People in a popular area of Bristol are fighting back against gentrification by pooling together to buy local buildings and stop them falling into the hands of developers.
Residents of Stokes Croft, a cultural and artistic hub north of the city centre, aim to keep the buildings for community use via the Stokes Croft Community Land Trust (SCCLT) – a collective ownership group aiming to stop investors taking over as the area becomes more desirable.
This part of town, dubbed Bristol’s ‘cultural quarter,’ is known for its creative community, vibrantly painted buildings, buzzing cafes and, of course, Banksys.
The artist’s ‘Mild Mild West’ artwork is located next to The Canteen, a bar where there is live music most evenings.
Stokes Croft has become particularly attractive to major developers and investors, with local people saying they now face a fight to protect its character and prevent long-term residents from being priced out.
“Local people are disgruntled,” says 28-year-old Arnie King who volunteers for SCCLT and has lived in the south west his whole life.
“Recently a building that had been derelict for years – West Morland House – was bought by developers who are turning it into flats but there’s a sense that something of our local identity is being lost.”
Research conducted by property website Zoopla found Bristol experienced the second-largest increase in rental costs in the whole of England in 2020.
Arnie is a social care worker and feeling the pinch. “Renting in Bristol for the last few years, I’ve seen prices rise and felt a lack of power over it. It has really affected me and people around me,” he said.
By buying up local properties, SCCLT hope that they can safeguard against local people being priced out and maintain the area’s identity.
What is gentrification?
Coined by the sociologist Ruth Glass in 1964, “gentrification” is a process whereby a place is improved, often as wealthier people move in or when private companies or local government (sometimes both) knock down and develop old buildings.
Local people are often displaced and priced out when this happens.
The group is currently past the halfway mark in its efforts to raise £272,000 and hopes to purchase one building – 17-25 Jamaica Street – which has been used as an events space for screenings, performances and exhibitions.
The current tenants, People’s Republic of Stokes Croft would be allowed to remain in the building with rent used to fund further activity and dividends for community investors.
The group hopes to expand in the future and says it is engaging with local business owners whose premises could be taken into community ownership should they decide to sell them. SCCLT board member, Keith Cowling is a retired architect in his 70s.
“This is a grassroots model for doing something about gentrification,” he told i.
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“Our main aim is to try and prevent all of the value that has been created by the creativity of local people over the years being bought up by speculators from outside of Bristol, monetised and exported out our community.”
As Keith sees it, the SCCLT’s job is to “try and give the community a say in what happens to it.”
Change, he added, is inevitable but “gentrification is not. The point is who gets to determine what that change will be.”
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