Plan Your Visit
to the Quays
Gloucester Quays and Docks
Gloucester Quays Outlet has an outstanding mix of many of your favourite stores at up to 70% off recommended retail prices.
More than 50 stores are on offer including high street favourites M&S Outlet, Next Clearance, Gap Outlet, Nike Factory Store and designer brands including The White Company, Calvin Klein, L.K. Bennett, Le Creuset and Osprey London.
As an ancient port, and later when port status was granted by Elizabeth I in 1580, shipping to and from Gloucester had to navigate the treacherous tidal River Severn. The Docks and associated canal to Sharpness, completed in 1827, changed that and enabled significant growth in trade with all continents. Cargoes of grain and timber dominated, though goods including wines and spirits and oranges and lemons were brought by large sea going ships. Salt from Worcestershire was the main return cargo.
The fine group of Victorian warehouse stored imported grain for transshipment across the country by canal and railway.
A mariners chapel was built in 1849 to minister to visiting sailors. Ivor Gurney, a local composer and Great War poet, was organist here, and is commemorated by an artwork by Wolfgang Buttress.
As ships grew larger and railways and road transport took over, only smaller vessels used the docks commercially – bringing in petroleum and carob for chocolate making. Commercial use of the docks ceased at the end of the twentieth century.
1899 saw the arrival in the city of Howard Blackburn, a disabled American sea captain, who sailed single-handed across the Atlantic from Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The docks still have an active shipwright; and now act as a marina and visitor destination – visitors can see the Waterways Museum and the award winning Regiments of Gloucestershire Museum, as well as regular Tall Ships festivals and other events. Contemporary landscaping and public art also enhance the current setting for waterside restaurants and shopping.
More than 50 stores are on offer including high street favourites M&S Outlet, Next Clearance, Gap Outlet, Nike Factory Store and designer brands including The White Company, Calvin Klein, L.K. Bennett, Le Creuset and Osprey London.
Gloucester Quays - part of the city’s historic docks area - can trace its roots back to the 1800s and was once the hub of the UK’s most inland shipping port. Today pleasure boats have replaced the ships and barges and the docks are a lively visitor attraction with year round events and family entertainment – from outdoor theatre to weekend food markets.
As an ancient port, and later when port status was granted by Elizabeth I in 1580, shipping to and from Gloucester had to navigate the treacherous tidal River Severn. The Docks and associated canal to Sharpness, completed in 1827, changed that and enabled significant growth in trade with all continents. Cargoes of grain and timber dominated, though goods including wines and spirits and oranges and lemons were brought by large sea going ships. Salt from Worcestershire was the main return cargo.
The fine group of Victorian warehouse stored imported grain for transshipment across the country by canal and railway.
A mariners chapel was built in 1849 to minister to visiting sailors. Ivor Gurney, a local composer and Great War poet, was organist here, and is commemorated by an artwork by Wolfgang Buttress.
As ships grew larger and railways and road transport took over, only smaller vessels used the docks commercially – bringing in petroleum and carob for chocolate making. Commercial use of the docks ceased at the end of the twentieth century.
1899 saw the arrival in the city of Howard Blackburn, a disabled American sea captain, who sailed single-handed across the Atlantic from Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The docks still have an active shipwright; and now act as a marina and visitor destination – visitors can see the Waterways Museum and the award winning Regiments of Gloucestershire Museum, as well as regular Tall Ships festivals and other events. Contemporary landscaping and public art also enhance the current setting for waterside restaurants and shopping.
Useful Info
For more information and contact details for the Port, please click here.For information about the exciting new Quayside development proposals, please click here.
Opening Hours
Outlet Centre
Mon - Fri 10am - 8pmSat 10am - 7pm
Sun* 10am - 5pm
Bank Hols* 10am - 6pm
Quayside Restaurants
Mon - Thurs 11am - 10pmFri - Sat 11am - 11pm
Sun 11:30am - 10pm
Car Parking
Open 24 hours a day,7 days a week
*Bank Holiday trading
hours may vary.
- Gloucester Quays
St Ann Way
Gloucester
GL1 5SH
T: 01452 338933
