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‘This is not gentrification’ – new Magpie owner
The new owner of what was one of Bristol’s longest running squats has hit back at critics accusing him of spreading gentrification from Stokes Croft.
Jonathan Dalton, an Australian businessman based in London who owns Crofters Rights and The Lanes, bought the buildings hosting “the Magpie” squat at the end of Picton Street in Montpelier in April.
He took the squatters to court to have them evicted this week after he applied to change the building’s use to allow for “restaurants and cafes”
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But former mayor candidate Paul Saville said a “cultural icon” was being destroyed by gentrification.
“This is not gentrification; it’s creating employment which is great for the area,” Dalton told Bristol24/7 in response to an article published on Wednsday.
He said he was not creating luxury flats or planning on opening a trendy new bar, but, in fact, planned to lease the building to two local business – a bakery and a farm shop – creating at least 15 new jobs in the process.
He added that he was helping to regenerate the area for the better. “It’s the same with the Carriageworks. Somebody has got to get things moving,” he said.
The bakery and farm shop, which he did not want to name at this stage, plan to open in January, he said, after a change of use has been obtained and leases have been signed.
The two “local” businesses would be offered free rent at first as an incentive to help regenerate the site at 7 Ashley Road and get the shops up and running.
Dalton said he has been trying to negotiate with the squatters since he bought the buildings for £300,000 at auction in April.
He said a party which left the place in a mess at the weekend had prevented bailiffs moving in earlier. He added that a court eviction order had been lengthy and expensive.
“The building has been sitting unused for seven or eight years,” he said. He added: “They [the squatters] shouldn’t be turning the area into a backwater.”
Squatters told Bristol24/7 on Wednesday that a number of people had been made homeless by the eviction.
Craig Reynolds, 39, a former occupier at the Magpie, said squatters had moved on peacefully following the court order, leaving a message on the wall saying: “Bristol culture is an unstoppable force, we are all on board and this ship is changing course.”
The message was changed by Saville, after the squatters left, to read: “Welcome to gentrified Bristol 2016.” Saville said later that his message had been there first.
Read more: Squatters out, bailiffs in at Bristol’s oldest squat
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