Winter Gardens: where the £100m town centre scheme stands
The Winter Gardens redevelopment in Bournemouth town centre, 352 apartments plus leisure and restaurants, has permission but no start on site before late 2027.
The Winter Gardens site on Exeter Road has been a car park for longer than most visitors have been coming to Bournemouth. The plan to change that is the largest scheme of its kind in the town's history: a £100m mixed-use redevelopment with 352 apartments, leisure, commercial and retail space, Property Week reported when it came forward. The design includes new restaurants, premium retail, new public spaces, a children's outdoor play facility and more than 4,000 square metres of leisure space, according to Savills, which secured planning permission.
Where it stands in 2026
Permission is not a start date. The Bournemouth Development Company, the joint venture between the council and its development partner behind the scheme, set out an indicative programme that assumed council approval in June 2025 to proceed with design and planning, leading to a planned start on site in December 2027, subject to a successful planning application. Council papers since then show the site option execution date extended to September 2028, which puts the project firmly in the design and funding stage rather than construction.
Why it matters
The Winter Gardens sits between the BIC and the Square, on the walk from the West Cliff hotels to the town centre. A housing-led scheme there is the council's main lever for the town centre: several hundred new residents a few minutes from the Square, and ground-floor restaurants and leisure on a road that currently offers a car park. It also joins a seafront and town centre already busy with works: the pier, the East Cliff and Boscombe's Hawkwood Road.
For the story of how the town centre got here, from the original Winter Gardens concert hall to its demolition, the history of Bournemouth is the place to start. We will update this article when a start date is confirmed.
Frequently asked questions
On Exeter Road on the West Cliff side of the town centre, between the BIC and the Square, where the Winter Gardens concert hall stood until it was demolished. It has been a surface car park for years.
Not before late 2027 on the current programme. The Bournemouth Development Company's indicative timetable assumed a start on site in December 2027 subject to planning, and the council has extended the site option date to September 2028, so the earliest a visitor would see hoardings is the end of next year.
