Following our introductory Community Panel gathering in March, we brought the panel together again on 25 May to discuss our main project areas.
We welcomed 5 new members to our panel of 12, who brought with them new perspectives and included people living in BS4 and BS13 who visit Bedminster Town Centre for shopping, work and socialising.
The panel gave us feedback and suggestions on our main areas of work: acquiring landmark buildings (such as Fiddlers), reviving Bedminster High Street through better use of vacant and underused spaces and working with developers to bring empty ground floor spaces of new builds into use. The discussions were lively and full of useful thoughts, suggestions and questions that will help shape our work.
A common theme during the meeting was a need for there to be a diverse range of shops and activities in Bedminster, catering to all members of the community and giving them a reason to go to the high street. They spoke of the grief at the loss of a traditional high street and how they’d like to see comedy clubs, cinema, advice hubs, health services, clubs, classes, markets and more. They talked about the potential for music to bring people together across ages and groups and how it was important to have spaces open throughout the day and evening.
Sunshine Cafe kindly stayed open late to host us. They have been operating on East Street for 17 years, and have seen the changes in the area over this time and shared their reflections during the meeting.