How is the tide of gentrification affecting Fishponds?

In 2018, Business Leader ran an article headlined “How retail is helping to drive the gentrification of Bristol”.

The report surmised the rippling effect of areas becoming “interesting and fashionable” in our city – from Bedminster’s East Street to Stokes Croft and Montpelier – citing the key role of independent coffee shops, bars, restaurants, takeaways and retailers in the process.

It also hailed Fishponds as “pioneer territory”, advising young people to “follow the money” and purchase its “perfectly pleasant” properties.

The wave of gentrification is a familiar story in Bristol – but have its tides begun to flood Fishponds?

Fishponds is connected to the centre via the Bristol to Bath cycle path

The suburb began life as a small village, taking its name from two ponds. Originally called New Pooles, the area’s ponds were old quarry pits filled with water, formed as early as the 17th century.

New Pooles have long since been drained and built upon, and what used to be a cluster of stone-built cottages has grown into a large and important neighbourhood.

Five miles northeast from Bristol’s core lies a modern Fishponds – known by some for a bingo hall, Eastville Park and its interesting name.

On a recent visit to Fishponds, the sense of community pride was clear – but mixed with the sense that the area is changing, in ways that some find difficult to swallow.

Kate Brooks started The People’s University of Fishponds

Kate Brook, nicknamed Mrs Fishponds, is the founder of The People’s University of Fishponds, which hosts open talks aimed at being accessible, affordable and friendly. The name came about when joking with a friend, “but it stuck!” she chuckled.

On Sunday, she hosted sessions on belly dancing and dog psychology and Zoomed with the Surui tribe from the Amazon – all in the Star Pub on Fishponds Road.

“Where I am, it’s very community-spirited. There’s an allotment association, there’s Eastville Park with a strong group of supporters, toddler groups and lunch clubs. People are motivated to make links and a difference,” she said.

“I have always liked Fishponds. Lots of people say ‘oh, Fishponds is changing and it’s really nice now’ – and it gets on my nerves. It has always been really nice, it’s just that other people have looked down on it. It worries me, this language that Fishponds has changed now.”

Kate is the creator of the slogan ‘Fishponds…it’s quite nice’, coined because visitors to the area were always pleasantly surprised.

A few minutes down the road, the whiffs of fresh coffee from shiny new cafes can be sensed – with Fed and The Crafty Egg new kids on the block this spring.

Fed, with premises in Cotham Hill and Gloucester Road, is known for its plentiful counters covered in salads, filled brioche rolls, sourdough toasties and more.

“This is the quietest we’ve been,” Holly Wall told Bristol24/7 in a snippet of free time between serving a bustling stream of customers on a Thursday afternoon.

The 28-year-old logistics manager added: “Since opening last week, we have been really, really busy. It sounds like Fishponds needed something like this.”

Joining Grounded, Porto Lounge and Coffee #1 on the high street, it seems nowhere in Bristol is out of bounds from café culture.

Fed on Fishponds’ high street opened in May

In Business Leader’s article, it celebrates how artisanal bakers, ethically sourced butchers and non-chain coffee shops have added to the “virtuous circle of professional people” moving to the Gloucester Road area.

It writes: “[Gentrification] leads to investment in an area with old houses being refurbished and new “infill” builds adding to the population density – all adding vibrancy and to the choice of places in our great city where people aspire to live.”

“Fishponds offers a lot of potential for new businesses, but it’s just making sure that there’s enough for people that can’t afford an expensive coffee,” Kate said.

“We’ve got Afghan shops, Thai places, Chinese supermarkets, Kurdish shops – I don’t want to lose diversity to coffee.”

One longstanding shop is International Food Centre – owned by Ahmad Khan for 12 years. It offers fresh produce, a myriad of spices, traditional sweets and more from Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. He called Fishponds Road “the best place in Bristol”.

The Crafty Egg, offering “serene brunch”, opened a new place  in the former New Moon pub

Henry Palmer is an author and part-time comedian who organises the monthly People’s Comedy night in the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, an area where the forces of gentrification has lead to campaigns to put buildings back into community ownership.

Henry, who penned Voices of Bristol: Gentrification and Us, spent the first few years of his life in a damp flat in Fishponds, before moving to Whitehall with his mum and younger brother when he was five.

“What’s interesting about Fishponds is that Easton and Eastville have acted as a bulwark protection to Fishponds against gentrification by virtue of them being closer to the town centre. Gentrification works in tandem with urbanisation, growing from the centre of any city or town,” he said.

“There are more coffee shops popping up, more bars, richer people, all of that sort of thing. But that’s all secondary to house prices – housing is at the centre of gentrification, always.”

According to Rightmove, the average house costs £289,043 in Fishponds, £330,893 in Eastville and £333,700 in Easton.

Henry continued: “But the problem with this is that you have people moving into an area for the reasons of it being an investment opportunity, and not for it being a community that they want to live in and thrive in.”

“Nothing will stop the inflated house prices, or the cultural alienation, displacement and homelessness that Fishponds and wider Bristol is going through right now.”

“Gentrification in Fishponds is inevitable, in as far as the current trajectory is concerned.”

He concluded: “I look forward to seeing more local people moving into the community, putting pressure on local politicians and developers to ensure that the housing crisis slows down and ceases the proliferation of gentrification that Fishponds is experiencing.”

The new mural wall here is about the dream of community ownership we’re trying to build.
Locals can join for a little as £10, and organisations as well as individuals can join!
Visit https://t.co/4d1at69L3t to find out more. pic.twitter.com/NzuywZ5zAV

— PRSC (@PRStokesCroft) May 19, 2022

Kate echoed Henry’s qualms, saying “house prices are definitely becoming unaffordable for people. As soon as estate agents decide you are the up-and-coming area, house prices go up. That was what used to be nice about Fishponds – people were attracted to the cheaper houses but a lot of families can’t afford it anymore”.

She added: “Flats are being built but they are expensive, raising the question of who they will attract and whether we will end up with a quite transient population.”

“Hopefully, Fishponds doesn’t change too much and we hang on to our green spaces and diversity.”

All photos & video: Betty Woolerton

Read more: Examining Bristol’s gentrification problem

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