Bournemouth Winter Gardens £150m revamp plans submitted

Bournemouth Development Company wants to build 352 apartments across four multi-storey buildings

Plans to transform a former music venue into a £150m shopping, leisure and homes complex have been submitted.

Bournemouth Development Company wants to build 352 apartments on the former Winter Gardens site.

The 1.98 hectare (4.89 acre) site would also include up to five restaurants, a food store and outdoor cafes.

The concert hall, which once hosted the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, closed in 2002 and was demolished four years later.

Bournemouth Borough Council's planning board will consider the application over the coming months

John Beesley, leader of Bournemouth Borough Council, said the revamp would be "the largest project of its kind ever undertaken in Bournemouth".

Duncan Johnston, of Bournemouth Development Company, said the former Winter Gardens site was "historically important but underutilised".

"Health and vitality underpin the design concept which successfully combines safe and secure town centre living in an attractive seaside location with facilities that residents and visitors need," he added.

The proposals also include a new piazza at the junction of Exeter Road and Cranborne Road

The site is currently used as a car park and developers said the 225 public parking spaces would be re-provided in a new underground car park which will offer 369 spaces for residents and visitors.

The council said the apartments would be located "across four multi-storey buildings of varying heights", with landscaped grounds "for leisure, recreation and residential amenity".

A new piazza is also proposed at the junction of Exeter Road and Cranborne Road, as well as a park and children's play areas.

Bournemouth Borough Council's planning board will consider the application over the coming months, the authority said.