Shops / Features
From DJing in the Dug Out to fashion shows
Gill Loats has had enough of Bristol. Having lived in the city all of her life, becoming the first female DJ at the famous Dug Out club, running a community arts centre, writing the seminal book about women in Bristol’s music scene, directing pantomimes and fashion shows, and running a vintage shop, she will soon be moving to Somerset.
Looking around her shop, Recession, which she has run at the foot of Jacob’s Wells Road since the recession of 2008, Gill says that she is feeling sad but that now is the right time.
There’s still time to say goodbye to Gill too, with two jumble sales taking place at Recession on the next two Saturdays, April 13 and 20, and at the Southbank Club on April 28 the day after the 25th Recession fashion show, which this year has the theme of ‘pantomime’.
is needed now More than ever
When Gill moves to Somerset, a smaller version of Recession – fewer second hand clothes, more bits and bobs – will be a stall at the Vintage Trading Post in Wrantage, but the closure of the shop in Hotwells is the last hurrah of the shop in Bristol.
“Everybody said to me, ‘what are you going to do when the recession ends?’ I said, I’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it. And has it actually ended? Well, we’re actually in one now just as I go.”
In the early days of Recession, Gill used to regularly design fun window displays, take a table and chair onto the street, dress up a bright green mannequin who she refers to fondly as ‘celery woman’ in a variety of styles, and get her lunch from the much-missed Chai Shai restaurant just a couple of doors down.
Recession specialises in second hand clothes and ‘bits and bobs’ – photo: Martin Booth
Hotwells is close to Gill’s heart, having previously run the former Hope Centre (now Hope Chapel) on Hope Chapel Hill where she began directing the annual pantomimes that still continue today.
But like many traders, Gill is scathing of Bristol’s parking and driving restrictions, which she says have hindered her in transporting goods from her home in Southville to the shop.
She calls the Bristol of 1978 when she first started DJing at the Dug Out on Park Row as a “stick and paste” city, “and it has been until reasonably recently”
“It was a stick and paste culture which meant that we made stuff out of nothing, basically. And I feel personally that the end of that is why things have gone wrong now, I just do. Bristol is going to turn into everywhere else soon. It’s become anaesthetised and is being manicured.
“We all learned to just make stuff up as we went along because we weren’t London. So I kind of think that is me. That is what I have been and done all along the whole route which is what Recession was.
“I never got myself into debt to do it. I did everything. All my signs, everything I ever did here were literally stick and paste.
“I think that’s why people liked it actually because it was a proper old-fashioned type of vintage shop as opposed to hung very neatly, like what they have done to charity shops. I feel terribly uninspired when I go into a charity shop now.”
The end is nigh at Recession, where jumble sales are taking place on the next two Saturdays – photo: Martin Booth
So what has Recession meant to Gill over the last 16 years? “I think that one of the things that sums it up is that people often come in and say, ‘why don’t you go online?’ They’ve always got that lovely piece of advice.
“But the fact is that’s not what I wanted to do. I like the banter, I liked the people coming in, I liked doing my silly windows. All of the chats.
“It’s the same as the fashion shows as well which are equally as chaotic and unrehearsed. They’ve always had different themes which have been ridiculous but quite often reflecting the times, the next one is like a pantomime because that’s the world we’re living in at the moment.”
The 25h Recession fashion show takes place at the Southbank Club in Southville on April 27 – photo: Rosie Tee
Gill grew up in Redland “when it was a normal place, lots of Catholics, Irish and Black people”.
“When I left home, everyone had to live in Clifton, Redland or Cotham. It was where everybody got a flat and they were shitholes really. There were no expectations for your landlord to do anything good for you…
“But I’ve had enough of Bristol now. I am really so sad about it because I waved the banner of Bristol forever. I have always loved it. Maybe it’s because I’m old, but it’s not my Bristol anymore.”
The Recession Fashion Show takes place at the Southbank Club on April 27. To reserve tickets, email recessionfashionshow@gmail.com
Main photo: Martin Booth
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