East Street is changing

It’s a cloudy autumn afternoon and East Street is brimming with people.

Outside Snax, Linda sits with her friend, Della, sipping on milky coffee and picking at the crumbs of long-gone slices of cake.

“We come here every Tuesday,” she says. “We pop to Snax for a cup of coffee, some cake and catch up, then we go and do our shopping.”

It’s a routine the two women have followed for years. But the cheap brews and fridge cakes are in stark contrast to some of the changes afoot here.

East Street is on the brink of a new chapter. Home to Asda, almost a dozen beauty salons and the new Bristol Loaf, the Bedminster high street is currently undergoing a rapid period of change.

Change is afoot on East Street. Photo: Qezz Gill

“East Street has a lot of character and, I think, a lot of potential,” says Amandine Tchou, owner of Vx Bristol. “Some may say that the decline of the high street is inevitable and that it comes in a new order, but it is so important to keep East Street as a high street as the businesses are the link to the community.”

East Street in autumn 2020 paints a strange picture. The recently opened bakery and cafe run by The Bristol Loaf, which shares its premises with Hugo’s Greengrocers and Two Belly, are just a stone’s through from an Age UK charity shop, the Barley Mow and Apple Tree pubs, and the Sunshine Cafe – where it costs less than £5 for a mug of tea and a meal of sausage, beans and chips.

Half a dozen betting shops are nestled between closed businesses and new cafes. The street’s state of limbo is clear to see.

It’s a place where an £8 slow-cooked oxtail Rueben toastie from the Bristol Loaf and the Toast Room‘s £7 black bean and chipotle hash are almost within sight of some of the biggest store fronts, home to Poundland and the British Heart Foundation.

Bristol Loaf has opened opposite Asda. Photo: Martin Booth

What is the essence of East Street? Is its character – the cheap pints at the Barley Mow, Linda and Della’s weekly coffee and catch up, a myriad of familiar faces – and is being washed away by gentrification?

One of mayor Marvin Rees’ manifesto commitments was to set up a ‘gentrification task force’, but it has since been quietly scrapped.

A Freedom of Information request revealed that the promised report on gentrification was not completed and that the responsibility for reviewing the effects of gentrification on the city has been passed to a series of boards including the One City Economy Board, Bristol @ Night Board, the City Centre Revitalisation Board and the Homes & Communities Board.

In the past few years, East Street has been at the forefront of the arguments around gentrification, with not just new businesses opening but areas along the road set for major redevelopment. St Catherine’s Place shopping could soon have a £50m boost.

The current facade of St Catherine’s Place. Photo: Qezz Gill

St Catherine’s Place is set for major redevelopment. If it goes ahead, the facade will be modernised, as seen here. Image: Spirit PR

Five apartment blocks of up to 14-storeys high will soon be built between the high street and Malago Road as part of the Bedminster Green project, which is building thousands of new homes just south of the river.

The 316-home development will kickstart a massive project which hopes to regenerate the Bedminster area, and could eventually see as many as 2,000 new flats built across five key sites between East Street and Bedminster train station.

Finlay McNab, who is working on East Street Vision, a project working with the local community to rejuvenise the road said that “historically, East Street was one of Bristol’s most significant streets”.

He said: “In recent years like, many high streets around the UK, East Street has faced significant challenges with many traders reporting declining footfall and large retailers such as Argos and Boots electing to leave.”

East Street has seen a reduction in footfall, like many high streets. Photo: Qezz Gill

The team behind East Street Vision wants more independents to move to the street, to “create pride, ownership, and increased demand along East Street by encouraging and celebrating independent retailers”.

“We would like to see a street that is unified, that supports the existing community and uses and that introduces new uses to enhance and support them.”

The team also wants greener infrastructure, such as improved air quality, play spaces, pedestrian and cycling priority and raised beds, as well as wanting to improve the nighttime economy of the area.

These changes could go hand in hand with the redevelopment of St Catherine’s Place, which has submitted plans to build 180 new homes, and the creation of nearby East Street Mews, an initiative creating 11 affordable flats for young homeless people.

Because of the pandemic, building work at East Street Mews is currently paused behind the hoarding painted by Andy Council next to Minuteman Press. But previously, local businesses and property experts had been working together free of charge on the development.

East Street Mews is one of several developments along the road. Photo: Spirit PR

The flats at East Street Mews will be managed by a local charity, Developing Health & Independence, which runs innovative services to help disadvantaged people turn their lives around. The ground floor of the property will include space for businesses and provide employment opportunities for residents and the local community.

The resubmitted plans for St Catherine’s Place (the first plans were rejected earlier this year) will build new houses, create increased public open space, including a new walking and cycling route, and a new public entrance will be made.

Three storeys lower than the previously proposed building, smaller in footprint and set further back from the road, it will match the level of the existing Catherine’s House. A new pocket park on Mill Lane is also proposed, which will increase the amount accessible green space in the area.

