Gloucester organisations have been awarded more than £640,000 to fund programmes of repairs and conservation work on two of the city's most important heritage buildings.
Gloucester City Council has been offered £261,500 from the government's Heritage at Risk Capital Fund to help secure the future of The Fleece Hotel on Westgate Street.
The council says the funding would be used to help stabilise key parts of the complex, while it continues to explore potential uses for the site.
While Gloucester Civic Trust has secured £380,000 towards the completion of a project to restore The Pin Factory, to the rear of The Folk of Gloucester, also on Westgate Street, which aims to restore the building for use as a community space for crafts, music and theatre events.
Described as a 'large and complex' collection of interconnected structures spanning several centuries – including the medieval Great Inn and a 12th-century vaulted undercroft, known as the Monk's Retreat – The Fleece Hotel was first opened in 1497, as one of the three major inns in Gloucester to house pilgrims visiting the tomb of Edward II.
The undercroft was originally part of a merchant’s house, and was incorporated into the structure by Gloucester Abbey during the 16th century. It was first recorded as the Golden Fleece in 1673.
Grade I listed in 1952, with other parts of the site listed Grade II in 1998, the building ceased to operate as a hotel in 2002, and was purchased by the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA).
It passed to the city council when the SWRDA was disbanded in 2011, and the authority has since spent more than £350,000 to protect the historic fabric of the buildings.
Plans were previously proposed to develop the site into a four-star hotel following the award of £6.3 million in Levelling Up funding in 2021, but were shelved after no detailed plans were forthcoming, and its funding was reallocated to other projects.
Fresh plans for a 'wellbeing village', consisting of supported accommodation for young people with associated services, and pop-up retail, food and drink offers, were announced soon after, but that project was also shelved due to issues around funding.
The council says the scale, age and complexity of the site present 'significant conservation challenges', and while the new investment will help stabilise the Westgate Range, 'significant' additional funding will still be required to fully restore and bring the entire complex back into sustainable long-term use.
It will now consider the offer of grant funding, which requires match funding.
A spokesperson for Gloucester City Council said: 'The Fleece is one of Gloucester's most important historic buildings, and we welcome this opportunity to further discuss grant funding.
'As a large and complex historic site, it requires substantial investment to preserve and restore. This funding represents an important step in that journey. It will help stabilise key parts of the complex, support repairs to the Westgate Range roof and refurbish the street-facing shop units so they can be brought back into use.
'The funding will also support future public open days and an exhibition about the building's past and plans for the future.'
