Plans for Broadmead’s former M&S revealed

The empty aisles of the former Marks & Spencer’s store are set to be transformed come spring.

Once an anchor of Broadmead’s shopping quarter for 70 years, plans have been revealed for building to become a temporary arts and sustainability hub, called Sparks Bristol.

The new space, created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace, will become “a vibrant, positive venue where local people and visitors can shop, recycle, and explore what a greener, fairer and creative future could look like”.

Artspace Lifespace, a charity that recycles vacant properties into creative resources, will focus on developing the upper floors for office and creative space. The Global Goals Centre, which creates experiences to inspire learning and action on climate and equality in people’s everyday lives, will work in partnership with local schools, community groups, universities and many other organisations and businesses to co-create a hub of sustainability, innovation and creativity on the public-facing ground floor.

Sparks Bristol will offer a reuse shop, installations, stalls, workshops, repair and education projects for schools and a hub for local artists.

M&S blamed “changing shopping habits” for the closure of the landmark store, which overlooks The Horsefair at one side and Broadmead’s central shopping area on the other, in January.

When the closure was announced at the end of 2021, M&S regional manager John Dorrington said: “Shopping habits are changing, so we’re rotating our store estate to make sure we have the right stores to offer our customers a brilliant shopping experience.”

The retail giant first opened its doors to the city in 1952.

https://twitter.com/KYPBristol/status/1479742201190141954

Seventy years later, the repurposed site aims to “address Bristol’s net zero 2030 targets”, “address climate anxiety and skills needed by young people” and “provide an affordable space for local artists and groups”.

“This is a unique opportunity to bring  together organisations and individuals from across the city to pilot new ways in which the heart of Bristol could change to better serve our community and address the climate, ecological and cost of living crises,” said Global Goals Centre project lead Jenny Foster.

Artspace Lifespace company manager Kathryn Chiswell Jones added: “We are feeling really  inspired by our upcoming partnership with Global Goals Centre and the opportunity to showcase  tangible, positive alternatives, a centre where people can come to dream, learn practical tools  and collectively devise a greener, fairer and more creative future for everyone.”

Mayor Marvin Rees said, since the store’s closure, he has “been working hard to find an appropriate meanwhile use for the old M&S building until a longer-term plan is ready”, adding he is “glad that [the organisations are] putting both arts and sustainability at the heart of re-animating the space.”

Sparks Bristol aims to open in April 2023, running for at least six months until a long term plan for the former M&S building is ready.

Main photo: Betty Woolerton

Read next:

• M&S to leave Broadmead after almost 70 years
• What should happen to Bristol’s former Debenhams?
• ‘Once-in-a-generation’ opportunity to redevelop the Galleries

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