiMi’s Thai Bistro.
The Plaza cinema is set to be the seventh project to be delivered after funding was announced last month.
Investment in town centre retail and hospitality units will continue after the HSHAZ funding ends in March thanks to our successful bid for £20m from the Levelling Up Fund.
This work fits neatly within the programme’s objectives to reinvent and diversify our town centre, while supporting our creative economy, independent retailers, and food and drink innovators.