Fresh hopes for new supermarket in Bristol neighbourhood

A long-running campaign for a supermarket in a Bristol neighbourhood has gained fresh momentum following a new announcement.

Knowle West has been without a supermarket for decades, much to the frustration of residents who have to go elsewhere to do their weekly shop.

But Bristol City Council has announced that it is now launching a new study to market test retail interest for Filwood Broadway, which was once a thriving high street.

This has sparked hopes that a supermarket operator might open a store on the Broadway, which also used to have a cinema and swimming pool.

Nick Haskins, chair of the Filwood Residents Association, says a supermarket is “absolutely” what Knowle West needs.

“I’ve been in touch with a few supermarkets and they’ve all been interested,” says Haskins, who’s been trying to attract a Tesco Express, Iceland or Farmfoods to the Broadway.

“There have been a lot of people saying a supermarket should open there. It would bring life back into the area.”

Residents have been fighting for a supermarket in Knowle West for years. Photo by Charlie Watts

Plans for a supermarket on Filwood Broadway go back to 2002, when there was a failed attempt to turn the old cinema into one.

Ten years later, the Filwood Broadway Framework set out fresh plans for the old cinema to become a supermarket.

But the council has since said no supermarket operator is interested in opening a store on the Broadway – and the old cinema is now due to be demolished to make way for housing.

There were previously plans to turn the old cinema on Filwood Broadway into a supermarket. Photo by Charlie Watts

The council says its new retail study for Filwood Broadway will update a similar piece of work undertaken in 2015, “to ascertain if the situation has changed over this period.”

Chris Jackson, one of the local councillors for Filwood, claims the 2015 study – which Bristol24/7 has asked the council for a copy of – showed a lack of retail interest for the Broadway.

“I met with Aldi, Lidl, Tesco,” he said. “We met with everybody, and nobody wanted to come up.

“I wish I had a pound for every meeting I had with a supermarket person because I’d be a millionaire now.”

Jackson says supermarkets were not interested because the Broadway is not a “thoroughfare” and the footfall is “not there”.

“If we could get one and start the regeneration of Knowle West, it’d be great,” he added.

“Once you get a major player in the area, everything gets better, because other retailers would follow suit.”

The council has said it is launching a new study to market test retail interest for Filwood Broadway – six years after the last one. Photo by Ellie Pipe

The council says its new study has been agreed following discussions with the Filwood Broadway Working Group, who will also shape the outcome of it.

Tim Jones, chair of the Filwood Broadway Working Group, hopes the study will result in a large convenience store – or small supermarket.

“Fresh bread, meat and veg: we want a shop that will stock that sort of stuff,” he said.

Jones thinks the council may have decided to do a new study six years after the last one because “there’s more understanding of the needs of those who haven’t got cars.”

“They’ve realised how many older and less abled people need help with their shopping,” he added.

“Some of those people would be happy to do their own shopping – as long as it’s local.”

Jones also says the potential for the Broadway, which is one of nine Bristol high streets at the focus of a £4.7m recovery package, is “enormous”.

“It’s just sad that it’s been neglected for so long,” he said. “The size and layout of it speaks of something that could be magnificent.”

Filwood Broadway currently has two small convenience stores, but had a Liptons and Co-op in its prime.

Main photo by Charlie Watts

Charlie Watts is reporting on Knowle West as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a pilot project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media 

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