Doors open at new Shrewsbury climbing centre

People travelled from far and wide to visit the new wall climbing centre in Shrewsbury yesterday.

Bosses at Climbing The Walls are hopeful that their new business venture may produce an athlete for the next Olympics.

The centre in Battlefield Road, which has walls for beginners, intermediates and advanced climbers, welcomed more than 100 guests on its first day of trading.

Opened by director Andrew Donaldson and managing director Simon Gerrard, the climbing centre was just an empty space three months ago.

The £600,000 centre features towering walls, boulders and action walls.

First seen on entering are the huge, overhanging "tall walls", designed for experienced climbers only.

To the rear of the building is an area for "bouldering" with crash mats below, which non-experienced climbers can come in and have a go at, without ropes.

There is also an "actions walls" area with a whole range of specially-designed novelty walls with names such as Deep Space, The Castle, Labyrinth, Gear Head and Need For Speed.

Mr Gerrard said: "We had a great first day. People were travelling from all over the county to get here and we even had a couple from Cheshire. We had a steady flow of people and there was a fair mix across the three areas.

"Not only have the walls and bouldering areas been busy we have also had a lot of people visit the cafe and enjoy a drink and some cake. It has gone really well."

The business employs 10 full-time members of staff, but should numbers demand more freelance staff will be taken on.