Wolverhampton square could be transformed into new entertainment and events space
A city centre square could be transformed into a new space for entertainment and events, under council plans.
Wolverhampton Council has applied for a premises licence for Old Market Square.
If granted, it would allow the site to be used as a space for plays, films, live music, recorded music and dance performances.
Alcohol could also be sold on the square between set hours.
A spokesperson Wolverhampton Council said: “This is an application for the premises license for Old Market Square.
“The licence will enable us to hold events such as this year’s Pride as well as allowing the space to be used for other city occasions.
"For example, last summer we held celebrations for the Commonwealth Games Cycling Time Trial in the square.”
It follows plans for a new £6 million leisure, street food quarter featuring entertainment and events spaces in Wolverhampton city centre.
Due to open next year, Bell Street Box Space in Wolverhampton will be a designated leisure and hospitality area featuring food vendors, licensed premises and space for entrepreneurial start-up companies to move into.
Chiefs have said derelict shops at 1-7a Cleveland Street will be bulldozed under the scheme which bosses are hoping will attract “thousands of visitors” next year.
It marks the latest push to regenerate the city which has been touted for development for a number of years, including through a £55 million Westside scheme.
The major development was replaced with a project called City Centre West, which includes this new scheme and the £15.7m project on Victoria Street to create a new route for pedestrians through the city.
Box Space will use shipping containers to create a new urban park offering space for public events as well as somewhere to meet up for a drink and a bite to eat.
Similar developments have sprung up in other cities across the country and containers have already been used to build an entrance to the city’s open-air market.
The Box Space development will be on land that had been earmarked as part of a £300 million Summer Row shopping centre project, which crashed in 2011 after the banking crisis left it without financial backers.
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