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Yate Shopping Centre is set to bring a burst of Easter excitement for families this April, with a series of free events designed to entertain children of all ages.
Taking place from 11am to 3pm in the Square, visitors can enjoy a range of activities across multiple dates:
- Easter Crafting Workshops on 9th and 16th April, offering children the chance to get creative with seasonal arts and crafts.
- Party Peeps Easter Party on 14th April, packed with fun, music, and interactive entertainment for the whole family.
In addition, an Easter Trail will run throughout the centre from the 1st to the 19th April, organised by St Mary’s Primary School on behalf of the Friends of St Mary’s. Families can explore the centre while taking part in the trail, with all proceeds supporting improvements to the school’s outdoor learning environment.
Bethan Scriven, Headteacher at St Mary’s Primary School, said:
“We’re raising money to develop our KS1 outdoor space so our children can move freely between the classroom and the outdoors. After successfully securing a grant for new fencing, we now want to create a safe, inspiring area where learning can continue beyond four walls. By improving our outdoor provision, we hope to give every child more opportunities to explore, enjoy and excel in their learning at St Mary’s.”
These free Easter events provide the perfect opportunity for families to come together, enjoy seasonal activities, and support a meaningful local cause.
A NEW HOME AT MAXI LOUNGE
After an incredible run of rotating kitchens, we’re excited to announce that The Falcon Steakhouse will be taking on the kitchen at Maxi Lounge full-time from Tuesday 17th February.
What started as a four-kitchen rotation has grown into something bigger than we ever expected, and this feels like the natural next step.
This isn’t goodbye to the legends who helped shape it — we’ll still be welcoming guest kitchens for special occasions, including Tasty Ragga and Bristol Soul Bowl. As for I Scream Tacos, the only way to get your fix now will be by catching them at the many festivals they’ll be popping up at this summer (keep an eye on their page for details).
What this means at Maxi Lounge:
• A Falcon-led menu that we’ll keep evolving
• Proper food, done properly
• Served alongside snooker, darts, pool and live sport
• The full menu available to eat in or takeaway
• Buns from Hobbs House Bakery
• Beef from our own family farm in Wotton-under-Edge
Food served daily: 12–2 & 6–9
(Might as well grab a pint if you’re collecting a takeaway…)
It’s a new chapter, a big challenge, and a massive opportunity — and we can’t wait to see where it goes.
Save the Date for Yate Ageing Better Festival 2026!
New year, new diary – Yate Town Council is putting a pin in your calendar to celebrate ageing better, at its annual fun-filled Ageing Better Festival in Yate Shopping Centre.
On Wednesday 15th July 2026, 10am till 2pm come along and enjoy our showcase of local groups and activities, find support from information services, and join in with our wellbeing and creative performances. If you’re thinking of making new friends, learning a new skill or hobby, or maybe rekindling old favorites, at this FREE event you can find out what Yate and the surrounding areas have to offer, for people approaching and already enjoying their retirement.
Are you a group or organisation helping our community to age better? We are excited to announce that 2026 stallholder and performer applications are NOW OPEN and we would love to hear from you.
Brought to you by Yate Town Council, with support from our partners at Yate Shopping Centre and Active Lifestyle Centre Yate – save the date and tell a mate!
To find out more about the Yate Ageing Better Festival, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, visit our website, or contact Yate Town Council at communityprojects@yatetowncouncil.gov.uk or telephone 01454 869441.
Aldi, the award-winning discount food retailer have completed the development of the new Yate Aldi within the Riverside retail & leisure park off the Link Road.
The planned Aldi food store will bring new life to the area and up to 40 new full-time equivalent jobs at industry-leading rates.
Simon Glover, Real Estate Director at Aldi, said:
“We are committed to revitalising this empty site and providing people in Yate and the surrounding areas with access to our award-winning range of low-cost, high-quality products. This new store will not only improve local shopping options but also contribute to the economic growth of the area through job creation.”
The new Yate store is scheduled to open on Friday 12th December 2025 at 8am.
More information is available at http://aldiconsultation.co.uk/yate
Buy One Hour, Get One FreeNational electric vehicle (EV) charging network Be.EV have installed 8 x rapid chargers at Yate Shopping Centre in the main car park off Station Road.
South Gloucestershire has one of the lowest percentages of EV chargers in the UK, now complete – the Yate hub will provide a huge boost to the region’s charging provisions.
The chargers will offer EV drivers visiting the centre a location to quickly charge their vehicles on long journeys, as well as benefit shoppers and the local community.
