Nine Torquay businesses face closure in Union Square redevelopment

A Torquay town centre shop that has become a ‘safe space’ for the town’s diverse communities could face closure as a result of a new multi-million-pound housing plan.

Now the fight is on to save Nexus, which is one of nine businesses in Union Street which will go, as a huge new development goes up on the site of the Union Square shopping centre.

“So many people will be affected by this,” said proprietor Luke Cook. “If we’re not here, where will they go?”

There will be 99 homes in a towering block on the site, along with public open spaces, a revamped market and new businesses.

Speaking after Torbay Council planners had unanimously backed the plan, committee chairman Martin Brook (Con, Collaton St Mary) said: “This is going to bring millions back into the town centre. It could really make a dramatic change.”

But, said Mr Cook, there will be no room for a business that has become a town centre meeting place for many.

Nexus began in May 2024 as a board games cafe but, he said, it had since become a ‘lifeline’. “We’re not just an average cafe,” he said. “We are so, so much more than that.

“We have so many people from different diverse backgrounds, whether they are of the heterosexual community, LGBT community, neurodiverse, autistic, ADHD, they all come here because it is a safe space for them.

“It’s somewhere where they can come where they know they’re not going to be judged, they know they’re not going to be isolated from everything. They’re in a welcoming environment.”

Nexus hosts children’s clubs, social clubs and local youth services, and Mr Cook said the Union Square plans had come as a shock.

“I want to be here for as long as my customers are here,” he said. “But if I can’t get the support I need to move, the business is over.

“I don’t have the funds to move. I don’t have the funds to redevelop a new building.

“I am the last independent business in this part of the high street, and there is nowhere else like this in Torbay. A lot of the people that come here and use the space don’t have anywhere else to go.

“Where are they going to go if we’re not here?”

A spokesperson for Torbay Council said the council and development partners Willmott Dixon and Milligan were delighted that the redevelopment had received unanimous support, and that it reflected ‘a shared commitment to Torquay’s long-term regeneration ambitions and the importance of creating spaces that support both the local community and economy, while breathing new life into key areas of the town’.

The spokesman went on: “During this next phase of work, the shopping centre and surrounding area will continue to operate as smoothly and efficiently as possible. We will continue to keep businesses and the wider community informed as we reach key milestones in this important town centre transformation.”