The ongoing saga of the Mardyke Steps

It could take as many as five years to make council funds available to properly repair a footpath which has already been closed for more than a year and a half.

The Mardyke Steps connects Hotwells to Cliftonwood but has been closed since January 1 2020 due to a wall collapsing close to the top of the path.

Bristol City Council claims that tree roots have undermined the wall’s foundations but the poor original construction of the path and little maintenance over many decades, combined with some water damage, means that a full repair could cost many hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Any cost would be paid for by the council and the owner of the wall, Robert Hancock, who is also the owner of the Mardyke pub, next to which the path starts and snakes up around the border of its surprisingly spacious back garden.

The steps, also known as the Church Path Steps, connect Hotwell Road and the corner of Cliftonwood Terrace and Church Lane, close to the Lion pub in Cliftonwood.

But it seems likely that there will be no quick fix, with Hancock adamant that he holds no responsibility for the collapse of a top section of the wall into the back garden of the Mardyke.

The Mardyke Steps are so called because they start next to the Mardyke pub on Hotwell Road – photo: Martin Booth

Until full repairs are made, an interim solution could see an anchoring of the wall against the slope, the removal of some trees, and some scaffolding to shore the wall up and prevent further collapse.

This would mean that the steps could reopen at a cost of less than £100,000, with the council suggesting that up to half of this cost would be covered by Hancock.

Clifton councillors Paula O’Rourke and Katy Grant have been working on ways to fix the path, but the situation now needs Hancock to pay for his share of the repairs.

The damage to the Mardyke Steps as seen from Cliftonwood Terrace – photo: Martin Booth

“I do apologise to all the residents, but I’m as much of a victim as they are,” Hancock told Bristol24/7.

Hancock, who has been landlord at the Mardyke for 25 years and also owns the Long Bar in Old Market and the Whitehall Tavern in Whitehall, says that it was in 2014 that he first reported to the council that the wall might collapse.

That prediction has now come true, with soil, rubble and clay clearly from the collapse now in the top corner section of the pub’s steep back garden, indicating the cheap construction of the path back in the 1850s.

Looking up the Mardyke Steps, which connect Hotwells with Cliftonwood – photo: Martin Booth

“It’s not my fault,” Hancock said, saying that at the moment he is not willing to pay any money towards the repair of the wall and the path.

“I don’t feel as though I’m responsible for any of this. None at all. The council are saying they’ll put a temporary construction there so people up the top can still walk down. That’s not going to solve this massive problem.”

Hancock says that the path “was built on rubbish”. “Anything they (the council) put up there has just given way…

“I can’t wash my hands of this. Look at the mess in my bloody garden. I’ve lost my pond, the council have told me to chop all these trees down, but there’s no bearing of these trees affecting that wall at all. That was purely pressure from the land behind this wall.”

The popular cut-through, a public way, has been closed since December 2019 – photo: Martin Booth

Hotwells & Cliftonwood Community Association chairman, Dennis Gornall, said: “It seems from correspondence from a local resident that signs of a problem were reported to Bristol City Council some years ago, and of course we have the suspicion that nothing was done then so we now have a much bigger and more serious problem.

“Collapse at the New Cut comes to mind! A stitch in time saves nine was the saying, but this has gone out of fashion because the culture is to buy new!

“It is now a question of what can be done to secure a safe route on the steps and allow public access while all the details are sorted. This is the absolute priority.”

The Mardyke Steps is also known as Church Path Steps and on some maps called Church Lane – photo: Martin Booth

A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “Our highways teams are continuing to regularly visit this site to ensure the safety and security of nearby property is maintained.

“The wall repairs are primarily the landowner’s responsibility and officers and ward councillors initially met with them earlier this year.

“We are attempting to continue these discussions on the way forward towards wall repairs, leading to a subsequent reopening of the public right of way.”

Nature is making a comeback while the path remains closed – photo: Martin Booth

Main photo: Martin Booth

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