Town’s famous son mentioned in Parliament’s praise for development
NUNEATON’S Larry Grayson was name-checked in Parliament as a town centre regeneration plan was praised.
Jacob Young, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, spoke about the town’s most famous adopted son during a debate on the new High Street Bill.
He spoke about the Grayson Place regeneration project in Nuneaton town centre, which was named after the comic, who was a huge star in the 1970s and early 80s and is best remembered for hosting The Generation Game. He said: “The scheme is significantly benefiting from government funding, which is particularly welcomed by the deputy chief whip (Marcus Jones).
“With a Town Deal worth over £23m and Future High Street funding of over £13m, thanks to the advocacy of my Right Honourable friend from
Nuneaton. As part of that funding we will help build Grayson Place, after Nuneaton’s famous Larry Grayson.
“Mr Deputy Speaker, the famous phrase from Larry Grayson, ‘Shut that door’, has a particular significance for me, as the MP for Redcar , although is disputed by the deputy chief whip, was the first time he said it was when he was doing a tour in Redcar and the wind form the seafront came banging the door on Redcar Pier and he said ‘shut that door’ – and so it became.”
Grayson Place is the name of the huge regeneration of part of Abbey Street. The late TV star’s nephew Mike Malyon gave the name the family seal of approval.
“He (Larry Grayson) would love this project, which includes bars and a space for entertainment and buskers. I could see Larry sat there on a bench with his dog watching it.
“I think he would have been really, really touched with the way it has been done. An entertainments centre in the middle of Nuneaton – he would have loved that. And this now ensures that his name will never be forgotten.”
What will be in Grayson Place? ■■There is the £20m Hampton by Hilton hotel on the former Co-op car park and there will also be a new cinema and the glass-fronted food hall within the huge 2.3 hectare site. ■■The planned inflatable park has been axed and the proposed new multi-storey car park will not be built, but there will be a new surface-level car park.
■■The former Indian Red pub will be refurbished and put on the market, and in part of the old Co-op department store building in Abbey Street, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College is set to relocate its Glebe restaurant from its Nuneaton campus.
■■It will also create a new new digital innovation centre and there will also be a new public realm space at the heart of the redevelopment.