The centre will be equipped with ultra-rapid Kempower chargers (up to 150kW), which can add up to 165 miles of range in a short 20-minute stop – a solution that matches the site’s customer dwell time.
The chargers also feature unique dynamic load-balancing abilities, meaning they can intelligently distribute power between vehicles according to capacity and demand.
This gives drivers a better charging experience when a location gets busy, and allows for more charging bays at locations with the same amount of available power.
Be.EV is one of the fastest-growing EV charge point operators (CPO) in the UK. The network is majority-owned by Octopus Energy Generation.
A new high end elite multi-sports, games and leisure venue will open in Yate Shopping Centre in mid-October.
Maxi Lounge, based in South Walk, is a new addition to the competitive socialising sector, one of the fastest growing trends in the hospitality industry. It will offer users the opportunity to play snooker, billiards, various forms of pool and darts, all on a play-by-hour basis along with exhibition matches and ‘kids clubs’ with coaching at weekends.
Matt Lancaster, (from Lyde Green) founder and Director of the Maxi Lounge, said:
“We are introducing a new element of leisure to the area as currently no town in South Gloucestershire has any serious leisure venues. In addition, we will be offering a varied and unique catering facility with licensed facilities, which will appeal to a very wide range of people of all ages”.
Andrew Lowrey, Yate Shopping Centre Manager:
“We are thrilled to be able to accommodate such an exciting project as Maxi Lounge. It requires a lot of space to include all elements of the proposals and we are fortunate to have the former Job Centre of sufficient size to suit their requirements”.
Maxi Lounge will occupy two floors with professional quality snooker tables, imported from China, on the upper floor and laid out for exhibition matches. Downstairs will feature a wide range of competitive socialising games including all electronic scoring darts; augmented reality darts; shuffleboard tables; various pool tables, including six ‘Blackball’, two American nine-ball, and one of the fastest growing cue sports in Asia, a Chinese ‘Heyball’ eight-ball pool table.
A Director of Sport will be appointed to overlook all the activities and qualified coaches will be on hand to give private lessons.
There will be two giant televisions and many smaller ones located on both floors featuring current sporting events, especially snooker and other cue ball championships.
Matt: “The Lounge will be very much a family atmosphere with no age limit but children U12 must be accompanied by an adult and after 9pm children U18 will have to be accompanied by an adult. One of our main non-sporting features will be the unique catering offer which has been tied-in with five local established businesses.”
“Each business will rotate on a weekly basis offering varied menus for lunch and dinner. The Lounge is fully licensed with 16 local and national beers on tap, both mainstream and independent, suppliers.”
The Maxi Lounge will be very much a family affair with Matt running the business on a day-to-day basis, with support from his wife Cat and his main partner, Nick Hawkins, who is part owner of the Supreme Sports Lounge in St Philips, Bristol.
Matt has been playing in the Bristol Snooker League for 30 seasons and has been trying to open a snooker club for the last eight years.
Matt continues: “The current Maxi Lounge Team is the Number One team in the Bristol District Area involving several professional players and we hope that in due course we will get a steady stream of new talent joining us even, hopefully, the next Judd Trump!”.
Aldi, the award-winning discount food retailer, is excited to announce plans for a new food store at Riverside Retail Park in Yate.
The proposal, which is being delivered with the retail park owner Northdale Asset Management, would transform the building that was once home to Cineworld, following the cinema chain’s decision to close earlier this year.
The planned Aldi food store will bring new life to the area and up to 40 new full-time equivalent jobs at industry-leading rates.
Simon Glover, Real Estate Director at Aldi, said:
“We are committed to revitalising this empty site and providing people in Yate and the surrounding areas with access to our award-winning range of low-cost, high-quality products. This new store will not only improve local shopping options but also contribute to the economic growth of the area through job creation.”
The plans do not involve any substantial changes to the building itself: the main alterations will be some minor changes to the car park, a new entrance/exit lobby and the creation of a new delivery bay in the rear service yard.
Planning application successful, new store scheduled to open Dec 2025
More information is available at http://aldiconsultation.co.uk/yate
On Thursday 28th August, Yate turned 60! And what a party we had! Alongside our pop-up beach, visitors were treated to a host of performances from tribute acts as wide ranging as George Michael to Kylie and Ed Sheeran to Dua Lipa! The crowds sang and danced, and a good time was had by all – especially our lucky prize winners! Thank you to everyone who has been a part of the Yate story for the last 60 years, we have a fabulous community and you make Yate the special place that it is. We can’t wait to see you again soon!
Throughout this summer, join us for a series of celebrations to commemorate our 60th year!
