Introduction

My first impressions of Lockleaze were that it was a very small residential area of Bristol that is overlooked a lot of the time. Predominantly the people who live there were born there. I got the impression that there are a lot of happy memories based in Lockleaze.

“Born &Bred”

There is a definite sense of a strong community. The community centre is the most impressive and inviting part of the area; with monthly meetings and weekly events there is no wonder why people live in lockleaze all their lives. Even stepping into the hairdressers customers were greeted like family.

Everyone knows everyone in Lockleaze; the talk of the town ‘Cookies Café’ is a central part of the local Lockleaze lifestyle. Any day of the week you are guaranteed to see a friendly face accompanied by a familiar brew.

“I love Lockleaze”

Although community spirit is high there is still a lack of necessities that lockleaze does not support.

“There has been n o t h i n g up herefor years.”When arriving to lockleaze from the city centre there is a sudden realisation of the extreme lack of retail and attractions to draw positive attention to the area.

Many of the locals persistently agreed that there is ‘nothing’ there, in particular nothing for families and especially in the winter.

“It just needs to be put on the map a bit more, but things are happening.”

“The pub being set on

fire!That was aspecial

m e m o r y . ”

Aside from the lack of shops there is one thing in Gainsborough Square that you cannot avoid; the ‘monstrosity’ of the abandoned derelict building, also known as the Gainsborough pub.

When mentioned many of the locals had a similar reaction of exhaustion and annoyance that it still exists.

The pub shut down in March 2010, many of the locals had no idea of why it had been closed but the majority was pleased that it had.

‘you just don’t go in there.’

It was the sort of place that people said,

I was lucky enough to eventually find that the pub had shut down due to a number of drug raids that had made it unsustainable. The majority of the people I asked had an extremely negative opinion of what the pub used to be like and sort of people it attracted, explaining that it was very unfriendly and over all a ‘horrible’ place to be.

From the unanimous opinion of the pub being a bad place to hang out I then asked what would they prefer the space to be used as?

“They should do something else with the space, like a supermarket. Theres a lack of shops here. It’s a forgotten area.”

“Theres a lot of land behind it, it would be good to increase walk-ability from the streets behind to the square, or knock it down and build more houses.”

“Kane Graham asked if the Gainsborough public house could be converted into something else of use to the community such as shops. Guy replied that it would cost a huge amount to restore.

The licensing department would need to check that it is under good management if it is to be re-opened. Guy still hopes for a good food store in the area.”

family pub such as Wetherspoons with affordable food, where people can gather in the evenings.”

“Ideally replace it with a