Squatters out, bailiffs in at Bristol’s oldest squat

One of Bristol’s longest running squats has been peacefully vacated as developers eye up the latest opportunity to add to the ever-growing string of trendy bars in and around Stokes Croft.

Bailiffs moved into 7 Ashley Road – affectionately known as the Magpie since 2008 – on Wednesday morning to find an empty site after occupiers obeyed a court eviction notice and left the night before.

Squatters told Bristol24/7 that a handful of people were now homeless as the property was sealed shut ready for the new owners to begin planning for redevelopment.

The buildings and courtyard which sit on end of Picton Street were recently bought by the man behind the Crofters Rights craft beer bar on Stokes Croft, The Lanes bowling alley Nelson Street and a handful of pubs and bars in London.

Bailiffs from Able Enforcements originally attended the property over the weekend, but left as they did not want to trigger a confrontation, according to one of the contractors.

They returned to find an open door on Wednesday with a some of the previous squatters filtering in and out to pick up the last of their possessions.

“It’s just a shame to put so many people back on the streets,” said one squatter who did not want to be named.

Craig Reynolds, 39, a musician who has spent time living at the Magpie, said squatters had moved on peacefully, leaving a message in graffiti: “Bristol culture is an unstoppable force, we are all on board and this ship is changing course.”

On Wednesday morning, Paul Saville, a former mayoral candidate repainted the sign to say: “Welcome to gentrified Bristol 2016.” He later said that his message had been there first.

He said gentrification was spoiling a “cultural icon”. He told BBC Bristol: “It’s fantastic that places are rejuvenated and new people can come and live in Bristol and things like that, but there are a lot of people being swept away.

“That’s what I mean by gentrification: this kind of sweeping away of culture, of people, as kind of human rubbish.”

Jeff Butterfield, 64, a local resident and a member of the pressure group for the adjacent Carriageworks on Stokes Croft which is due to undergo a £20 million redevelopment with 112 new homes, said the previous Magpie squatters had the permission of the former owners of the building.

“The danger is that now, because the new owner has cleared the building, we will get proper squatters who will trash it. That’s a concern,” he said.

He said the site was a “gateway to Montpelier” which is a conservation area and added that he would encourage development in its right form.

“It’s good for the neighbourhood because the area used to have a reputation for being an abandoned, anything-goes area; and it’s become very much more a residential area and increasingly a very much more expensive area.”

But he added that the site “deserves more than being just a bar or restaurant”. He said: “Around here we are having creeping Stokes Croftism and it doesn’t belong this side of the road.

“Stokes Croft is almost like a public ‘vomitorium’ and there’s hardly any residential accommodation there. The people that own the bars want to publicise Stokes Croft to get more business, and the Stokes Croft effect is creeping into residential areas much to our disadvantage – noise, disruption, rubbish; we don’t want that here.”

The site was bought at auction for £300,000 in April this year by Coppin Street Leisure Consultancy Ltd, owned by Jonathan Dalton.

Dalton also owns 14 other companies including Bloomsbury Leisure Holdings Ltd which is responsible for Crofters Rights, The Lanes and a handful of London sites including craft beer bars and bakeries.

A planning application was lodged for the Magpie site on June 29 for a change of use from “shops” to “restaurants and cafes”. The application was later withdrawn.

Bristol24/7 contacted Dalton for comment, but he did not respond. Update: Dalton denied the move was gentrification on Thursday. Read the full story here.

Read more: The unstoppable march of gentrification