Accessibility Tools

Skip to main content
How can we help you?
Business

Pershore Town Centre Prospectus

In this section
Pershore Town Centre Prospectus

Use the links below to find the information you need:

Vision for Pershore Town Centre

Pershore is special and it’s more than just the townscape; this is a fabulous place to live. New residential communities and businesses around the edge need to feel as much part of Pershore as those in the centre. Many newcomers will be younger and support spending power which Pershore must retain; supporting an evolving and contemporary offer, especially for food and drink. Safe, well-lit walking and cycling routes need to connect to the new communities.

Pershore needs to position itself as an attractive base from which to explore the sub-regional visitor offer, with interesting independent shops and great places to eat, drink and stay; from boutique hotels to rentals. This will boost evening economy spend, facilitate a more contemporary offer, and increase overnight stays. Pershore offers an independent, quality experience which attracts the curious, creative, cultural and aspirational customer. It can’t rest on its laurels; it needs to improve and extend the offer with events and festivals, building on the success of the Plum Festival. Broad Street provides the right setting for this, with year-round entertainment supporting vibrancy and viability.

Strategic objectives

To achieve the vision there are 6 strategic objectives:

  • Re-embracing the river. A recognition that the town centre is better visually and physically connected with the River Avon.
  • An independent-spirited town with events at its heart. Bringing Pershore’s varied and vibrant events programme onto a revitalised Broad Street and reinforcing the town’s bustling independent retail and food and drink offer.
  • Growing together. The importance of new residential communities being development around Pershore and within its hinterland being physically and emotionally connected to its town centre; capturing spend and footfall.
  • Embracing the hinterland. Pershore has strong potential to capitalise on overnight stays and day-trips in tandem with natural and tourist attractions in its surrounding area, including the Cotswolds.
  • A destination for all - expanding Pershore’s visitor base to encompass all age groups, particularly younger people.
  • Climate resilience to facilitate a low carbon lifestyle, through transport and active travel and reducing car dominance, access to services, but also adapting to climate change. Use the natural environment to provide mitigation for extreme weather events, capture carbon and increase biodiversity.

Spatial strategy

Rather than create a masterplan for the town centre, which will have a fixed set of ideas and proposals about what needs to be done based on what we know now, a spatial strategy has been produced instead.

Put simply, a spatial strategy maps out all the assets in the town centre area and suggests how best they can be arranged to achieve the vision and strategic objectives.

The advantage of using this approach is it can be changed and altered as opportunities occur and circumstances change over the next 20 years.

The spatial strategy for Pershore proposes:

  • Less is more approach in Pershore, due to it being a well-functioning town
  • Primary aim of the strategy is to enhance the walkability and legibility of the town, reconnecting spaces that feel somewhat disconnected from the town centre, despite being in key locations

Reconnecting the town centre with the River Avon which runs along the eastern edge of Pershore. This can be achieved through establishing stronger pedestrian routes to the water’s edge, improvements to Pershore Moorings and indeed activating the riverside with smaller jetties and stopping areas to. This will help transform the riverside into a destination area which is attractive or visitors and locals.Aerial shot of the River Avon at Pershore

  • Improvement of the walkability of the town and cycle routes should connect through Avon Meadows, through the town centre and down to Pershore bridges
  • Introduction of a community connector link running north from Priest Lane, south to Defford Road, would offer a localised link as an alternative to High Street for cyclists
  • Creation of a public square at Broad Street which will become the recognisable centre to the Town, hosting a variety of uses, events and spaces attracting more residents, students, and visitors to the Town on a regular basis
  • An enhanced and consistent public realm across the whole of the space which creates a unified character and reads a space for people and activity. This will also enhance pedestrian links and legibility across to Pershore Abbey and Park
  • Public realm treatment along the High Street carriageway, through a raised table and materials which create a visual break, improve pedestrian access to Broad Street square and manage traffic speeds, establishing a clear node within the Town
  • Reconfiguration of Pershore Markets to create an attractive food and leisure opportunity within the town will create an anchor to the north of high street. It will help reinvigorate this part of the town, creating a primary gateway and build upon the evening economy of Pershore

Movement strategy

The movement strategy puts forward options for how travel in and around the town centre can be improved to meet the vision and strategic objectives.

  • Key pedestrian links/ crossings at Broad Street as part of wider public realm proposals
  • Improved pedestrian links which reconnect the River Avon with the town centre, enhancing the overall legibility of the town
  • An enhanced and consistent public realm across Broad Street Square which creates a unified character and reads a space for people and activity
  • Improved pedestrian routes and crossings which enhance the walkability between Pershore Abbey and High Street
  • Active travel link connecting the town centre north through Avon Meadows towards the train station as a partial off-road route
  • Active travel link between Priest Lane to Defford Road to offer an alternative route to High Street
  • Future parking strategy to inform consolidation/ reallocation of surface car parking in the centre

Proposed change zones and opportunity sites

These sites have the greatest potential to make significant changes for the better to Pershore Town Centre.

Pershore Market site

There are two potential opportunities for the Pershore Market site.

Pershore Market – Option 1

Option 1 would turn Pershore Market site into a gateway opportunity that creates a landmark new development for the town, transforming the arrival to the town from the High Street, Avon Meadows, and the River Avon.

This mixed use and leisure led development creates a contemporary produce and makers market, flexible work and incubator space as well Extra Care and food retail, set within a high-quality public realm that reconnects the historic core of the town with its riverside and landscape.

