Bar Park
BAR PARK LAYOUT, design and build
Gloucester Bar Park was designed and built in consultation with Chispa and our Youth Team. The layout and equipment was decided through consulting with parkour, calisthenics and acrobatics professionals to ensure that it can be a versatile multipurpose space. Our aims are to develop it as a youth cultural hub, where young people and local community members can train, learn new skills and disciplines, organise events and programmes and socialise and build community. The Bar Park Build was funded by Gloucester City Council.
The Bar Park was fabricated and installed by the Great Outdoor Gym Company (TGO). A pioneer in outdoor fitness, TGO has been driving the boom in callisthenics—a form of urban gymnastics—since 2007. TGO's female founder, Georgie Delaney, MBE, expressed her excitement about the project:
We worked with Alice and Chispa to support their vision of creating a female friendly, inclusive community bar park in Gloucester. We are so excited by its success and impact in the community. This is best practice when it comes to co-creating community spaces.
We successfully launched Gloucester Bar park in October 2024 in partnership with The Music Works and Kings Jam. Subsequently we ran an Activation Programme to establish a safe, positive and supported culture of use in the space. We are now seeking funding and support to be able to develop and run a year round community programme in the Bar Park. Having seen the successful opening of the Gloucester Park - Multipurpose Bar Park, I wish to thank you and your teams for the outstanding customer service from beginning to end.
The new facility looks great and is a marvellous addition to the leisure provision at Gloucester Park. Thank you all for the dedication to complete the facility on time for the very successful launch event organised and delivered by Alice who is now delivering the activation programme of the Multipurpose Bar Park for everyone’s use and enjoyment.
- Ian Gayton, Environment Officer GCC
The building of the park has been an incredible process because it has been co-created with the community at hand, hence its multi-purposed nature. It is so important for these projects to be led by those that have direct experience in these spaces and their impact - and that is exactly what’s being done! My experience working for Chispa and being part of the Gloucester Bar Park community has been a highlight of my year. Not only have I loved the work I’ve been doing, coaching members of the public on how to facilitate within the space and learn calisthenics, but I’ve met some friends for life and witnessed the beginnings of a community that will continue to develop for as long as those bars stand in the ground. The team has been a pleasure to work with - a group of individuals that are truly seeking to make an impact.
- Demi Alvanis, Calisthenics Athlete and founder of UCL Calisthenics Club
IMPACT and community engagement
The heart of the Community programme is the idea of turning Gloucester’s Bar Park into a vibrant cultural hub where young people can train, socialise and express themselves through multiple physical and art forms. By giving young people a platform to co-curate the programme in the space, we are cultivating a sense of ownership and leadership, while providing the much needed support systems lacking in the city.
Training here has made me feel more confidence for myself and made me feel more happier that I achieved something and I can teach someone else to do whatever I had achieved so this is one thing that I have, one story of many that I can tell you.
- Shuaib Bar Park user
It’s more about the culture we build and how you just get to come here and be a different person. So yeah, thanks for the Bar Park, we love it.
- Trevor Bar Park user
I used to train a lot in the smaller parks, but I didn’t really train that much. Here it’s different.I do like superhero training—I’m training to be a superhero. Any kind of move that’s abnormal, things people can’t really do, that’s what I try and do.