Gloucestershire's first ever dedicated roller disco venue is coming to Gloucester Quays when Roller Express opens this autumn 2023.
The 8,000 sq ft venue has capacity for 100 people and is located in the former GAP store next door to Bill's. It's due to open seven days a week throughout the day and into the evening, offering 34 skating sessions per week with two hours of skating costing from just £5 — and equipment hire is available, too.
It will also offer a Skate School every Saturday and Sunday morning for kids of all ages, in partnership with Heelys.
Roller Express is run by the team behind Skate Factory — an 'old skool' Gloucester skate shop which dates back to 1976 — which creates bespoke quad roller skates and sells a variety of skating and skateboarding accessories.
The new venue intends to operate as a not-for-profit community members club to encourage people to take up roller skating as a leisure activity and keep experiences and products as low-cost and accessible as possible, to create a safe space for skaters of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.
It will create up to 15 full- and part-time jobs, too, with applications open to all, regardless of their skating experience.
Skate Factory's customer experience manager, Simon, said: 'We’re over the moon to be opening this new venue at Gloucester Quays. We have dedicated so much time and energy into making roller skating more appealing, more accessible, and more fun for the people of Gloucester, and over many decades have picked up a huge community following in the process.
'Gloucester Quays likewise has a great loyal customer base, so we are hoping to see those merge, as we look to open up an activity to as many people as possible.'
Owen Acland, the centre manager at Gloucester Quays, added: 'Creating new and exciting reasons for people to visit Gloucester Quays is always top of mind when we are thinking about which businesses we should bring to the outlet.
'Roller Express does just that, but it gives us even more pleasure when we’re able to accommodate a business with strong community principles and a long-founded local connection. This will make for such a fun addition to Gloucester Quays, and a completely unique one at that.'
