New film remembers Stokes Croft vintage market one year on

A new short film explores the closure of Stokes Croft Vintage Market and its impact one year on.

Moving the Market, a new film by director Harry Knight, follows manager Darren Jones in the days leading up to the market’s closure, as he talks to customers, traders and regular visitors in the community, all of which speak about Darren with warmth and gratitude.

The popular market which occupied 15-19 Stokes Croft, was a fixture of the local community for eight years, but had to close in July 2022 after the lease ended.

The site was managed by Bristol charity, Love Bristol, which also owns Happytat and Elemental Cafe down the road.

Stokes Croft Vintage Market closed a year ago after operating for eight years – photo: Mia Vines Booth

Developers Portland Brown, took back the site to develop it into a “mixture of studio, workspaces, retail, eating and drinking spaces”.

For traders who had called the market their home, its closure threw their businesses into doubt, as they scrambled to explore alternative options, while Darren went on the hunt for new premises that would meet the needs of the market.

“I’ve been honoured to represent the Bristol community, and I can say that from the bottom of my heart,” he tells the camera in Moving the Market on his last day at the premises, in front of a now empty warehouse. “So yeah, it’s a sad day.”

The film also explores the impact of the market’s closure one year on, and looks at where the traders have ended up since.

Many of the items went to other charity shops, and Darren has joined Happytat, next door to the Vintage market, helping to renovate the space in what he describes as “a labour of love”.

Darren has brought the spirit of his market to the shop, setting up a community table where people can come and sit and have a cup of tea and a chat.

“So it’s been a year now since the market’s closed,” he tells the camera. “I’m glad I’m here, because I lived and breathed the vintage market.”

Guy and Ben, who run Collectors Cave, a record and music tech shop which originally operated from the back room of the vintage market, have since found a home in the old kitchen of Cloak and Dagger, a stone’s throw away.

And Marcie from Marcie K Designs, who sold glamorous reupholstered furniture out of the market since its very beginnings, has also found another studio.

As well as the market, the film touches on the growing gentrification of the Stokes Croft area as a whole, inter-splicing nostalgic before and after shots of Blue Mountain, Carriage Works, El Jefe and Abdul’s minimart with new footage of building works and clean cut coffee shops.

Director, Harry, who is originally from New Zealand, said he was inspired to make the film after witnessing how communities came together after the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

“Aside from the obvious devastation of this event, there was a unique coming together of the community to create and reclaim the place they wanted to live in,” he said.

“You felt like you belonged. You were seen. You could make a difference.

“The Vintage Market embodied this same feeling for me, by being part of the community and addressing some of their significant needs in a way that can only be done by people there, on the ground.

“So this film is a celebration and acknowledgment of the intense and countless hours people put into something they care about despite the circumstances or access to resources.”

Harry hopes to screen his film at festivals across the world, and he hopes he can show it here in Bristol at Encounters Film Festival and Bristol Independent Film Festival.

Main photo: Hattie Ellis

Read next:

• Popular Stokes Croft vintage market to close after eight years
• ‘End of an era’ as Stokes Croft club finally demolished
• Plans for micro-distillery, event space and tap room in Stokes Croft

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