Some of the key aspirations of the development proposal include:

  • Retaining and enhancing the historic Pamona Preserve warehouse buildings to accommodate a contemporary food hall serving local produce. The Preserve building is linked by outdoor produce and makers market spaces to the south and to flexible office and creative incubator space to the north.
  • A modern and refreshed Pershore Market space for existing traders to continue to operate
  • Opening up a more legible, direct and animated east to west pedestrian route from the High Street, through to Pershore Town FC, the Avon Meadows Community Wetland and the proposed Pershore Moorings. Views from the Avon Meadows towards the Pershore Abbey are also opened up
  • A new 75 bed Extra Care accommodation provides independent living within walking distance to the town centre, Leisure Centre and surrounding Avon Meadows and River Avon
  • Potential to accommodate a 18,000 square foot large format retailer adjacent to Pershore Town FC, working as part of a more considered and integrated site design
  • Moving away from surface car parking to create a more space efficient alternative in the form of a Multi Storey Car Park. This lightweight structure can be designed and clad to respect the historic characteristics of the adjacent conservation area as well as providing centrally located car parking provision for ASDA and other planned future uses.
  • A high quality new public realm across the area which helps create meaningful and clear pedestrian routes through the area, as well as defining more flexible spill out spaces and semi – private / private spaces. Improved crossings points along High Street and King George Way allow for stronger, clearer and safer connections between the towns retail core and it’s outdoor spaces.

Pershore Market site option 2

The redevelopment of Pershore Market and surrounding light industrial uses provides an opportunity to regenerate a significant gateway site and build upon the success of Pershore Market by expanding and diversifying its offer.

The site provides an opportunity to create a new pedestrian thoroughfare into the town centre, connecting to the proposed active travel corridor towards Throckmorton garden community to the north, via Avon Meadows Community Wetland.

The site benefits from a prominent frontage on Pershore High Street, as well as adjacency to key footfall drivers including Pershore Leisure Centre and Pershore Town Football Club.

Part of this site is allocated for up to 20 new homes alongside retail and office uses, however, there is significant mixed use redevelopment potential beyond this allocation.

The site presents a residential-led redevelopment opportunity, including two-storey dwellings (2 and 3 bed), Extra Care or later living accommodation, alongside a small proportion of apartments.

Broad Street

Broad Street is the historic focal point of Pershore Town Centre, as a site of markets and events for hundreds of years; situated between the bustling High Street to the east and Abbey Park to the west. 

We plan to transform Broad Street to restore the primacy of the pedestrian and use the space to accommodate some of Pershore’s regular events.Aerial shot of Broad Street in Pershore

Broad Street is active throughout the day and into the evening, as visitors head out for an evening of entertainment at Number 8 Arts Centre, go out for drinks at the myriad bars and characterful pubs or grab a bite to eat.

Some of the key design interventions envisaged to create Pershore’s Broad Street Square include:

  • Broad Street Square will become the recognisable centre to the Town, hosting a variety of uses, events and spaces attracting more residents, students and visitors to the Town on a regular basis. A place to sit, relax and experience all that the town’s cultural, historic and independent boutiques have to offer
  • An enhanced and consistent public realm across the whole of the space which creates a unified character and reads a space for people and activity. This will also enhance pedestrian links and legibility across to Pershore Abbey and Park
  • This treatment extends on the High Street carriageway, through a raised table and materials which create a visual break, improve pedestrian access to the square and manage traffic speeds, establishing a clear node within the Town
  • The northern Broad Street road within the square is removed, creating spill out space for local businesses and reducing the dominance of vehicular movements within the square. The southern Broad Street road is enhanced to include a bus stop as well as more efficient on-street parking and narrowing of the carriageway to manage vehicle speeds
  • Spill out spaces, paved parking bays, rain gardens, additional tree planting and interpretation signage all combine to create a more dynamic and inviting square
  • The current car parking arrangement dominates the space and is designed in a manner which limits the use of the space for other events and functions. Broad Street Square will have a reconfigured permanent car parking arrangement, as well as having a more multi-functional, flexible space within the square, which can accommodate car parking if needed, but can also provide event space on either temporary or permanent basis (subject to a town centre car parking review and strategy)
  • The proposed use of Broad Street as a town square etc will be subject to a separate parking study and consideration of the potential realignment of the road space and potential for diversion of bus services. The proposed layout with paved parking bays and bus stops on the carriageway is illustrative and they will need to be considered as part of a wider, more detailed study.

Additional development sites

Some sites provide development opportunities but ownership rights and other issues mean they are considered long-term options, if they become available at all.

Because of this there are no definite proposals or suggestions for these sites, they are just highlighted as potential opportunities to help achieve the overall vision for the town.

They are:

  • Avon Meadows and Wetland Marina (the opportunity for this site would be to enhance and make more of it not to replace it or develop over it)
  • Commercial land north of New Road
  • Commercial land south of New Road

Timeline for delivery

There are no fixed timelines for delivery of any of these proposals. The prospectus sets out opportunities for transforming the town centre area and a strategy for doing so.

How and if these proposals get delivered will depend on various things including the willingness of various landowners and access to funding.

That said, we haven’t produced this prospectus so it can sit on a shelf and be ignored. We will be doing all we can, together with our partners, to promote the opportunities available and use our resources, where appropriate, to make things happen.

More information

If you have any questions about the Pershore Town Centre Investment Prospectus then please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can also pdf download a full copy of the Pershore Town Centre Investment Prospectus. (24.38 MB)

Wychavon 50th anniversary logo