Weston-super-Mare town centre

Several shops on Weston’s High Street were renovated and restored between November 2024 and September 2025.

We appointed Bristol-based contractor Bray & Slaughter to carry out the work to fully refurbish four units. 

Their work included:

• 57 High Street – removing the existing shopfront, signage and roller shutter door and replacing the shopfront. Previously a vacant unit, this was let to Warrens Bakery. It opened to the public in June.
• 67 High Street and 69 High Street – joining these two units together following commercial advice suggesting this would increase appeal from prospective occupiers.
  • Work includes removing the roller shutter door at 67 and replacing both shopfronts with a new double bay shopfront
• 73 High Street – refurbishment to attract occupiers to create jobs in the town.
  • Work includes repairing render on the front and back of the building, as well as making improvements to the interior

The replacement shopfronts were designed in keeping with our shopfront design guide.

We've fully refurbished these units to attract occupiers to boost footfall and trade, and create jobs for local people.

The work included installing energy efficiency improvements to help new occupiers offset costs.

Work to 57, 67 and 69 High Street required planning permission. 

People can view the plans, including detailed drawings, on our website. The planning application reference is 24/P/0514/R3. The application was approved in May 2025.

We work with all our contractors to maximise social value. This is a way of describing the positive impacts that a contract can achieve in addition to the physical work.

As part of this contract Bray & Slaughter delivered the following social value:

• invested locally – prioritised working with local people and supply chains. Over £200,000 was invested in the local economy through suppliers based in North Somerset. A previously unemployed local person was also employed as a labourer on the project.
• worked with the local community – through a partnership with the Growing At Grove Park Community Interest Company (CIC), 34 hours of hands-on support were provided and materials worth over £800 were donated.
  • Work included building a greenhouse and raised planters to support biodiversity and accessible gardening, as well as improving facilities to benefit community wellbeing.
• diverted over 4.32 tonnes of waste from landfill – part of the Considerate Constructors Scheme, Bray & Slaughter aim to minimise environmental impacts wherever possible.
• promoted construction careers – an apprentice in Construction Management spent 34 weeks working on our High Street project. They played a key role in its delivery, carrying out day-to-day site responsibilities and assisting with project management tasks, gaining valuable practical experience.
  • They also ran a session with Weston College T-Level construction students providing an insight into careers in construction, the value of apprenticeships, and an opportunity to meet the contractor and ask questions.

We also used this funding to continue the work of the successful Heritage Action Zone shopfront enhancement scheme.

We continued to work with the owners of town centre retail units and the Plaza Cinema to jointly fund redesigned and improved shopfronts to increase kerb appeal.

We are also planning to make improvements to some of the units in the Sovereign, improving energy efficiency and making them more attractive to the market.

Thanks to our funder

This project has been made possible thanks to the council’s successful bid for £20 million from the UK government. 

This is part of North Somerset Council’s ambitious placemaking vision for Weston.