After 30 years of trading and scaling the walls, The Warehouse Climbing Centre in Gloucester held an emotional final farewell day and closed its doors at the end of November.
The Warehouse has been an ever-popular venue for adventure seekers of all ages and abilities. From children and adults learning the ropes for the very first time, or established climbers scaling the walls, the centre has seen hundreds of thousands of people scale its walls.
As part of the ‘end of an era’ day, The Warehouse invited past and present climbers to come and climb one final time. Lots of stories and photos were shared on a big screen from the last 30 years.
David Stevens, one of the owners of The Warehouse, said: “The turnout was way more than we expected. So many people have so many fond memories of The Warehouse and the final day was an emotional occasion. It was great to see so loads of familiar faces as well as many faces we hadn’t seen in years. People have literally grown up with the Warehouse, for instance, many of our team started climbing at our kids’ clubs when they were primary school aged.
“It’s been an amazing journey, and our success has all been down to everyone who helped us along the way, worked for us or visited and climbed with us over the years.”
When the Warehouse opened it was only the fifth dedicated climbing centre in the UK – today there are more than 100. However, the climbing industry has changed beyond recognition since The Warehouse opened and with little space to develop the facilities, the decision was made to close the business and set up exciting and brand-new climbing and adventure facilities at 270 Climbing Park, based at Bentham between Cheltenham and Gloucester which opened to the public on Friday 6th December.
David added: “Our team were renowned for their friendly welcomes at the Warehouse. Thankfully most have come with us, along with a few new additions, on our new adventure at 270 Climbing. After being at the same place for so long, our new location may take a little getting used too. It’s a new place with new name, but it’s the same brilliant people so it will feel like home very soon.”
