Stratford-upon-Avon & district · Local news you can trust
The Ivy is open at 33-35 High Street, empty since Debenhams left in 2020: 154 seats, 100+ jobs, 8.30am opening. Three more units there have no tenants yet.
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Planning
Southam 217 Homes: A423 Roundabout Vote Tonight
Councillors backed the homes on 26 August, then deferred the only road in. It is back tonight: a three-arm roundabout, a toucan crossing and 73 objections.
Schools
Alcester Academy Ofsted: 1 Exceptional, 5 Strong
Its first report card since 2022 rates personal development exceptional and the other five areas strong. GCSE pass rate 68.5%, against 45.4% nationally.
Christmas
Charlecote Park Christmas 2026: House Dressed From 16 Nov
Charlecote's Victorian Christmas house opens 16 November to 3 January, closed 24 and 25 December. Timed tickets on the day only, no booking. Prices and hours.
Christmas
Shakespeare's Birthplace Christmas Hours: 4pm From 2 Nov
Shakespeare's Birthplace and Anne Hathaway's Cottage shut at 4pm from 2 November. Hours after 23 December are not out yet: last year's, prices, CV37 entry.
Police
Stratford Sergeant Gets Scouts' Highest Gallantry Award
Sgt Charlie Thompson has the Scouts' Bronze Cross for stopping a man setting himself alight at a Stratford petrol station. It follows a police bravery award.
Council
Stratford Council This Week: May 2027 Vote Back On
District elections on 6 May 2027 are now expected to go ahead. Scrutiny meets on 30 September, a taxi policy consultation opens, and Cabinet papers are out.
This weekend
Stratford Weekend 25-27 Sept: Groff Opens As You Like It
As You Like It opens at the RST on Saturday, Any Questions is live from Alcester tonight, and the APF show at Ragley ends on Saturday. Times and prices inside.
Jobs
Stratford Claimant Count: Under-25s at Five-Year High
345 under-25s in Stratford district were claiming in August, the most in at least five years. The total rose 80 to 1,870, ending four months of falls.
House prices
Stratford District House Prices Rise £6,010 in a Month
The district average rose 1.5% in July to £396,753, the sharpest rise in Warwickshire and the first gain in four months. Flats are still losing value.
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford Arrests: CCTV Tracked Car to the Maybird
Town CCTV, BID wardens and Maybird security tracked a car across Stratford and three people were arrested. Police.uk logged 47 shop thefts in July.
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford Council Abolition Paused, 2027 Vote Back On
The plan to abolish Stratford-on-Avon District Council in April 2028 is paused. The May 2027 election is now for its 41 district seats, not a unitary.
Alcester
Alcester Plan Adds 8 Green Spaces: Comments Close 23 Oct
Alcester's revised neighbourhood plan protects eight more green spaces, 19 in all, and sets a 10% biodiversity floor. Comments close 5pm on Friday 23 October.
Stratford-upon-Avon is a small town with a very large district attached to it. The council area runs from Studley and Alcester in the north west, through Henley-in-Arden, Wootton Wawen, Bidford-on-Avon and Wellesbourne, across to Southam and Long Itchington in the east and down to Shipston-on-Stour near the Oxfordshire border. Most of it is villages.
Stratford Avon News covers the town and that whole district. The visitor economy is a real part of local life here, but so are parking charges, school places, planning rows about fields on the edge of a village, and what the crime figures for your own street actually say. We take those from the council’s registers and the rest of the public record, and we link to the source every time.
Every fact carries a link to the document it came from.