Katie Bulmer-Cooke: Sunderland sea front plans look 'super cool'

How the proposed Stack development might look at Seaburn.

This week an image popped up on my Instagram feed that really caught my eye. It was a preview of the potential plans for our sea front.

The super-cool Stack development looks fantastic and is everything our seafront needs.

Not only does it look striking and modern, it’s also leisure focused, with a range of food, drink and family-based activities, including everything from good old crazy golf (my personal favourite) to pool, darts and even electronic games.

I love our seafront and we are so lucky to live so close to the beach, but in its current state, it definitely isn’t fulfilling it’s true potential.

Since we waved goodbye to the Seaburn Centre in particular, the area has looked a little on the sparse side and is now ready for a make over.

The new Stack proposal uses shipping containers to create a cool leisure village, which even includes a function room and secret bridal suite as well as spaces for creativity and socialising.

Something like this would be perfect for family days out and fun nights out, and would no doubt boost existing businesses in the area too, by attracting greater footfall.

The concept has already been tried, tested and successful in Newcastle, so fingers crossed we can bring it to Sunderland too, and experience the same buzz.

There are so many areas in our city that could be improved both in terms aesthetics and things to do, so fingers crossed that this could be the start of some exciting developments for Sunderland...including finishing off the old Vaux site.

Many wonder why people choose to leave Sunderland to socialise...instead heading to Newcastle and Durham for both days and nights out.

The answer is simple. Yes, we have some fantastic places to eat in Sunderland and some great bars too, but there just aren’t enough of them.

There needs to be more choice to ensure that pounds earned in the city are spent in the city. Providing more interesting, fun and aesthetically pleasing places to go in Sunderland will no doubt do the trick and benefit us all, from consumers to existing businesses.

Personally, I’m going to keep my fingers and toes crossed that this new development gets the green light and goes ahead with pace to bring new job opportunities and fun experiences to our city.

I’d love to hear your opinions on the proposed plans and on other developments in the city.