Nuneaton development to be named after Larry Grayson

Larry Grayson was watched by millions of people on The Generation Game on the BBC

A leisure and culture development in the home town of Larry Grayson will be named after the late entertainer.

Grayson Place in Nuneaton - set to include a cinema and food hall along with retail space - was named after consultation with the community.

The host of the BBC's The Generation Game was one of the biggest names in British showbusiness in the 1970s and 80s.

A Hampton by Hilton hotel is set to open at the complex in 2024.

The next phase of the scheme is to be completed the following year.

New leisure and culture facilities, a public square and a new town centre campus for North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College are also planned, with 30 new homes and office space to be additionally realised as part of the 2.3-hectare development, the newest on Abbey Street.

Phases of the project will be completed next year and in 2025

Grayson, who was born in Oxfordshire, died in 1995 at the age of 71.

Great-nephew Mike Malyon said the presenter "loved living" in Nuneaton and was "still warmly remembered by so many people".

He added: "How fitting that such a great entertainer should be linked in this way to a new entertainment destination in the town that had such a special place in his heart."

Larry Grayson was at a photo call for pantomime Aladdin at Birmingham Hippodrome in 1974

Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council said Grayson Place was the first landmark project in the Transforming Nuneaton programme undertaken by the authority and Warwickshire County Council, with Abbey Street's strategic development partner, Queensberry.

The programme lays out a 10 to 15-year regeneration vision for the town centre, which aims to also create a state-of-the art library and business centre plus homes.

The Generation Game host Larry Grayson, his Rolls Royce and chauffeur

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