Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Eel tourist attraction scheme for old factory
ADERELICT factory last used as a location for a film starring Sean Bean could be transformed into a multi-million pound visitor attraction at the centre of the European eel industry.
Smokery boss Richard Cook wants to transform the old Gloucestershire factory on the edge of the River Severn into the UK’s only eel fishery and smokery.
It would employ hundreds of people and save one of the Severn Estuaries most valuable natural assets – elvers – for future generations.
And it would provide a sustainable way of revitalising Lydney Harbour by creating a visitor centre, cafe and fish restaurant with stunning views over the Bristol Channel.
At the moment the harbour is run down and bordered by the former Pine End Works factory which was used as a backdrop for the Nick Love 2007 vigilante film Outlaw starring Sean Bean, Danny Dyer, Rupert Friend and Sean Harris.
The Game of Thrones star stayed in Lydney during weeks spent making the movie at the Pine End works.
The boarded-up and fenced-off sprawling industrial unit, which originally manufactured aircraft wings for fighter planes in the war, is currently a magnet for vandals.
But Mr Cook, owner of the successful Severn and Wye Smokery on the A48, has spent four years work- ing on his ambitious plans, which he is to unveil to the public next month.
He says it will take a “seven-figure sum” to deliver his vision of a harbourside visitor attraction which would attract people from far and wide to shop, dine and explore the area along the banks of the Severn Estuary.
At the centre of it would be an ecofriendly, commercial fishery which would produce 150 tonnes of eels for consumption and one million small glass eels to put back into the wild around the Bristol Channel as part of an effort to try to save the protected species.
“It’s not a pretty sight down there and most of the buildings are no longer structurally sound so, in my opinion we would need to demolish and start again,” he said.
“But we have the opportunity to build the best eel farm in Europe and the only one in the UK. This little goldmine that sits on our doorstep makes Gloucestershire unique in the fishing industry.”
Various agencies have been trying to unlock the dock’s potential for years until the Environment Agency eventually agreed private finance was needed and handed the keys to Mr Cook.
Mr Cook, who has two factories in Gloucestershire, one in the US and one in Grimsby, says he plans to create the most hi-tech processing plant in Europe on the banks of the tidal harbour which has been used since Roman times to export goods from the Forest of Dean.
Like his original fishery, he also wants to make it attractive enough to make people want to dine there.
“It has a great vista,” he said of the harbour. “It has a wide open view across the Severn from the shoreline.
“What’s really good about it is that it changes according to the river and looks good in all weathers.
“It’s a really interesting place for people to visit so we need to increase the footfall by giving people a place where they can have a cup of tea, use the toilet and buy the kids an icecream after going for a walk.
“They are quite simple things but it’s what people expect and I think that attracting more people is the best way of changing the pattern of behaviour we see down there at the moment.”
After years of chasing lottery grants and public funding to transform the area surrounding the docks, he says it’s time to accept that the Government has to save public money for schools and hospitals.
“It will have to be an individual or company that raises the money, which means whatever happens down there has to be a sustainable investment,” he said.
“It’s a long-term project that will require huge investment and reinvestment every year.”
Behind the business talk is a man on a mission to stop your average Brit turning their nose up at eels, which are increasingly becoming a delicacy in upmarket restaurants at home and abroad.
He and his company are heavily involved in restocking and eel conservation, and have an education programme to teach children about the creatures and their interesting lifecycle.
But Mr Cook says it’s up to the forest town of Lydney to decide if it wants to capitalise on Gloucestershire’s historic link to the eels or not.
“There’s no point investing any more money if it’s not what the community wants,” he said.
“The consultation has been arranged so they can talk to the architects and planning experts direct and if the community decides it wants something else down there, they can tell us what.”