It seems ages since we did any major development to the centre. I mean it’s been a whopping 8 months since we opened Wells 1 and 2 and oooh, all of 3 months since we improved the men’s changing rooms, added a new floor of lockers and installed a bike park out the front.

And so, since the dust has finally settled on the last improvements (as it always does in this place..) we thought we’d start again! This time centred on Reception.

The original idea was to do a grand designs thing on the whole area but this proved to be too much in the time we have available before the nights draw in, meaning we’re into the busy period. However, even without the grand designs, we’re still looking to improve the whole front area of the centre for visitors, customers and staff alike.

The first building phase you will notice on arriving to the centre (from Wednesday 23rd June onwards) will be a hoarding around where the ground floor water fountain is at the moment. There will be some disruption for customers as the hoarding will span the walkway and also (possibly) close top roping lines 38 and 48. This phase will take approx. 2 weeks and will mean there will be some noise in the centre through the day. Although it’s a big enough centre for you to get away from it all!
Once complete we will have a new area next to Reception where instructors can herd their kids groups or course groups into, to gear up and not take up the limited space around reception or next to the climbing walls.

Phase 2 of the Reception development will begin the week after the Garden Party. From Monday 13th July we will have a diversion route in place but don’t worry, it won’t delay you like some road diversions can!

Reception will be temporarily moving to Training Rooms 1 and 2. Anyone who has ever entered Blokfest at the Castle will be familiar with this set-up. The main door will be off limits and you will be directed to your right through a fire exit up the stairs to the training rooms, where the registration/checking-in will be much the same as it is now. *If you need wheelchair access on visiting the centre, please do let us know as we can still provide access via the ground floor. 

The new face lift for Reception will provide us with some much needed space, hopefully streamline the entrance and exit lines and improve the heating issues we have every year. (Although without a new roof, there’s only so much we can do!). We hope that the disruption will be kept to a minimum and the overall improvements to staff working conditions and customer/visitor experience will be worth the hassle.

Yet again, please bear with us and we will try our best to not let the work interrupt your climbing.

Thanks!