The baffled boss of a trampoline park company said he’d been pushing for an agreement with Carmarthenshire County Council to create a new venture in a former Wilko store before reading in the press that cabinet members had decided to demolish it.
Craig Lloyd, director of Buzz Parks, said he and Buzz Parks founder Jez James visited the former store at Friars Park, Carmarthen, in July 2025 after being contacted by a council officer about it and drew up an indicative proposal for a family events centre which they shared with the authority – the site’s owner.
“I fell in love with the building personally,” said Mr Lloyd. “I think it’s got a real quirk to it which would be amazing. It’s got a tunnel down a hatch from one side to the other with lots of little alcoves. You could have a Halloween trail, a Christmas trail.”
Mr Lloyd said he proposed using the building for a trampoline park with a ninja activity area, virtual reality space, soft play, and potentially climbing walls. “We thought there was a big gap for a leisure complex,” he said. “We wanted to keep the cafe there open too.”
Mr Lloyd said he’d initially included go-karting but dropped the idea because the council will offer this at the new Atriwm health and leisure development at Carmarthen’s former Debenhams store.
Atriwm will also have soft play but Mr Lloyd said the soft play he’d proposed for the ex-Wilko building was geared towards older children than Atriwm’s.
He said the Wilko building was in good condition although roof work was needed along with other bits and pieces he said he could have rectified, although he would have sought council assistance.
Mr Lloyd said the scheme he’d drawn up would have attracted around 1,500 families every weekend – fewer during weekdays – and involved Buzz Parks leasing the building.
He and Mr James said they kept in touch with the council between July 2025 and March this year, chasing for any updates, before contacting Cllr Hazel Evans, cabinet member for regeneration, culture, leisure and tourism.
According to Mr Lloyd the reply came that their request had been passed onto the relevant authorities who would be in touch but he said this never materialised.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported in late July that the council’s cabinet had decided to demolish the Wilko store and prepare the site, including the car park, for future development.
A cabinet report said it would have cost around £1m to get the vacant building fit for use again and that discussions were taking place with interested parties about future use of the site. The project is expected to cost around £2.5m and is to be funded by a Welsh Government grant.
This was when a surprised Mr Lloyd learned of the building’s fate. He said reusing it would be a better option environmentally and financially.
He added it would have cost Buzz Parks, which has a centre in Swansea, around £1.3m to kit the building out and that around 60 full and part-time jobs would have been created. “We pushed to get a deal on the table,” he said.
Asked by the LDRS if he’d be interested in submitting more plans if a new building was to take shape there he replied: “Potentially yes.” But he also said the experience had been off-putting and in his view councils ought to consider more what the public would want when making commercial decisions.
In reply Cllr Evans said: “Unfortunately, due to unexpected long-term staff absence, further correspondence from Mr Lloyd was not responded to and we apologise for not providing an update to him on this matter.
“We welcome investment proposals that support Carmarthen town centre and would be happy to discuss alternative opportunities within the town with Mr Lloyd. There are a number of potential sites available and, while not all are in council ownership, we would be happy to facilitate discussions with relevant landowners and landlords if this would be of interest.”
Cllr Evans added that the council would make details of any commercial agreement for the Wilko site public if an agreement was reached.
Comments
This article has no comments yet. Be the first to leave a comment.