Stratford This Week: New Car Park, Hall’s Croft and Fireworks

This week’s local news in one place, plus what’s on this weekend and what’s coming up next week. The main stories: a new car park has opened on the old Safeway site off Mansell Street, Shakespeare’s daughter’s home is on the national Heritage at Risk list, the district still has far less land for housing than it should, and a new shop’s late-night alcohol plan goes to a hearing next week. This weekend brings the last big fireworks displays and Remembrance Sunday.

Getting around and parking

• New car park: the old Safeway site off Mansell Street has opened as a pay car park, with more spaces to come before Windsor Street closes. Prices, hours and spaces.
• Christmas market closures: which streets shut and when on the two market weekends.
• IndieGo Plus: the on-demand village bus has been extended.
• Shipston recycling centre is closed on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 November. Where to go instead.

The council

• Housing land: the district has about 2.43 years’ supply of land for new homes, well short of the five it should have, and building has slowed. Read more, and how the Cabinet debate went.
• Budget: the council expects to underspend this year, despite toilet cleaning going over budget. Read more.
• Christmas lights: the council stepped in to cover a funding gap.
• Village youth groups are to get help from a new rural youth project, and Southam United’s clubhouse grant was approved.
• Alcester: the council is in talks to buy the burnt-out Three Tuns.
• Audits and complaints: CCTV logged far more begging last year, most complaints about councillors were rejected, planning enforcement got a weak audit rating, and the Planning Committee overruled officers 10 times in a year.
• Scams: calls pretending to be Warwickshire Police, and what to do.

Buildings and planning

• Hall’s Croft, the Old Town home of Shakespeare’s daughter, is on Historic England’s 2026 Heritage at Risk Register.
• Greenhill Street: a new shop’s plan to sell alcohol until midnight goes to a licensing hearing on Thursday 12 November.
• King Edward VI School plans a new sixth form centre.
• Village homes: 99 at Salford Priors and 70 at Kineton.
• Every new application is in Planning this week, and openings and licences are in New in Stratford.

Culture and community

• Literary Festival: readers picked the one novel they would save.
• Julius Caesar with Harriet Walter has opened at The Other Place, and it has sold out.
• Big Toy Swap: trade outgrown toys at the Masons Road Hub on 21 November.
• Football: Stratford Town FC’s new rule for under-16s.
• Community fridge: Stratford Town Trust plans one at Venture House, Avenue Farm, from January, with a drop-in for volunteers on Wednesday 18 November from 4pm to 6pm, the Stratford Herald reports.

This weekend

It’s the last big fireworks weekend: Shipston and Alcester on Friday, and Snitterfield, Warwick, Kenilworth, Hatton, Henley-in-Arden, Barford and The Four Alls at Welford-on-Avon on Saturday. Remembrance Sunday’s main service is at 11am in the Garden of Remembrance, Old Town, with roads around it closed from 7am to noon. Compton Verney’s Textile Fair runs all weekend, As You Like It and Sweeney Todd finish on Saturday, and the Waterside Upmarket is on Sunday. Friday may bring light drizzle; Saturday and Sunday look dry, with a cold, foggy start on Sunday. Our what’s on this weekend page and Bonfire Night guide have times and tickets.

Next week and beyond

• Monday 9 November: the district council’s Audit and Standards Committee meets at 5pm, with the external auditor’s annual report on the agenda.
• Wednesday 11 November: Armistice Day services at 11am and 4pm. Times and places.
• Thursday 12 November: the Licensing Panel hears the Greenhill Street shop’s application at 10am.
• Saturday 14 November: the Christmas lights switch-on, with town centre roads closed. Everything else for the season is in our Christmas in Stratford guide.

Last week’s round-up is here. All our stories are on the Stratford-upon-Avon news page, and buses, trains and roads right now are on Stratford Live.

Alex Harrington

Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.