It’s been five years since the old WHSmith building was demolished
Artistic sketch of the temporary pop-up restaurant in the heart of Clifton Village(Image: Speare Developments)
A site in the heart of Clifton Village that’s been empty and unused for years could soon have a ‘temporary pop-up restaurant’ – with the developers who have bought the site preparing plans for a permanent building there by the end of the year.
The site was once a small precinct of shops between Clifton Down Avenue and the Clifton Arcade, and later hosted an ice rink for a couple of winters in the 2010s. In 2021, the buildings there were demolished and for the past five years it’s been empty and fenced off, as a succession of planning applications to build offices, homes and shops there have failed to get off the ground.
Now, a new developer called Speare Developments say they have a new plan for its future which they hope to reveal later this year, but in the meantime, they have submitted a planning application for a temporary ‘pop-up’ restaurant to go there.
If this gets permission it is expected to be in place for a couple of years, while Speare try to get planning permission for their permanent plans.
“This site has been derelict for too long,” a spokesperson for Speare Developments said. “A pop-up restaurant presents an exciting opportunity to bring the site to life and improve its appearance whilst we develop permanent plans.
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“We want the site to be open and active again, not fenced off and forgotten. There’s still a long way to go. As with any brownfield site, there are complex technical constraints that have the potential to affect the viability of a temporary scheme, but we are working through them,” they added.
“With that being said, we are serious about making this area better and we’re excited to explore Clifton’s strong identity as we prepare plans for the site’s long-term future,” they added.
The vacant former WHSmith in Clifton Village(Image: Bristol Live)
Speare said the restaurant would be ‘designed to complement Clifton Village’s tapestry of independent traders’. “Speare Developments has been actively engaging with local businesses to understand how a new restaurant could work collaboratively with the existing community,” they said.
“Whilst the name and the operator are yet to be finalised, the pop-up restaurant is expected to operate for approximately two years while plans for the permanent development are formed and a planning application is decided.
“Long-term plans are expected to include a residential-led scheme with a mixture of ground floor commercial uses,” they added.
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