Celebrating 25 years of the Tobacco Factory

With the Tobacco Factory celebrating its quarter century, four people instrumental in making the building what it is today look back over its first 25 years.

• Andrew Hilton is the founder of Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory
• Angela Nelmes is the Tobacco Factory’s head cleaner and has lived in the local area for the past 27 years
• Ben Barker is a community activist and secretary of the Greater Bedminster Community Partnership
• George Ferguson saved the building from demolition and set about transforming it into a cultural, social and creative hub

George Ferguson
“I always saw the Wills factory as Bristol’s mills. I saw that as Bristol’s real workplace. Forget the fact that it was killing people. It was an interesting company. I was drawn into it by two local women who came to see me, after it had been emptied in the 80s when they had moved to the new factory in Hartcliffe. They were worried that it would all get demolished, and wondered if I could come up with some ideas for it. I never thought at that time that I was going to get as involved as I did.”

Ben Barker
“Partly because of the closure of the factory, the area was fairly blighted. So if my wife and I want you to go from meal, for example, we would go into town. In the 80s, this was a fairly derelict area in many ways.”

Angela Nelmes
“I moved here in 1992. It was quite quiet but a good area, quite busy with shops. It was more food stores. And at that time there was also a shoe shop, paper shop, clothes store.”

Andrew Hilton
“I first came here in 1989 as part of a cooperative theatre company called Show of Strength, which was at the Hen & Chicken up the road. And North Street was very dead. There were a few junk shops, which were good for finding props.”

George Ferguson
“My perception is that there was quite a high level of petty crime in the area. I used to have to look out for yobs breaking car windows nearly every night. When we opened the bar here for the first time, I slept in it. Because I was so worried. I didn’t know what would happen. But actually, I think by then we had turned it around a bit.”

Andrew Hilton
“We had to look after a few audience members after shows in the early years. They had come back up the stairs saying that their car had been broken into. That was before Aldi was built. It was a waste plot back then.”

From left to right: Andrew Hilton, Ben Barker, Angela Nelmes and George Ferguson

George Ferguson
“It still angers me that this is only five per cent of what was on this big estate. There was the best part of a million square feet. This building is under 50,000 square feet. It was a huge loss. I did a sketch scheme at the late end of the 80s to turn the whole estate into a sort of creative urban village. But I couldn’t get them listed, I couldn’t get planners to protect them. And there was a planning application to knock the whole lot down and turn it into a housing estate. I thought, well maybe I could use this site as a lever to try and save the rest. But by that time they had started the demolition. I couldn’t get anything from the bank or anything like that. And so I said yes before I knew how I was going to get the money, because I knew this was a fantastic opportunity to do something interesting, more interesting than I would normally do as an architect for clients who would turn it into flats or a block of offices or something. This one became the last one to be knocked down. What I thought was interesting about it is that it was potentially part of the high street while the others weren’t – and they were bigger and I couldn’t possibly have afforded the others. What I later discovered is that my £200,000 had paid the fees of the receiver and the agents, so they accepted the money really quickly.”

Andrew Hilton
“After six autumn seasons in the Hen & Chicken for Show of Strength, it became intolerable because of the live music downstairs. The city very generously provided Quakers Friars for us. The Tobacco Factory was a blank canvas with interesting pillars sticking up in it. I just love doing theatre in curious spaces. Show of Strength moved in when the place was still a building site. I had left by then. But the first time I came here, from that first show I knew I wanted to do Shakespeare here.”

Ben Barker
“Back then, as an audience member, it was quirky because it was an unusual space. Not awfully comfortable. And I could walk to it! When I moved here in the early 80s, art was what happened north of the river. It was such a psychological challenge. Was this part of the artistic centre of the city? Or was it still part of south Bristol? It was quirkily both.”

An early sketch of the Tobacco Factory

Angela Nelmes
“The first time I came here was for an interview for a job. I have been here ever since and I’ll still be here in my 80s working. I call it my second home and my other family because I’ve been here so long. Because everybody’s so friendly. It’s a nice atmosphere. I love the atmosphere. Even though it’s so quiet in the mornings when I get in. I don’t have to be in until six but I’m here at half four.”

George Ferguson
“When I was researching what could happen to these buildings, I learned a lot of my lessons from the States. I realised that much of the regeneration in places like Manhattan and Baltimore started with artists moving into cheap space, or little creative enterprises, and then the money had followed that. So I started with artists in here before I started the theatre, always thinking that was temporary; just in order to use the space while it was still available. But I felt that an artform that was not getting enough space in Bristol was the performing arts. And so it was a deliberate move.”

Ben Barker
“The Sunday market is obviously a place where you can buy things. But it’s also a place where you can bump into people and talk. There was some resentment among some of the shopkeepers on North Street when it started. They were being forced to open their shops on a Sunday. But it’s an opportunity and they’ve gotten used to it now.”

Angela Nelmes
“And then there’s Upfest. We love all the pictures that are painted, and we love to go around and see them all. But the morning after the weekend is a lot to do. That’s an understatement because there’s so many people.”

George Ferguson
“The first New Year’s Eve party was Bollywood, which was a great success and they’ve now become a real tradition. Another highlight for me over the last 25 years was recognising that we should brew our own beer and starting the Bristol Beer Factory, which is what really triggered craft brewing in this city. That has been transformational.”

Angela Nelmes
“People call me the mum of the factory because I’ve been here so long. I love bringing in cakes for the staff. They’re like my children. They’ve made me feel special. Warm inside. So that’s my highlight.”

Ben Barker
“For me, what I like is that I will be certain to bump into people I know and talk and so on. All sorts of plots have arisen from casual meetings over the years at the Tobacco Factory. So for me, it’s an important meeting place.”

Andrew Hilton
“My own highlight was our first season. After four weeks of rehearsals and the opening week of King Lear, we were sort of virtually bankrupt. And then along came half a page in The Independent, a rave review. And it turned us around in the space of 24 hours. Suddenly, we were turning people away rather than playing as we did on the second Tuesday to 10 people.”

25 years of the Tobacco Factory is being marked with a celebration weekend on May 25 and 26. For more information, visit www.tobaccofactory.com/whats-on/25-years

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