Gunwharf Quays
 The East Plaza at Gunwharf Quays | |
| Location | Portsmouth, Hampshire, England |
|---|---|
| Owner | Land Securities |
| No. of stores and services | 93 plus a cinema, 25 bars and restaurants |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | www.gunwharf-quays.com |
Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth is a premium retail destination with an unrivalled mix of 90 outlet stores and 30 restaurants, bars and cafés all situated in a spectacular harbourside location.
Aside from the raft of designer stores to shop in, Gunwharf Quays plays host to a 14-screen cinema, 26-lane bowling complex, contemporary art gallery, casino, hotel and nightclub.
About
Gunwharf Quays is the South’s premium retail destination with an unrivalled mix of 90 outlet stores and 30 restaurants, bars and cafés all situated in a spectacular harbourside location.
Discover exclusive fashion stores including Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, Karen Millen, L.K. Bennett and Jaeger. What’s more, Gunwharf Quays plays host to an array of bars, coffee shops and restaurants; from mouth-watering French cuisine at Brasserie Blanc, to Italian comfort food at Carluccio’s and fresh seafood at Loch Fyne. And if that’s not enough, there’s a 14-screen cinema, 26-lane bowling complex, 24-hour health and fitness club, contemporary art gallery, hotel, nightclub and casino.
The waterfront overlooks Gunwharf Quays Marina which can accommodate all types of craft including luxury yachts up to 80 metres and has often played host to national and international sailing events. The Berkeley Group plc was responsible for the development of Gunwharf Quays, which is now owned by Land Securities. The area has also become an extremely affluent residential area of Portsmouth, and houses many luxurious apartment buildings. In 2012, the penthouse at no 1 Gunwharf Quays was on sale for £2.5 million
History
The Gunwharf Quays was an important part of the Portsmouth Naval dockyard in the days of sailing ships. Sailing ships required periodic checking and maintenance (and often repair after a naval battle). This often necessitated the ship being placed into a dry dock. However, a ship could not be placed in dry dock with its guns on board as the weight would severely damage the wooden structure once the support of the sea water was lost and the keel took all the weight of the ship and its contents. The ship would offload all of its guns at one of the Gunwharf Quays before being dry docked. As ships and armaments developed, the requirement to offload the armament diminished, and the Gunwharf Quays fell into disuse. The site was used to construct the Royal Navy shore establishment HMS Vernon in 1876.
Following several naval restructures and mergers, HMS Vernon ceased to be an independent command and was renamed HMS Nelson (Vernon site) on the 31st March 1986. In 1987 it was renamed again to HMS Nelson (GunWharf) although locally it continued to be known as HMS Vernon. Following many more reorganisations and mergers, all of HMS Nelson (Gunwharf)'s operations were deployed elsewhere, and it ceased operations in 1995. The site was subsequently sold for redevelopment.
The development opened as Gunwharf Quays on 28 February 2001. The concept for the redevelopment was by the local firm HGP Architects. Its very successful exploitation of its harbour-side situation (cf. Baltimore, USA) and the sympathetic integration of old and new architecture makes an interesting contrast with past redevelopments such as the Tricorn Centre.
Travel
Portsmouth Harbour train station, The Hard Bus Interchange, the Gosport Ferry and Wightlink foot-passenger terminal are only 5 minutes’ walk from Gunwharf Quays. A short drive takes you to the Isle of Wight Car Ferry terminal, and Gunwharf Quays is only 10 minutes’ drive away from the cross-channel ferry terminal. With its excellent transport links, it takes just over 90 minutes from Central London to reach Portsmouth Harbour, with trains every 15 minutes. The A3(M) or M27/A27 connect Portsmouth Harbour with the rest of Britain's motorway network. There is a 1532 space underground car park that provides direct access to the site.
See also
- Portsmouth
- Berkeley Group plc
- Land Securities
References
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gunwharf Quays. |
Coordinates: 50°47′42″N 1°06′21″W / 50.7949°N 1.1058°W