Last night, Thursday 23rd May, I held the third in my series of Plymouth’s Big Conversations. This time we talked about the city centre, and what the future could look like.

Plymouth city centre often gets a lot of flack, with folk saying it is forgotten about and down at heel but there is a lot to be proud of – we heard last night that there are over 400 independent retailers in the city, a lot of those based in the West End of the city, or as someone described it last night “the other side of the sundial divide”.

There is a lot being done in town, from the regeneration of the centre to make our shopping spaces more welcoming to the introduction of NHS dentistry – more on this soon.

The conversation last night was wide ranging and insightful, and I am grateful to those that came and shared their thoughts on what could be done to improve town for all people that live here and those that visit.

I want to thank the panel members, Cllr Chris Penberthy and Amanda Lumley from Destination Plymouth as well as the University of Plymouth for hosting us again.

If you want to read about the earlier Big Conversation events you can find them here and here