MP Alex McIntyre spends the day with us to kickstart English Tourism Week

This year English Tourism Week ran from 14-23 March 2025. Led by VisitEngland, the annual campaign raises awareness of the importance of the sector and the contribution it makes to the British economy to stakeholders including media and Government. As a sector, tourism supports thousands of SMEs and over two million jobs across the country. In Gloucester it supports over £310m in business turnover.

This year’s slogan was “Supporting people and places to drive growth” and here at Visit Gloucester we will be highlighting ways in which tourism supports our city, our businesses, and our people.

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We kick started English Tourism Week on Friday 14 March, inviting Alex McIntyre, MP for Gloucester, to spend the day with us.

First stop was The Forum and the new Hotel Indigo. After being kitted out in hard hats and steel toe-capped boots, Paul Tyler, Director of Cube Ltd, led the visit. Cube Ltd provide both Project and Cost Management Services For GCC/Reef Group for the hugely complex Forum project.

Paul began explaining how the site was originally an old Car Park and bank of commercial premises previously called Grosvenor House, and how as part of the clean-up phase before the main building works, the existing Culvert required diverting and the Tesco Store (that was part of Grosvenor House) needed a new home, which has taken the form of the award-winning  Whitefriars development on Market Parade, which also includes nineteen apartments.

The site visit brilliantly showed how well The Forum acts as the new welcoming gateway to the city, with its great position alongside the Bus and Train Stations. We then viewed the huge 87,000 sq. ft office building along Bruton Way, taking in amazing views of the city and surrounding landmarks such as the Cathedral, Kingsholm Rugby Stadium, the River Severn and the Cotswolds. 

We then took a walk across the beautiful link bridge from the offices towards the new hotel looking down at Cathedral Walk and discussing the already occupied offices taken by Fasthosts, an incredible Gloucester business who are the vanguard of brilliant organisations who are coming to the Forum.

Next, we were able to view some of the Hotel rooms which will form part of the boutique 129 room Hotel Indigo and the 5th floor Bar and Terrace which will complement the existing hotels within the City and provide much-needed additional accommodation for visiting our attractions, busy match days, Cheltenham races or as a base to explore Gloucestershire.

We saw the new feature stones at the head of Cathedral Walk, created with Andrew Armstrong, the city archaeologist, which tell the story of how the site was used during Roman and Medieval times, as well as more recent times, as Gloucester’s famous cattle market. There’s no doubt the impact The Forum will have on how the area will look and operate.

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From one cutting-edge tourism hotspot to the next! After the Forum we headed over to Elote in Gloucester Food Dock, the heart of the city’s independent food scene, to meet with Co-Founder Sarah Mansfield and Elote owner Lewis Spencer, for a taste of what Gloucester’s chefs have to offer. 

Food Dock is a neighbourhood destination that provides incubation and growth space for 14 independent locally focused eateries, allowing them to showcase their talent and creativity with food and drink. Alongside ongoing regeneration projects in the city, the Food Dock was created as a dining destination that helps to celebrate Gloucester and its culinary talents.

The restaurant Elote offers a delicious combination of Tex Mex and traditional Mexican dishes, drawn from an admiration for the people and culture of Mexico, using ingredients supplied directly from Mexican Grocers. They served up delicious Taco Boards to try, topped with Pork Canitas, Longhorn Brisket Birria, Baja Cod Cheek, Chipotle Chicken Esquites, Sweet potato Esquites, and Jackfruit Barbacoa. All were sublime. The group discussed issues faced by hospitality businesses in the current climate and the positive and creative work being done by hospitality staff to rise to those challenges.

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The final part of the day was in the city’s premier cultural space, Gloucester Guildhall. This legendary music venue is going through some major changes at the moment, which has enabled it to offer a wider programme of performances and experiences on top of its famous live music line-up. 

Now part of the Arts Council England’s National Portfolio, Gloucester Guildhall is fast becoming a hub for artists and audiences across Gloucester, and punches above its weight nationally. It is the host venue for Moomin 80 in Gloucester alongside Bradford City of Culture, Baltic Gateshead, the Southbank Centre. As part of this programme, Gloucester Guildhall are working on a major art commission in collaboration with Refugee Week – a giant raft in Gloucester Docks inspired by The Moomins and the Great Flood – as well as a programme of other exciting Moomin-inspired events.

During the meeting of Guildhall team members, Alex McIntyre praised the work of cultural organisations and artists, and highlighted their contribution to a vibrant visitor economy, and how they give destinations a distinctiveness that must be cherished and grown.

The day rounded off with an informal Meet and Greet for local visitor economy businesses, who met the group in Gloucester Guildhall’s Blue Coat Room.

Councillor Caroline Courtney our MP for Culture and Leisure said “It was great meeting with local business owners and organisations at our networking event at the Guildhall as I got to thank them for playing such an important part in creating a great visitor experience for visitors to Gloucester. Their contribution to our local economy, through business turnover and employment opportunities, brings great benefits to our city and its residents. I was pleased to share with them some of the administration’s plans for projects aimed at attracting even more visitors to the city, such as our new Public Art Strategy, the regeneration of the Greyfriars and Eastgate area, improved wayfinding signage and converting disused properties in and around the city centre into residential accommodation to bring more vibrancy, footfall and expenditure into the city centre. Along with major projects such as the Forum, the Food Dock and the University Campus reaching fruition and a fantastic year of events ahead, it will be exciting to see Gloucester go from strength to strength as a tourist destination.”

Alex rounded off the day by saying “It was absolutely fantastic to see just some of the innovative businesses and organisations that are contributing to the thriving visitor economy here in Gloucester. We spent an amazing day touring both the newest and some of the most established of Gloucester’s tourism offer, from wearing hard hats at The Forum’s Hotel Indigo to learning more about the next chapter at the Guildhall, via a visit to the innovative Food Dock. What really struck me was the passion shared by people across the city to make Gloucester both a great place to visit and a great place to live.”