Lincoln Glory Hole set to reopen after year of work by Lincolnshire County Council ends

Over a year of no access through the Lincoln Glory Hole is about to come to an end, as repair works finally edge nearer towards completion.

The footway between Wigford Way and High Street, amusingly and historically named the Glory Hole, has been closed since February 2023 after much-needed repairs were discovered.

It has blocked access to the footway as a result, limiting options to reach the High Street from the Brayford direction without having to loop around the bridge, and impacting on the local businesses in its immediate vicinity.

However, that headache is set to be over sooner rather than later.

Lincolnshire County Council expects all works to be complete along the footway by tomorrow (Friday, April 5) — some 14 months after the site closed for emergency repairs.

Get the latest news to your inbox by signing up for The BriefingIt has been a long process of repairs, following the discovery of a crumbling underside by underwater divers, alongside the other issues of fractured wooden beams and areas of the concrete bed starting to fail.

Official reconstruction plans were submitted by the county council in October 2023, with estimated costs of around £80,000 for the project.

However, spates of bad weather and ongoing dealings with a number of agencies saw works delayed, and site workers weren’t spotted at the Glory Hole until late February.

Work started at the site coincided with previous coverage of a nearby business called Now Hair, whose owner Roger Baldam-Lucas said there was “absolutely no doubt” that business has been impacted by the year-long closure.

While no timescale was ever put on completion for these works, the county council says it is now delighted to confirm the finish line is in sight.

Coun Richard Davies (Con), executive member for highways, said: “I’m really happy to announce that we’re expecting to finish our repairs to Lincoln’s Glory Hole on Friday, April 5 – if the weather agrees with us until then.

“We were originally hoping to be finished a week earlier, but our divers encountered some delays due to low visibility from the recent storms, along with the discovery and removal of old timbers they weren’t aware of.”

Work has been ongoing across the last couple of weeks to install new beams along the edge of the watercourse, ahead of the final stage of construction — reinstating the footpath.

The new beams were installed in mid-to-late March, with the footpath now also approaching completion.