Reopening Outlaws community centre could cost almost £1m

In Stephen Merchant’s comedy-drama The Outlaws, Sea Mills Community Centre had a fictional celebratory opening, with emotive speeches about supporting vulnerable communities.

In reality, the residents of Sea Mills are angry. The community centre is the only secular and disabled accessible local meeting space, but remains closed.

The building on Sunny Hill has been shut since 2019 due to its poor condition. While filming was taking place, there were rumours locally that the film crew had done structural building work, and that a large amount of money had been paid for its use.

Now an independent report estimates the cost of bringing the centre up to modern building regulations is more than £800,000. There is considerable doubt that the centre will ever open its doors to the community again.

The new report, commissioned by community group Sea Mills & Coombe Dingle Together (SMCDT), shows that the work done by the film crew was all cosmetic. None of the structural and safety issues which forced it to close have been addressed.

A year on from its starring TV role, the centre is looking uncared for again, the planters are empty and weeds are growing through the artificial grass – photo: Mary Milton

Rachel Lily and Jason Budd are trustees of SMCDT. They facilitated a heated community meeting in June 2022 when Bristol City Council revealed a plan to knock down the centre and replace it with flats and a new community space.

Locals reacted angrily. They fear any replacement space for the centre which was built by residents in the 1950s will be too small and not meet the community’s needs.

Jason has personal reasons to fight for retaining community space in Sea Mills: “My grandmother joined the committee of the Community Centre in the 1960s It was part of my childhood. I joined myself and tried my hardest to help.”

“My emotional attachment is real, but refurbishment of the centre from practical insight, isn’t a pragmatic possibility.”

The centre was given a glamorous makeover for its fictional opening in The Outlaws – photo: Mary Milton

SMCDT have been lobbying the council to have meaningful resident participation in the decision-making process.

“The council have told us that the fee received from the television company for use of the centre was £18,000,” said Rachel.

“That’s far less than a lot of people imagined. Even if that was spent on the building it would be nowhere near enough to put it back into community use.”

She added: “It is a shame that none of that money has been invested in the area and that Bristol City Council has since ‘absorbed’ that cash injection for other projects.”

“That money could have been a sign of goodwill towards the area. Instead it has only added to a sign of distrust that the council is not willing to engage with the community or serve its needs.”

Rachel has come to the area more recently than Jason, but is just as passionate about the need for community space.

She added: “Community centres are warm spaces, they’re educational spaces, they’re spaces where young and old can meet and build cohesion, fight isolation and keep people looked out for, particularly when they’re vulnerable.

“Following the pandemic, a community centre is needed more now than ever.”

SMCDT wants to ensure that the community gets a building that allows them to hold the kind of events they want – and they want to work with the council to accomplish that.

Bristol City Council and Big Talk Productions – the production company for The Outlaws – were both approached for comment on this article.

Mary Milton is reporting on Sea Mills as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media

Main photo: Mary Milton

Read next:

• Local’s dismay as Outlaws community centre could be knocked down
• Local community facilities at risk in Sea Mills and Lawrence Weston
• We should not be denied the chance to say goodbye to our beloved cinema

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