Newport


number of different quarters. Work to improve the area around the city’s


market is almost complete. It has included opening up the original front entrance of the building in an attempt to make it more attractive to shoppers. And once the Admiral development across the road from the railway station is complete, which is due to be in 2014, visitors to the city will be ‘chanelled’ into the city centre through Newport Arcade to the new Market Quarter, which Sheila hopes will become a mecca for cafes and restaurants as well as shops. The master plan from the council for the


city centre has seen it being split into various ‘quarters’ including the Market Quarter, a retail quarter, which will include the new Friar’s Walk development, and arts and creative quarter and a riverside quarter, which includes Rodney Parade. Friar’s Walk, which will be built by


Queensberry Real Estate, will be anchored by Debenhams – similar to the development they have already completed in Bath. Also already signed up is Cineworld and announcements will be made in the near future about restaurants and other retailers who are eager to come into the city. Sheila said that while she can see how the


whole regeneration and redevelopment of the city will pan out, she can fully understand why businesses and residents in the city are finding it hard to get to grips with how the city centre is at the moment. The whole project is being phased so that


the disruption will be kept to a minimum. But Shelia says, there is bound to be disruption and


46 THEbusiness QUARTER


that is something people will have to put up with to get to the finished product. She said that she is planning more meeting


with the local business community to let them know the ‘state of play’, similar to a successful meeting held at the Celtic Manor Resort before Christmas when representatives from the council, the developers and South Wales


fantastic. Newport is beautiful at heart.


Newport. I would love a barrage, that would be


Chamber of Commerce spoke to a packed room of interested parties about what was happening in the city centre and how the plans were progressing. That meeting ended with the business


community agreeing it had been a success and asking for it to happen again, regularly. Sheila is hoping to stage another such event in the


In five years you won’t recognise


near future. She doesn’t see Newport competing with


the likes of Cardiff or even Cwmbran. “We are not in competition with Cardiff


or Bristol. We are just as unique and we are just about to blossom. It will be a a small bloom but it is going to be there and it will be something different,” she said. She said that retailers would come back into


the city centre, and that there would be a place for both out of town shopping and a vibrant centre in the heart of the city. “Spytty is almost at capacity and planning


restrictions will mean that soon no more will be able to go there. Car parking is at capacity. I think some of the retailers who have moved to Spytty will come back to the centre because there will be more to do there. People will be able to come for the day to shop, eat and maybe see a film rather than just nip into a shop and then leave. “We need to get the mix back into the city


centre,” she said. She said a council’s job was not just putting


in infrastructure and hoping things will happen. It is also about nurturing the next generation of workers and making sure they are equipped with the skills needed to fill the jobs which will be in the city at that time. Newport is home to some major employers


including hi-tech industries, call centres, and government agencies and all these will need staff on all levels in the future. “In five years you won’t recognise Newport.


I would love a barrage, that would be fantastic. Newport is beautiful at heart.”


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