Gloucester will finally get giant TV screen in King’s Square – but not where it was originally planned

Business chiefs in Gloucester have secured a win after they saw their plans for a giant TV screen in Gloucester approved.

Gloucester Business Improvement District (BID) wanted to install a giant 30 sq m screen in King’s Square but the plans were withdrawn earlier this year.

After months of silence planning bosses at Gloucester City Council have given the green light to a new screen on the Chambers.

The screen will be 8 metres wide by 4.5 metres tall.

It was originally planned to be on a pole in front of the Post Office and Iceland, a proposal which did not sit well with the city council’s conservation officer.

Gloucester Civic Trust had also taken exception to the “screen-on-a-pole” idea , which was part of the council’s plans for King’s Quarter.

Now a giant screen will be placed on the front of the Chambers pub overlooking the square.

The aim of the scheme to “promote activities across the whole city centre”.

In a planning statement submitted to the city council, Gloucester BID said: “As business owners and managers, we want locals and visitors to have a perception of Gloucester as a city on the up, and a place where they want to do business, shop, visit, study and invest.

“Gloucester BID board plan to build a platform to promote activities across the whole city centre, using traditional, outdoor, digital, print, broadcast and social media, this will include promoting events, the leisure and evening economy and assisting in raising the profile of large projects that benefit the wider business community, locally and nationally.”

The plans were met with approval from the Gloucester Civic Trust, who said: “Acceptable and much better than the screen-on-a-pole previously proposed.”

The scheme, costing in the region of £100,000, will allow visitors to Gloucester to watch major sporting events, such as the Olympics, Wimbledon, Rugby World Cup or football matches .

It would also be used for major events of national importance such as Royal Weddings.

Earlier this year crowds were able to watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot before the FA Cup final was shown.

The previous vision for a screen would measure nearly four metres in height and more than 7.5 metres in length (when in landscape mode).

It would be mounted on a galvanised mast and (in landscape mode) it's base would be 5.35 metres above ground.