Description:

Work has begun on the final phase of Bath’s Southgate Centre; a £12 million scheme that will create up to seven new restaurants in the city centre.

Flagship restaurant the Vaults is being created on top of the car park area at Bath station; it will be joined by four large and two medium-sized restaurants created in the vaults underneath the 19th century railway station.  Although it is possible that there will be seven separate restaurants in the space it is quite likely that operators may take more than one unit and join them together so developers Multi expect five or six new restaurants in total, all due to open for business by September 2012.  There will also be four kiosk catering units.

There has been keen interest in the development from a number of restaurant operators and the developers see the scheme as complementary to existing restaurants in Southgate such as Giraffe, the Cosy Club and Jimmy Spices.  It is hoped that there will be a mix of independents and nationally known brands.

There is some controversy over the development which involves the demolition of the ramp to the London-bound platform of the station, a process which may begin before Christmas, but the cost of the scheme also includes improvements to the station itself including the recently introduced new entrance system and a new lift.