Bid to transfer landmark building into community ownership

Wording on the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) wall hints at recent events being set in motion.

‘Let’s share the future, the land is for all’ is currently written across the ever-changing outdoor canvas on Jamaica Street.

The latest street art coincides with the launch of a scheme that has been some years in the making and could see the landmark PRSC building go into community ownership in a bid to retain it as a cultural hub and save it from “profiteering developers and faceless corporations”.

Stokes Croft Land Trust (SCLT) is officially set to launch its community share offer on Thursday, November 25 and hopes to raise a minimum of £272,000 to buy the building of 17-25 Jamaica Street and 14 Hillgrove Street.

Stokes Croft Community Land Trust wants to buy the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft building and retain it as a community-owned cultural hub – photo by Ellie Pipe

The collective fears the area in which creativity and grassroots activism have flourished will be changed beyond recognition by gentrification and development and are seeking to put some of the property into the hands of the community.

They are offering people the chance to “own a piece of Stokes Croft”.

“Now is the right time for us to act,” says SCLT board member Keith Cowling.

“Land and buildings are being rapidly consumed by the private sector to maintain the churn of property development and this is at the expense of the broader community, often pushing the people that we serve out on the periphery.

“Bristol has a unique history, a fantastic community spirit and an attitude to doing things differently. That’s why we believe our community share offer presents an opportunity to support what our city is all about. We’ve structured it so that all Bristolians and those beyond our city with an interest in city-based community ownerships can get involved and invest.”

The organisation is kicking off the land share offer with an event on Thursday, which will also see the launch of an exhibition exploring land justice, community ownership and the ongoing fight against gentrification.

Stokes Croft and the surrounding area is changing fast, with many major developments in the pipeline – from the ongoing Carriageworks redevelopment to plans for student accommodation on the site of Blue Mountain down the road.

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Read more: Scaffolding removed from Carriageworks

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Those behind SCLT say they are ambitious in their vision to acquire property for community ownership. They intend to start with the current PRSC building, which is currently owned by a group of four angel investors who purchased the property eight years ago and at that time signed an agreement to sell the building to a land trust at the same price that they bought it for.

If it is successful in purchasing the freehold tenure of the building, SCLT plans to work with PRSC to on a longer-term programme of improvements. PRSC would continue to occupy the building and pay rent to the land trust.

“Now is the right time for us to act,” says SCLT board member Keith Cowling  – photo by Ellie Pipe

Commenting on the plans, Hilary Sudbury, a co-operative and social enterprise development worker and co-opted member of SCLT, says: “Many great initiatives in Bristol and the wider West of England area have raised the capital via community shares to buy community assets and manage them collectively, from pubs and music venues to ferries, bookshops, piers, supporters clubs and renewable energy.”

The event on Thursday will feature a performance from Immigrant Jam, as well as a talk on the land share offer by Keith Cowling. Find out more via www.prsc.org.uk/event/stokes-croft-land-trust-launch-party/.

Main photo by Ellie Pipe

Read more: Examining Bristol’s gentrification problem 

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