FOR 2,000 years Winchester has been a military town, stretching back to Roman times.

But a major blow to that link is feared after the Daily Echo revealed the Ministry of Defence is considering selling Sir John Moore Barracks.

In the short term closure would be a blow as 300 staff work there and more than 1,000 recruits with disposable income crowd into the city centre pubs and bars.

Battle lines will be drawn up over its future use as housing developers would pay millions for the 86-hectare site at Littleton on the northern edge of Winchester. Most local people want to see the barracks stay whilst commercial chiefs say it would make a good location for a business park.

The barracks, the base for the Army Training Regiment Winchester, trains more than a thousand recruits each year who go through 14 weeks of training.

Two sources have told the Daily Echo that an announcement on the future will be made in July, and they understand it will be sold.

But what will happen to the barracks if it goes and how heavy would the economic impact be?

Winchester City Council leader Stephen Godfrey pledges to prevent the barracks being developed for homes, saying the district has enough allocated housing.

But he has reason to be worried after other military sites across the country have been released for housing, as part of plans to cut its estate by 30 per cent.

The MoD told the Daily Echo they have no "current" plans to sell Sir John Moore Barracks, but that they will carry out a review of their estates later this year.

The barracks were state of the art when they opened in 1986 offering recruits and staff and their families a host of facilities including a swimming pool, gym, weights room, climbing wall, ten pin bowling alley, restaurant and a Mace shop. It replaced the Peninsula (CORR) Barracks in the city centre, since converted into housing.

The city centre nighttime economy would take a hit with the loss of more than a thousand young people with disposable income.

But the short-term loss of the servicemen would be compensated by whatever replaces the base, whether it be a housing or commercial use.

Cllr James Byrnes, who represents Wonston and Micheldever ward which includes the barracks, said he will lobby to stop any housing there.

He said: “Winchester has a long proud tradition of being a garrison town and that would be a shame to see that go. I think from a Littleton view the parish council will want to know what will happen if it is vacated and there are a number of options for it and some are more acceptable than others, but what is not acceptable is housing.

“If it had some sort of employment use it would be ideal, I would resist any attempt to put housing on there and I will lobby members of the council about that.

“Developing the site in itself will create jobs, but for those working there I hope they can be redeployed to other local sites like Worthy Down, but until we know what the government intend to do with the site we do not know and it will be a long period of waiting for those with jobs at risk.”

Chief Executive at the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, Stewart Dunn said it would be the perfect place for a science park.

Mr Dunn said: “I think in the short term it will be a loss to the economy because you have a lot of personnel living in Winchester in houses in Harestock.

“In the long term if it was to be sold we must safeguard it as employment land and make sure it doesn’t become housing.

“We absolutely support a plan to keep it as employment land, it is absolutely paramount that we protect employment land and employment space.

“The space would be ideal for a science park, it is well hidden in woodland and it would be a good location between Southampton and Oxford.”

Winchester MP Steve Brine agreed: “If the MoD do make an operational decision to dispose of the barracks site it will be of course be disappointing and it will mark the end of an era but it could also be a massive opportunity for Winchester and that should be our focus.

"I hear time and again from business leaders that we have a serious lack of commercial space in the city so this becoming available could tie up well with the city council's long-stated ambition to reduce outward migration and encourage high-quality, well-paid, employment locally.

“If its disposal is all about forcing new housing on Winchester, I would expect the council to defend in the strongest way possible its signed off, democratically agreed, Local Plan and I will stand robustly alongside them.

Vice-chairman of Littleton and Harestock Parish Council, John Biddlecombe believes the barracks will remain.

He said: “We have not been given any indication it would be sold. They have just spent money renewing signs to the barracks, and with development to Worthy Down, I just can't see it happening, I think it is a non-story.

"I would be very surprised if they decide to sell, if they did I would be very interested in what they would do to the site."


WINCHESTER traces its military history back to when the Romans established a base at Venta Belgarum.

In the Dark Ages King Alfred converted the town into a 'burh' with fortified walls to repel the marauding Vikings.

As the post-Norman Conquest capital of England, a large castle was constructed but following the English Civil War in the 1640s the castle was beseiged and destroyed by the forces of Oliver Cromwell. Only the Great Hall survives.

In the 18th century the city became a base for militias and for a while Hessian troops from Germany were based on fields that became Barton Farm.

Peninsula Barracks was built in the 1890s and becoming the base for famous infantry regiments such as the King's Royal Rifle Corps and the Green Jackets.

Two world wars saw a growth in military activity in the area with RAF Flowerdown, a listening station that fed information into Bletchley Park, established on the site that later became Sir John Moore Barracks.

Other bases were scattered around the area such as Bushfield Camp vacated in the 1970s.

Worthy Down, the headquarters of the Adjutant General's Corps, was established initially as an Royal Flying Corps airfield in 1917.

In World War Two it had been taken over by the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Kestrel. The Nazis claimed to have sunk it!

Today a new Defence College of Logistics, Policing and Administration is being constructed at Worthy Down.

With hundreds of soldiers in the city, town-military relations were often fraught and older city residents remember times when there were no-go areas for soldiers including the Highcliffe estate in the 1950s and 60s.
Winchester is home to several military museums at Peninsula Barracks including the Royal Hampshire Regiment, The Rifles, the Gurkhas and King's Royal Hussars.

The city often hosts marches by regiments that have the Freedom of the City, including the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment.