General Election 2024: The modern issues facing the ancient city of Gloucester

Caron Bell reports on the modern issues facing the ancient city of Gloucester

In every general election since 1979, Gloucester has voted in an MP from the same party as the Government.

The polls suggest a strong swing to Labour this year, but whoever wins this bellwether seat will take on a complicated constituency that mixes ancient heritage with modern-day problems.

Chief among them in the historic city is the battle to keep the city centre thriving.

Westgate Street, in the heart of the old city, has seven empty shops in a row.

Westgate Street, in the heart of Gloucester, has an entire row of empty shops. Credit: ITV West Country

Adrian Ball's family has run a hair salon on nearby Southgate Street since 1967.

“Something needs to be done because the city centre, we worry, might become a ghost town", he told ITV News.

"A new government could come up with some incentives to encourage people to get into a city centre and reopen new shops", he added.

The skyline is dominated by Gloucester's 11th-century cathedral. Nestled in an alleyway is the Tailor of Gloucester's shop, the setting for one of Beatrix Potter's best-loved stories.

Tourists come from around the world to visit both.

A couple of miles across town, Gloucester's docks shimmer in the sunlight, the beneficiaries of twenty years of regeneration and now a major shopping and leisure destination. But not everyone has money to spend.

Nine of the city's neighbourhoods are in the top 10% most deprived in the UK.

More than 4,000 households are on the waiting list for the city's social housing, and violent crime in the poorest neighbourhood - Barton and Tredworth - is three times the national average.

Adrian Ball worries about the impact of empty shops on his own business. Credit: ITV West Country

“Unfortunately there is a really, really dark undercurrent in this city, and that is knife crime and gangs," explains Delroy Ellis, founder of Yes Mentoring, which works with local teenagers. "And a large percentage of young people - mainly males - are disenfranchised and don’t have positive role models.”

The city's hospital - Gloucestershire Royal - has been judged as 'requiring improvement' by the CQC and sees queues of ambulances outside its A&E during winter. It has 683 beds, but for this growing and densely-populated city, that sometimes isn't enough.

A full list of Gloucester candidates in the 2024 General Election:

  • Akhlaque Ahmed - Socialist Labour Party

  • Chris Farmer - Reform UK

  • Steve Gower - Workers Party of Britain

  • Richard Graham - Conservative

  • Alex McIntyre - Labour

  • Fred Ramsey - Independent

  • Adam Shearing - Green Party

  • Rebecca Jane Trimnell - Liberal Democrats