‘We’re creating layers for the community to build on’

While the front lots of the Totterdown Centre on Wells Road stand empty, the rear of the building is a vibrant community space occupied by Floriography, The Healing Courtyard and Bristol Women’s Workshop.

But their livelihoods, along with long-standing dreams of turning the whole place into an asset that benefits the wider community, are under threat.

On February 27, a large section of the building, including the two shop fronts, will be sold at auction to the highest bidder.

The current occupiers say this will forfeit nearly a quarter of the share total of the Tottenham Centre Company, leaving them with no influence on its use, and, in a worst case scenario, could lead to their eviction.

Totterdown has been promised a community centre since parts of the area were demolished in the 1970s to make way for a ring road that never appeared, but these assurances have never been fully realised.

The current space is located next to empty grassland and has simply been waiting for the opportunity to blossom.

The businesses currently occupying the building say aren’t looking to take ownership of the entire property; instead, they are aiming to ensure its restoration and guarantee that it can be rebuilt into in a way that demonstrates its value to the community.

Vera Harhat (left) and Anne Harding (right) in Floriography by Vera Fallacy

Anne Harding founded the Bristol Women’s Workshop in 1981. The organisation aims to give women the opportunity to learn traditionally male-dominated skills such as woodworking and DIY.

Anne believes that learning practical skills can help women grow in self confidence, help to shape their self-image and challenge society’s preconceptions about what women are able to do.

Anne remembers that, even back when she first started her charity, the idea of being a benefit to Totterdown was at the forefront.

“The intention was to run a community centre, something small,” she says. “Businesses, craft groups and studios are generally very community oriented.

“At this time people had a very vivid memory of having lost a lot of housing due to the road-widening scheme that never happened. The theme was that this community needs resources, it needs a commons.”

A vibrant reminder of what the centre could be, in a photo from the 1980s showing it as a community hub

“Leaping forward to now, it is my understanding that this is the Totterdown community’s last commons being lost,” Anne continues.

“I’ve seen this happen before in other places: anybody that comes into an opportunity like this and tries to auction it off is an asset-stripper.

“There were aspirations that were very much in place at the beginning and I’d hoped to make sure they were sustained after I’m gone, but it now looks like this is an opportunity that could be completely removed. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

Anne and Rebecca Jayne Vera Harhat (known to everuone as Vera), owner of Floriography, both passionately believe in the power that their respite from the city brings and wholeheartedly agree that the loss of the area would be devastating.

“I moved Floriography and the community I had been building for three-and-a-half years out of its space and into this area with the hope of bringing people back into the building,” Vera says.

“The idea was completely guided by our understanding that a community centre is what people need desperately and this is evident in the support that we have had. We’ve been at every community event and every school event, to create layers for the community to build on.”

The front lots facing Wells Road are being sold at auction by Maggs & Allen next month

Anne and Vera feel they are the gatekeepers and safeguarders of the community part of the property, and aim to ensure that these aspects are upheld no matter what happens to the rest of the site.

The problems first started with the sale of the shopfronts and a flat above. Initially the women believed the developer had the best interests of the area at heart, but it hasn’t turned out that way.

“There were some communication breakdowns,” says Vera. “We were told: ‘Here is our decision to resell’. There was no coming back to us, as directors, and discussing it. We asked if they would split the property with us, or let us make an offer to save part of the building as a community resource. But we got a no.

“We would have liked to have been able to say, ‘Look, give us two to three months and let us look for an alternative or raise the funds’. We were partway through some funding applications, so given a little time we might have got somewhere with. Just finding the right people to work with would have been ideal.”

Inside The Healing Courtyard, which holds events, workshops and pop-ups

Jon Ross, who has put the building up for sale, told Bristol24/7 that he does not have a view on the efforts of  Vera and Anne.

“If they can raise the money to buy the property then that’s up to them,” he said. “I feel like I have given them plenty of time, and it is my property and my decision to sell.”

A spokesperson for Maggs & Allen, through whom the property will be auctioned in February, said: “We aren’t marketing the site for anything other than community use, which it is best suited for.

“The concerns, hopefully, aren’t actual concerns, as it states in the articles of the building that there isn’t anything else that can be done with the site. It would be great to see some life back in the building.”

Flowers arranged by Vera in her shop space at the back of the threatened building

In the hope of being able to bid for their own building when it goes to auction, Vera has set up a crowdfunding page with a target of £180,000.

She recognises that the figure is probably unrealistic, but are resting their hopes on finding an investor who is passionate about the community, and who would buy the building with community projects in mind.

Windmill Hill councillor Jon Wellington says that he is keen to ensure that the centre retains “an element of use for the community, as set out in the centre’s statute”.

He said: “As a councillor, I have no influence over the matter at this stage as it is up for auction, but if it ever came to a planning application I would resist any change of use that does not have an explicit and tangible community interest or use.

“Ultimately, I hope that this matter can be resolved so that the front of the centre is brought into use and that the Women’s Workshop, Healing Courtyard and Floriography can stay in business and continue doing their great work in the community.”

For Anne and Vera, this is going to be a tough battle to win, and potentially only the start of a very uncertain future.

“I’ve got my business to run while there are these big auction signs in the front windows,” Vera says. “What we need is people together, we need people to be here, we need people to come and support us day-to-day.

“A lot of the people that I work with aren’t people that would be able to afford to support us on our crowdfunder but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about getting people here.”

To find out more about the battle to save the community centre, make a donation to the crowdfunder or to contact Anne or Vera directly, visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-totterdown-centre. The Eating Room will be hosting a pay-what-you-can fundraiser on January 20 from 6.30pm.