A BUSY Bournemouth shopping street could be transformed to focus on restaurants.
Talks have begun to allocate part of Westover Road for outdoor eating as one of five areas BCP Council has prioritised for potential redevelopment.
The council’s deputy leader, Phil Broadhead, said one possible idea was to make it an “al fresco dining zone” with outdoor seating created by reducing the road to one lane.
However, what is the history of Westover Road leading up to this new idea?
What did Cllr Broadhead say about Westover Road?
The suggestion was made by Cllr Broadhead during a discussion about the work of the council’s planning department which is set to have its budget increased to tackle a backlog of applications.
Within the £250,000, which will be discussed by its cabinet, is £30,000 to help draw up priorities for major “strategic” sites across the conurbation.
This will include consideration of planning policies for parts of Bournemouth town centre and Poole Quay aimed at regenerating them.
He said: “Westover Road is one example in Bournemouth, it's clearly seen better days and one could argue it is dragging that whole area of the town down.
“It's also pretty clear that it's got amazing potential, but there is not any clarity of what could be allowed there.
“I've got a vision that I'd like to see it as more of an alfresco dining zone and maybe bring the road down to one lane.”
The two cinemas
In 2017, 88 years of film-going in Westover Road came to an end when the Odeon closed, a month after the ABC shut its doors.
The Odeon opened in 1929 as the Regent and was known for much of its life as the Gaumont.
The ABC began life as the Westover Super Cinema in 1937. It was also known as the Canon and MGM in the 1980s and 1990s before the ABC brand name was revived.
Last year, plans were submitted to transform the ABC site into 67 flats and commercial space along the ground floor.
Libra Homes bought both cinema sites in 2017 for £6.15 million but saw its first applications to redevelop the buildings refused by Bournemouth council. Decisions which were backed at appeal.
Plans were approved to convert the Odeon building into 64 flats with commercial space.
Speaking at the time, a spokesman for the developer said the converted building would contribute towards regeneration of the surrounding area.
The Westover Road ice rink
You have to cast your memory quite far back to remember the ice rink in Westover Road.
The rink was built in 1930, above the showroom of Westover Motors. The owner of that business, Major Sharp, wanted his son and daughter to learn to skate.
The first gala nights took place in the summer of 1930. The following year, there was an Arabian Nights production, and in 1933 a full-scale ice show, Gypsy Dream. The 1934 show, Gay Vienna, was bigger still.
The outbreak of war put paid to the fun, closing the 1939 ice show early as the whole rink closed down. But the follies were back in 1947 and continued without missing a year until 1980.
The future of the rink itself was in doubt more than once. In 1983, Chipperfields signed a deal to convert the rink into a big top for a 10-week circus show. General manager John Harris said the £250,000 production would secure the future of the venue.
But times and leisure habits were changing, and by 1991, the rink’s owners said it had become unviable. Despite petitions, protests and a deputation to Bournemouth council, it closed.
The premises lay empty for 25 years before being turned into a gym. But, as several reunion events have shown, the heyday of the Westover rink is still fondly remembered.
Plans to restore Westover Road as “the Bond Street of Bournemouth”
In 2010, ambitious plans to restore Westover Road as Bournemouth’s “Bond Street” were outlined, involving the creation of a piazza, high-class shopping mall and boulevard.
Developer Trevor Osborne outlined a scheme that would incorporate the central car park behind Hinton Road, with a lift taking shoppers to a two-storey, designer shopping “galleria” on Westover Road.
Widening the pavements and restricting traffic could give Westover Road a boulevard feel, while a public piazza outside the Pavilion would add to the atmosphere.
“I’m up for it if you are,” he told Bournemouth Council cabinet members.
“We have a period of two years to plan this so we don’t have a period in which the vacancy of the cinemas becomes a visible and upsetting influence on Westover Road.”
However, these plans never came to light and in 2019, a shopkeeper described the area as “on a major decline”.
Anthony Fuller, of Michael Matthews Jewellery, said at the time: “We are having daily problems with homeless people who appear every time another vacant shop appears.
“I moved down here from London eight years ago, and I can’t believe that people here call this the Bond Street of London – no way.”
What exactly will happen with Westover Road in the future is unclear. Could we see more flats? Will it become an outdoor dining area? What is clear is that it’s a road rich with history.
What are your memories of Westover Road down the years?
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