Concern Over Controversial Tunbridge Wells Shopping Centre And Cinema

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has said its proposed controversial upgrade of the Royal Victoria Place (RVP) shopping centre, which includes building a new cinema, would cost between £42m and £68m, and it will borrow all the money to make it happen.

The council is pushing forward with its plan to redevelop the RVP in Tunbridge Wells, which it bought for £8,890,000 in October 2023.

But some are calling it a “vanity project”, with growing concern about the extent of borrowing by the council.

The development could start early next year, subject to planning permission, with completion by 2029. The cinema would be on the corner of the precinct and Camden Road, and on Ely Court.

There would be a revitalised Palm Court in the centre, with improved shopping, food and drink. The development and other improvements could cost between £42m and £68m, but these costs are from June 2025. The funding strategy assumes the gross capital cost “would be funded from external borrowing”.

On its consultation boards online, the council says that borrowing would via a Government loan which it intends to pay back from “funds the council receives directly from the new tenants and wider benefits”.

Some are saying it feels like a return to the turbulent days of 2017 to 2020, when the council’s invested £108million into the Civic Project, which included a new 1,200-seat theatre in Calverley Grounds, with offices and a civic centre nearby.

This was proposed under the Conservatives, sparking an unprecedented backlash from the community about the borrowing and building in the park. It ultimately ended the party’s 23 years reign at the council, and left taxpayers with a £10.6m bill.