Towerlands - sold ?

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poniesanddogs

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Hi
I have heard that Towerlands in Braintree has finally be sold and that all shows have been cancelled for the rest of this year -has anyone else heard this ?
 
We were at a show there a couple of saturdays ago and its looking very run down the stables were full of muck, there was no running water its so sad to see a fantastic venue deteriorate and left to go to rack & ruin.
 
Thats not good to hear as I am going to a show there at the end of the month.

I have heard that they are closing for refurbishment - lets hope its true.
 
Definitely closing for good from 1/9/11. Article in yesterday's local rag with interviews with Bill Gredley and Chris Hunnable. Gredleys have lost £4M over the years. But it's confusing.....as so many Brainless and Witless articles are.... it says they are not going to sell all of it, but are keeping, or trying to keep, and exhibition centre going in one of the buildings. The last show will be the Arab International.
such a SHAME!!!!!!
 
Towerlands used to be THE premier full time indoor showjumping arena that used to get packed with spectators to watch shows, you just have to look at the photo's on the walls to see what it was like with great riders and horses .With it's decline and now closure, it really say's it all about the sport in the UK.

I don't blame the owners, but this is a massive loss not only for the shows but the equestrian world in general. Great shame
 
The Gredley's have been offered a deal which would guarantee they make money for the next two years. For some reason they are intent on destroying the whole facility, even though they will have to cancel a number of bookings and building is not planned until 2018.

One can only assume Tim has no influence as MD of Unex!
 
Either that or Tim is intent on leaving his 'mark' and proving to his father that there is no sentimental attachment to his previous 'career' ?
 
im sure we will see other EC closing soon as well its a sign of the times, if they get planning for houses on a 140 acre site in Braintree...i am defo going to use their architect. They will face massive difficulties with the local community..i hope they do well with it.
 
If they don't already have planning i'd be amazed..they'd have no problems at all getting it there....just what the local planners eant....brownfield site....screw the equesyrian community...perfect.
 
Doubt very much that even though Tim is the 'MD' of Unex it is probably only on paper (!) He would never be able to go against anything his father said. If the father has no interest in showjumping now why would he keep Towerlands going - it was only an amusement centre for the Gredleys at the end of the day that fitted into the lifestyle they chose at the time.

It is a great shame because as posted previously it used to be a great show centre and the place to go!
 
But isnt that the point Towerlands Customer, if the gredleys can put on paper it is a loss making venue as they have done for four years now, it adds weight to the greater plan for Braintree and fuels the planning decision as it is then a "redundant" site, if it is run by someone else at a profit then this nullifies the arguament! Therefore if they are going to capitalise on the site they WANT it to fail
 
hi...i think people are jumping the gun a bit here, they have not been granted planning for houses on the site..its a green belt area 140 acres of housing is a lot of houses.

Maybe they are trying to get the site into the local development plan for housing,like we have, we have been on it for 4 years and still waiting.

Maybe the Gredlys have closed it for a reason...im sure the unix group is like everybody else feeling the rath of the troubled times in the uk.

I seen bill had dropped a lot in last years times rich list..who knows ..but i think a golf club will have a lot lower overheads than an equestrian centre
 
onceuponatime said:
it was only an amusement centre for the Gredleys at the end of the day that fitted into the lifestyle they chose at the time.
Click to expand...

Couldn't have put it better myself. Tim Gredley was a rich kid who wanted to play with the big boys. The Gredley's chucked money at Towerlands, reviving it from it's heydey in the eighties, and with the outdoor surfaces, and autumn CSI it looked set to be the UK's #1 indoor arena, all well and good while Timmy was playing at being a professional.

Trouble is where Towerlands is located, it is prime building land, and must be worth a fortune, that is probably what they initially saw when they bought it. Every time we drove through on the way to a show we said it was a matter of time before the land would be sold for housing. After all, Bill Gredley isn't stupid and he knows that horses are not moneymaking.

I have so many happy memories of Towerlands: jumping NC second rounds there and being pipped to a qualifying ticket; wading through mud to get to our stables for a New Year Show then finding they were half built (this was before Gredley's); getting very drunk in the lorry and playing air guitar; being mortified by my Mum sneaking a Valentines card into Keith Doyle's lorry (this was many years ago when he was fit!); another time she stole a rose cutting from the gardens, the year I jumped Osborne Grade C second rounds, planting it and now it is a beautiful "towerlands" rose bush;

It is a huge shame, but I guess it is a sign of the times. If the UNEX machine cannot keep Towerlands a going concern then what hope does it have? Such a waste to think of those facilities rotting away.
 
If there was ever an argument for the BEF (or some federation) stepping in and buying the place as a national centre then this must be it. Ffs...it was the Beijing training base for Team GBR!
 
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