City centre car park confirms closure

Coventry city centre will lose 1,100 parking spaces following the sudden closure of the Belgrade Plaza car park.

The NCP-owned car park was under threat after the owners went into administration last month - with signs put up on Tuesday that it will close.

Belgrade Plaza will shut at 11:59 BST on Thursday.

Coventry City Council's parking service manager Paul Bowman said the announcement came as a shock to the authority, which only found out about the closure on Wednesday "and that was because colleagues saw the signs pinned up".

Interim CEO of the nearby Belgrade Theatre, Emma Flatley, said they were "disappointed" by the news.

Flatley said: "We hadn't been given any information and so we were hopeful. We wanted to warn patrons in advance but it was very sudden.

"It's a very compelling offer to have such a large car park on your doorstep and we'd be open to working with the council and other tourist venues on taking on the management in partnership."

She added that while the car park was an important part of the business, there were lots of other car parks around the city that they hoped audience members would be able to use.

Bowman said the council was in very early discussions and trying to explore opportunities on the management of the car park.

"It does appeal to us but there is lots of diligence to be done, we're trying to keep every opportunity open," he added.

A spokesperson for the firm's administrators, PWC, said it had not been possible to reach agreements to enable the continued operation of the car park.

They said: "The joint administrators have been engaging with key stakeholders, including landlords, to assess the business and improve the viability of as many sites as possible.

"Following the closure of a number of commercially unviable sites on 27 March, it has not been possible to reach agreements to enable the continued operation of a further four loss-making sites.

"All other car parks remain open to customers."

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