Lockdown 2.0 Diaries: BS8 – Boyce’s Avenue, Clifton Village

Clifton Village institution Reg the Veg has never been busier. This year, the Boyce’s Avenue greengrocers have taken on new staff, bought new vans and now deliver across Bristol rather than just BS8.

Although less busy this second lockdown than during the first, Reg the Veg director, Beth Swingler, remains distinctly upbeat, despite once again temporarily losing the majority of their wholesale customers.

“We needed to channel our energies into things that people wanted,” said Beth on a drizzly Monday afternoon. “We now sell so many veg boxes I dream about them.

“This year we have had to up our game to keep going. We have had to adapt, work extra hard. But I’m feeling positive. The first lockdown was hectic. This time it’s way more chilled.”

Reg the Veg is now one of two greengrocers on this small Clifton Village thoroughfare, with Clifton Fruit & Veg the other end of the road next to Caffe Nero, where on Monday afternoon, a barista was stringing fairy lights around a Christmas tree.

In between the two, where there would usually be tables and chairs, there is now only asphalt; but Beth welcomes the competition and the fact that it brings more people to shop on the road.

Bath Swingler has been a director of Reg the Veg for more than a decade – photo: Martin Booth

Almost next door to Reg the Veg is Otomi, which is also still open selling Mexican food and drink, including tortillas from Guanajuato and mezcal from Oaxaca.

“This second lockdown has made people vanish into thin air,” lamented Otomi co-owner Louise Dark, sat behind the counter in an Aztec-print mask.

Louise said that their deliveries are noticeably down compared to the first lockdown. But despite this, when Bristol24/7 visited the shop, Alejandro Orozco Luquin had just packed a full sack of orders to take to the post office the other side of Victoria Square.

The lack of footfall is having a major effect. “The pull here is the cafes,” said Louise. “And they are mostly all closed. But we are doing okay. We’re surviving.”

Otomi co-owners Alejandro Orozco Luquin and Louise Dark – photo: Martin Booth

Across the other side of the road, a new food and drink shop has just started its first full week of trading.

In the window of Sunday General were loaves of bread baked by Pistrina in St Anne’s, with shelves full of everything from coffee beans to rice, cuts of meat to vegan cheese.

“What we are trying to do here is to get local produce and local brands, a nice combination of the best of Bristol as well as from further afield,” explained general manager, Kate Williams.

“There is already a huge sense of community on Boyce’s Avenue. We don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. It’s about adding to the community and working with it.”

Kate Williams is the general manager of Sunday General – photo: Martin Booth

In the window of still-open Anna Cake Couture, macarons in almost every shade of the rainbow tempt in new customers: from candy floss to chocolate brownie, and in between the likes of cake batter and lemon & raspberry. It was the pistachio flavour proving most popular today, however, with just two left shortly before 2.30pm.

On the other side of the road, hoardings still display an artist’s impression of M&S moving into a new development that remains very much on the drawing board.

A note on a blackboard at Primrose Cafe says that it will be reopening on December 2. At the closed East Village Cafe opposite, a sign reads ‘Support your local high street and shop small’.

Another sign sits in the window of Village gift shop: ‘See you soon hopefully’.

Redevelopment of this side of Boyce’s Avenue seems to have stalled – photo: Martin Booth

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read more Lockdown 2.0 Diaries:

• BS1 – Harbourside, Old City and Wapping Wharf
• BS2 – St Paul’s, St Werburgh’s and Avonmeads
• BS3 – Bedminster, Southville and Ashton Gate
• BS4 – Knowle West and Totterdown
• BS5 – Lawrence Hill, Easton and Greenbank
• BS6 – Montpelier, St Andrew’s, Cotham and Redland
• BS7 – Lockleaze, Horfield and Gloucester Road