The landscape in Broadmead has been gradually evolving over the years. Bristol’s Shopping Quarter, once rich in department stores and shops, is scarred with empty units and ‘to let’ signs throughout the high street as consumer shopping habits change.
There is hope for the future, though, with projects planned to develop the area, and there are still new shops choosing Broadmead as a destination they want to open in. Perhaps the most surprising news this year was the plans to demolish The Galleries shopping centre and replace it with a new development of shops, flats, offices, bars and restaurants.
It will be the biggest redevelopment project since the building of Cabot Circus in the 2000s, which has had a huge impact on the businesses in Broadmead over the years. This week we spoke to passers-by in the city centre, where people are noticing a tangible difference in the area.
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Luke, 25, said he quite liked Broadmead but remarked that “there are quite a lot of homeless people and a lot of drunks around”. He continued: “It’s quite sad to see big empty lots but I think that’s the way it's going, unfortunately. It’s online shopping. I rarely shop in shops, I’m just as much a part of the issue as everyone else. It’s convenience over going into town.
“I have a feeling that people like having these shops around. The more they close the more people will want to go shopping. I think people will make more of an effort once they start to go.”
Despite these changes, data released by three of Bristol’s central Business Improvement Districts (BID) in August outlined that the city centre was actually experiencing a slight increase in footfall during the first half of 2022 as society regained some normality after the pandemic. Vivienne Kennedy of the Broadmead BID said she is excited about what the future holds for the area.
She said: “We've welcomed a number of new businesses in the past 12 months, including Clothing XChange, which will be celebrating its first anniversary in the next few days, Roxy Leisure, and Lidl. They're all proving popular with shoppers.
“The Better Sundays local, ethical market, which has been running on the third Sunday of each month since June, has been very successful, bringing new visitors to Bristol Shopping Quarter, and their evaluation shows those visitors are spending in the permanent shops and cafes as well as with the market traders. Located on Broadmead West, it will be back on November 20 and on the first three Sundays in December.
“There are also some fantastic pop-up shops coming to The Galleries in November and December, making it easy for shoppers to support local makers and producers. They will be joining The People's Republic of Stokes Croft and Stokes Croft China's pop-up, which has been extended until Christmas due to popular demand.”
Over the summer, Bristol’s city centre BIDs launched a new Love Bristol gift card to encourage more people to shop locally. “It is accepted in around 125 businesses across the city centre, including many independents retailers, keeping money in the local economy,” Ms Kennedy said.
However, the changes in shopping habits have already caused huge ripple effects in the shopping district, which has particularly impacted department stores as multinational companies like Amazon offer a convenient one-stop-shop for consumers. The shopping district lost two huge names in the retail industry in less than two years - Debenhams, which closed in May 2021 and Marks & Spencer at the beginning of 2022.
Good news may be on the horizon for the shopping district as the fate of the former Debenhams has been decided - although its exact usage still remains unclear. Construction workers have begun stripping the site to make way for a new development, now owned by 33 Horsefair Ltd with property giants AEKUK owning at least 75 per cent of the building.
In his State of the City Address this week, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees said: "We’ve got developers investing in Debenhams, Broadmead, and The Galleries with really exciting mixed use projects. We’ve provided £1.3 million to support small businesses to bring vacant properties back into use and to reanimate our high streets.
"Where we own the freehold of the land, like the Debenhams site, we have more influence and we use it, again to deliver against our city aims while acknowledging developers' need for financial viability."
Conversely, the closure of Bristol’s flagship Marks & Spencer store after 70 years continues to leave a big hole in the shopping district. Its loss is still lamented by shoppers almost a year since it first announced it was shutting for good.
“It’s a shame about Marks & Spencer going,” one woman told BristolLive, who asked to remain anonymous. “It was a real loss, I suppose they thought everyone could go to Cribbs but not everybody can easily. Nothing will match Marks & Spencer really, it’s a real shame. Especially the food hall.”
She said the other department stores such as House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols were “very expensive” and “out of people’s reach”. The former M&S building closed in January and it could be a struggle to fill with so many floors of that size.
Despite the empty stores, the high street is given a new lease of life during the festive period with the annual Broadmead Christmas Market. The shopping strip is filled with stalls selling mulled wine, chocolates and gifts to tempt Christmas shoppers, and the set-up has already begun ahead of opening next week.
Broadmead BID has invested in additional lighting this year, with new canopies going across Merchant Street North and South, along with some beautiful tree lights on Union Street and The Horsefair.
Andre, 21, a volunteer for Weexcel Youth, said he found it difficult to speak to the public with the Christmas market occupying most of the walkway. “There’s a reduction of space and it’s hard to stop people. The space used to be wider than this and it’s hard to speak to them.”
He added that he thought the empty shops weren’t adding to the desirability of the area, either.
Businesses now face another battle during the cost of living crisis as wages stagnate and consumers no longer have the disposable income to shop in the way they once did. Some independent shops in The Arcade have already been hit with rising costs and huge rent hikes which is forcing some people out.
The next few months will be crucial for Broadmead stores, both local and corporate, to stabilise footfall and generate revenue as we head into the festive period. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.
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