The shops within St Catherine’s Place, currently a flower store, Iceland and a travel company, will be replaced with new, modern shops and the historic façade refurbished.

St Catherine’s Place in autumn 2020. Photo: Qezz Gill

The opportunity for new business is one that seems to be following a trend of businesses opening on the street. Bristol Loaf, which opened in September, is the latest of a string of independents moving in. Vx Bristol opened in 2015, The Toast Room came to the street in 2017 and the Hippie Flower Cafe opened just last month.

They sit near some of the street’s long-standing businesses; Stan Butt Butchers and East Street Fruit Market, which opened in 1992, as well as big name brands including Wilko, Card Factory and Peacocks.

Some welcome the new businesses, which are moving into the units which have had shutters closed for years. Others, however, see the new businesses as a sign of gentrification, mirrored by climbing costs of living, the newly converted apartments next to Asda (a two-bedroom flat in the Factory No1 complex start from £245,000 with Help to Buy) and the road losing its traditional values.

“East Street is slowly having its weird, unique character stripped away and will end up looking just like any other bland, faceless street,” tweeted Charlie Revelle-Smith, author of Weird Bristol.

He says that businesses such as the new Bristol Loaf are “terrifying”, adding that “they’ve located themselves here because incredibly overpriced flats have opened across the street. The creep of faceless blandness takes many forms and they know precisely what they are doing and capitalising upon”.

Some argue that businesses like the Bristol Loaf, which is also home to Hugo’s Greengrocer and Two Belly, are signs of gentrification. Photo: Qezz Gill

The Bristol Loaf, a business which has been placed firmly in the spotlight as a symbol of a changing street, take a firm stand. “We’re not pushing out local businesses,” owner Gary Derham told Bristol24/7. “This part of East Street is a no man’s land, there are ten boarded up shops surrounding us.

“We’re bringing footfall to the street. This is what people want. We’re really surprised no one opened here before. It’s horribly scary to open right now, but it’s been perfect. And house prices won’t rise because of a new bakery.”

Many argue that new business and more of a nighttime economy, of which businesses like the Bristol Loaf bring both, is much needed. East Street is a bustling space during the day. When the evening draws in, however, it’s as if it’s a ghost town.

Other than a couple of pubs and takeaways, the street is eery after 5pm. Taking a stroll down the road after darkness falls on a recent weekday evening, it’s a sad sight. A few faces loiter outside the Barley Mow but that’s it.

“It can be quite animated during the day but sadly very quiet after 5pm and all Sunday,” says Mary, a long-time resident of Bedminster. “It gets left behind. It gets more and more empty.”

As she takes a drag of her cigarette, stubs it on the ground and heads inside for another pint.

The street quietens after 5pm. Photo: Qezz Gill

It’s easy to see why the evenings are quieter. Despite some shuttered businesses, there are lots of cafes and stores to visit during the day. In fact, with buses given priority – the m1, 75 and 76 all serve this street – the pavements are often packed with shoppers, or people sitting on one of the many benches that line the road.

Currently at night, East Street is served almost entirely by takeaways, the 24-hour Asda and half a dozen pubs, but with the arrival of Two Belly within the Bristol Loaf and with planning put in for a new restaurant in the old bank next to the Toast Room, things could be changing. The as-yet unnamed new restaurant, which will be licensed to sell alcohol, will have 16 tables to dine at, and could mark the start of a busier road post-sunset.

The increased business and new evening and nighttime food and drink places may help more people feel safe when visiting the street after dark, with many stating the emptiness of the street in the evening, when shutters are down on the shops, puts people off visiting.

In fact, Bedminster BID found that the primary reason people don’t visit East Street are environmental factors and personal safety, with 60 per cent of respondents to a survey saying they don’t feel safe walking through the street in the evening.

The view of businesses was similar to that of the community, they wanted to see a more welcoming, relaxed environment. Owners also highlighted concerns over personal safety in the evenings.

……

Read more: Bristol Loaf: ‘A brilliant addition to Bedminster’ – cafe review

……

“There are quite a few empty shops at the moment but we’re hoping these will provide some great opportunities for new business, social enterprises and community groups to do some innovative things,” says Ellie Freeman, chair of Action Greater Bedminster, one of the many groups campaigning for a better future for East Street.

There is no lack of people encouraging positive change on this road, despite the differencing views on what would be best. The people of Bedminster, and beyond, want to see an end of East Street’s limbo.

“It is so important to keep East Street as a high street,” says Vx Bristol owner Amandine Tchou. “The businesses are the link to the community.

“Not only do we provide jobs and services to the community, but also we provide something that Amazon or eBay would never be able to provide. We, independent businesses, know our customers, we know their kids, their dogs, we talk to them, advise them and care for them. This is something that shopping online would never replace.”

Main photo: Qezz Gill

Read more: High-rise housing approved for Bedminster despite fierce community opposition