you walk around the bristol high street, it has become common to see empty shop units and for sale signs on what was once a city filled with busy shops. Now, due to a plethora of factors including the rising cost of living many buisnesses are being forced to close or to scale down.
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00:00 If you walk around the Bristol High Street, it has become common to see empty shop units and for sale signs on what was once a city filled with busy shops.
00:12 Now, due to a plethora of factors including the rising cost of living, businesses are being forced to close or to scale down.
00:20 Yes, Wilco is great. We're lucky in Westbury-on-Trim that we've got Marie's down at the far end that sells that similar sort of things.
00:31 But more of that sort of store is really necessary where you can buy things at affordable prices.
00:37 One popular Bristol business that recently closed was the Sandy Park Butchers who has been trading for over 100 years.
00:47 The closure marked the final closure of the last butchers in Brislington, Totterdown and Knoll.
00:54 The former owners said that the business has not been the same since the Covid-19 pandemic
01:00 as more people aim to buy their meat from larger supermarket stores rather than independent retailers.
01:07 Well, I like the shops that are here already. Obviously, you know, the greengrocer's great and I use Amplifon and the jewellers.
01:17 I live in Shirehampton and there aren't these things there. But it's a shame about the banks, obviously. I'm sure everybody says that.
01:28 I think I would agree to the general public that banks and chemists would be a really good addition to high streets because anything can happen.
01:39 And maybe like a local NHS drop in, a walk in.
01:45 In the last year, many other major retailers in the city have closed, such as Wilco's and Debenhams to name a few.
01:54 Major plans have been unveiled to knock down the former Debenhams store in Broadmead and replace it with a huge development,
02:03 providing more than 500 homes for rent.
02:06 Buildings between nine and 12 storeys high would run either side of Rain Street, Bar Street, off the horse fair,
02:14 before a high rise tower block of 28 storeys high, a new northern gateway into Broadmead,
02:20 which would look over St James Barton roundabout.
02:24 And that's the problem. Everything is geared to going out of town, isn't it?
02:28 And the centre is just getting more and more expensive.
02:31 So that's a key thing is we've got to stop driving out to out of town shops.
02:37 Additional Primark, that would be one.
02:41 Because for now here in Bristol, it's only in the city centre. And I think an additional of that would be a good idea.
02:50 And then maybe a local drug stores and shops like these, like small shops, like 24/7 shops.
02:59 Only time will tell what the future looks like for Bristol High Street.