Plans have been approved by Blaenau Gwent Council Planning Committee to change the use of the former shopping site in Ebbw Vale into a mixed use business centre. News of Mercia Real Estate Ltd buying Festival Park was announced in August, 2021, after months of speculation as to what would happen to the once popular site.
The privately-owned real estate investment and asset management company, based in Birmingham, hopes to bring a new lease of life to the site, with its approved major development plan, which is hoped to bring further job creation into the area.
The area was once known as the Garden Festival of Wales and filled with fairground attractions, plant exhibitions and a famous mechanical clock. It previously brought over two million tourists to the former Ebbw Vale Steel works. You can read about the history of the Garden Festival of Wales and its legacy in more detail here.
