It was part of a chain that closed down in June
A view through the window inside the Grounded cafe bar in Fishponds, which will now be operating under a new name as an independent business(Image: BristolLive)
The team behind a popular cafe which suddenly shut in June have reopened it as an independent business.
As of today (Friday July 3), Grounded Fishponds will now be trading as Turners Fishponds, continuing to serve coffee, food and beers to its loyal customer base.
“We welcome you all to Turners Fishponds!” the team wrote on social media.
“The same crew, 100% independent! We cannot wait to share this experience with all of you!”
Grounded cafes in Bristol and Wiltshire closed down on June 23 without prior warning to customers. At first it was assumed they had shut temporarily in response to the late-June heatwave, but they never reopened and no explanation has been given so far for why they ceased operating.
The first Grounded cafe opened in 2008 in Redfield. Before shutting down, Grounded operated eight sites in Redfield, Bedminster, Horfield , Brislington, Corsham, Keynsham, Fishponds and Chippenham.
The chain was owned by property developer Tobie Holbrook. Grounded previously went into liquidation in 2019.
When the first cafe opened, Mr Holbrook said he wanted to recreate the “welcoming, inviting atmosphere of a living room”.
Another Bristol-born business, Lounge, has followed a similar model to massive success and now operates over 250 sites across the United Kingdom.
Photos taken on Monday June 29 when BristolLive visited two Bristol sites, showed both the Bedminster Parade and Fishponds cafes closed, with furniture inside left in situ, but doors locked and lights off. There was no signage advising of the closures in the cafes’ windows.
Now, at least the Fishponds site will continue to operate as a cafe.
The Grounded website was, at the time of writing, operating as usual and no official messages were shared online to provide detail or clarification about the closures.
BristolLive has contacted Grounded for comment.
Customers reacted very positively to the announcement that Grounded Fishponds was to resume trading as Turners Fishponds.
“This is such terrific news and glad you’ll all be staying here in Fishponds,” one wrote in response to the social media post announcing the news.
“So happy this one’s been saved! Congrats team!” said another.