With the long-awaited opening of the Friars Walk development there is now an added buzz to the city centre with various new shops, bars and restaurants opening not only in the scheme itself but on the periphery.

Newport is now well and truly in a position to provide not only a retail and restaurant offer but also now to underpin its economic fortunes with the development of its manufacturing and industrial space.

For a city to thrive it requires a young and vibrant community and work force and it is hoped that the change in economic fortunes will bring more investors / employers into the city and its hinterlands to sustain the city centre leisure and retail sector.

Admiral Insurance’s investment in the city is testament to the confidence in its workforce and with its proposed expansion plans should provide the injection of city centre demand for services which is required to sustain the future of Newport.

The proposed Scarborough development on Cambrian Road is also a welcome scheme with the proposal of 30,000 sq ft of new offices fronting Queensway which again hopefully will attract large occupiers to the city centre reinforcing its economic base.

The proposed centralisation of the University Campus and its expansion along the River Front also brings its own economy with student’s propensity to consume being an important factor in many cities fortunes.

House building is also looking to step up within the city with Taylor Wimpey on site to finish their Riverside Development, the former Alcan Steelworks coming on line providing hundreds of houses to the north west of the city as well as various other schemes in the pipe line including Modwen’s and Glan Lyn development the former Llanwern site to the south east of the city.

Hopefully an integrated public transport policy will assist shoppers and leisure seekers alike to return to the city centre to continue its resurrection and lead to Commercial Street as well as the Friars Walk scheme becoming a thriving commercial thoroughfare.

So as we move into 2016 we can definitely conclude that Newport’s fortunes are on the up and hopefully new developers will move into the area to create the accommodation and space which is required to maintain that economic turn around so that Newport can once again become a thriving and dynamic city.