Democracy doesn't work when people don't know  Upgrade to paid

NEWS

Old Exeter bus and coach station to be demolished five and a half years after closure

Bristol-based Wring Group appointed as contractor by city council to demolish building to slab level but not to remove foundations, leaving rest of Citypoint site untouched.

Leigh Curtis

Exeter City Council has appointed Bristol-based Wring Group to demolish the old bus and coach station and cafe. Work is expected to begin in January and to take around two months to complete.

The structure will be demolished to concrete slab level but the building foundations will be retained.

Hoardings that are to be erected round the site while work is carried out will remain in place for an unspecified period beyond completion.

Old bus and coach station demolition plan Old bus and coach station demolition plan. Image: Wring Group.

The council has struggled to find a demolition contractor for the Bampfylde Street building, which has not been in use since June 2018.

Its closure was put back by several months because of delays in the appointment of a contractor for the construction of the new, adjacent bus station.

Temporary bus and coach stops were positioned nearby, including on Sidwell Street and Cheeke Street, for more than three years until the new station opened in July 2021.

Citypoint redevelopment scheme drawing 2018 Citypoint development scheme drawing

The old bus and coach station is located on part of what is known as the Citypoint redevelopment site, which includes the buildings on Paris Street and Sidwell Street as far as Cheeke Street.

The site is part of the East Gate development zone allocated in the new Exeter Local Plan.

Citypoint was a response to the failure of previous plans dating back to 2015 for an extension of the Princesshay shopping centre across Paris Street.

It was to include a hotel, retail and food outlets, offices, build to rent housing and a new civic centre to enable the council to relocate and redevelop its current offices across the road.

The council proceeded with St Sidwell’s Point leisure centre and the new bus station at a total cost of £57 million but the rest of the site has remained undeveloped. Its future remains uncertain.

Democracy doesn't work when people don't know

Public interest news that holds power and influence to account is more important now than it has ever been.

Democracy doesn't work when people don't know who is deciding what on whose behalf and what the costs and consequences of those decisions will be.

Exeter Observer was created to deliver the independent investigative journalism our local democracy needs.

It exists because people who think what we do matters are willing to chip in each month to help cover our costs.

We need more of our readers to contribute like this so we can keep producing and publishing our essential reporting.

137 of the 300 paying subscribers we need have signed up so far. Join them today to help us reach our goal.

If you value the work we do please support our work from less than £2/week. It's a small investment for a very big return.

Upgrade to paid

More stories
Illustrative view of proposed co-living blocks from Heavitree Road

Heavitree Road police station student accommodation and “co-living” scheme consultation extended

Developers revise application for full planning permission for 813-bed seven-block complex submitted in May as similar proposals proliferate across city centre.

Boneyard arcade games

Unique retro games arcade to create new Sidwell Street venue after long search

Boneyard arcade seeking permission to change use of empty Brighthouse retail unit after making way for “co-living” block at previous Red Lion Lane location.

Proposed revised Mary Arches Bartholomew Street East co-living block elevation

Mary Arches “co-living” developer resists “miniscule” room size criticisms as design revisions prompt further consultation

Changes include increased building footprints and removal of twelve rooms to provide eleven communal kitchens – between residents of 297 studios – while gates obstruct pedestrian thoroughfare and site’s historic setting and significance essentially ignored.

September 2025 permitted replacement scheme west elevation

Council denies data and contrives criteria to dismiss community balance concerns in third King Billy student block approval

Exeter Observer analysis finds more students living in city centre than residents as council bid to include PBSA in housing delivery figures weakens local planning policy – but does not remove it from decision-making altogether.

, updated

Grace Road Fields in March

Botched consultation restarted on sale of 8.5 acres of Riverside Valley Park green space

Council land disposal to include rights to lay underground distribution pipework across River Exe floodplain following “low-to-zero carbon” Grace Road Fields heat plant planning approval in face of Environment Agency sequential test concerns.

On Our Radar
Jo Eades

FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER 2025

Spork! Dead Poets Slam 2025

Halloween spoken-word special featuring Jo Eades and Samuel L. Cohen with a £100 cash prize poetry slam.

EXETER PHOENIX

Carmen with rose graphic

SATURDAY 8 & SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2025

Carmen

Exeter Opera Group performs Bizet’s tale of a free-spirited woman and her passionate and destructive love affair with a soldier.

EXETER CASTLE

Exeter Philharmonic Choir

SATURDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2025

The Weather Book

Exeter Philharmonic Choir performs a new weather-inspired work plus pieces by Brahms, Poulenc and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

EXETER CATHEDRAL