Tamworth's Bridge Street to welcome Planet Fitness, Guzman Y Gomez and commercial centre to improve city vibrancy

With the old Workies Club $12.5 million revival taking shape, a national Mexican franchise moving in, plans for a boutique bottle shop, and a three-storey commercial centre under construction, it's full steam ahead to unlock the full potential of Bridge Street.

The West Tamworth thoroughfare will be hot property for big name businesses according to Tamworth Business Chamber president Matthew Sweeney.

"The sites available on Peel Street are either not available or too small," he said.

"And once the University comes, there will be limited expansion available and the developers will land along that Bridge Street corridor."

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To attract big business you have to have the big sites to house them, Mr Sweeney said.

"We've got bigger businesses obviously wanting to come to town to provide their services," he said.

"We need to provide them with the business accommodation available.

"The infrastructure is there [Bridge Street] so why not redevelop it?"

A continuous row of shopfronts encouraging people to walk from end to end will create a buzz for residents and a gateway to what the city holds for travellers, Mr Sweeney said.

"It will be a great doorway into what will become, in the next five to 10 years, quite a vibrant city," he said.

Town planners for Tamworth Regional Council have also thrown their support behind extending the city's shopping precinct beyond Peel Street.

Council's manager of development Sam Lobsey said the "corridor" had huge potential to support mixed use development in an ideal location.

"It's close to town, it's walking distance over to the CBD, it's a major thoroughfare out to South and West Tamworth," he said.

"We [council] really do see it as a potential growth area."

Council has earmarked the street as an ideal location for high density, mixed use commercial developments.

Mr Lobsey said the potential to refurbish and refit existing buildings along the street would be key to creating a unique experience.

"There's potential there for that part of town to become more vibrant and really more active than what it is already," he said.

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