Westgate Towers and city gaol in Canterbury could become wedding venue as part of One Pound Lane redevelopment

Published: 13:00, 07 December 2014

Canterbury’s Westgate Towers could eventually be used as a unique wedding venue.

The historic city centre site is undergoing an ambitious £500,000 transformation – with the adjacent former gaol building opening as a bar and café today.

As our exclusive pictures show, The Pound makes use of spaces that have never been open to the public before – including three former cells and the old guard’s quarters.

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The former gaol has been converted into a restaurant

Business partners Stephen Allen and James Caldon are in the process of a phased redevelopment of the entire riverside site – parts of which date back to the 14th century.

But we can now reveal that the entrepreneurs have exciting plans for the towers themselves.

Mr Allen and Mr Caldon, who won a bidding process to take over the site from the city council, had always planned to revamp the towers museum.

One of the private dining rooms with a wine cellar

The entrepreneurs are now considering opening the main chamber in the towers, which is above the arch, as an events space.

Mr Allen said: “It’s early days and it would depend on licensing, but the room is wonderful space. It could be ideal for private functions, perhaps weddings.”

Tomorrow sees the first phase of the partners’ scheme completed.

One of the private dining rooms in an old cell with the original door

The bar and café, with its main entrance on Pound Lane, will cater for about 220 people on the ground floor of the former gaol and music school building.

Early next year Mr Allen and Mr Caldon intend to open the kitchen too, creating a restaurant specialising in contemporary British food.

Mr Allen said: “What will set this apart is the atmosphere and the building – it’s been a lot of work but we’re delighted with the result.”

The Pound will be licensed to stay open until 3.30am on Fridays and Saturdays, serving a broad range of drinks including specialist ales, gins and vodkas.

The partners have said their new venture will “fuse contemporary British design with spectacular original features”.

First glimpses suggest original features such as cell doors and iron grilles have been retained.

Victorian tiling in the vaulted cells has been kept but coloured in a modern copper tint, while each cell boasts bespoke British-made light fittings.

Business owners Steve Allen and James Caldon

Mr Allen, who was the creative force behind the successful Chapel Down Winery in Tenterden, said: “All areas of the building will be brought to life to maximise its potential, creating a vibrant daytime, visitor and evening destination for the city.”

The partners had hoped to open the towers museum at the same time, but repairs to the external parts of the medieval structure, carried out by the city council, have taken longer than expected.

Linked to the former gaol building by a glass-covered walkway, the tower museum has a number of exhibits, including suits of armour, which could be displayed in the rooms within the roundels.

The new bar and restaurant is due to open

Mr Allen now says the large chamber above the arch, which features windows looking out on the road below, could be used as an events space within the museum.

The final phase of the development will see business units aimed at local start-ups opened in the upper floors of the former gaol and music school building.

It is not known when the museum and office spaces will be open, but Mr Allen said he hoped this would happen in the first half of next year.#