Bearpit Street Art To Go As Bristol City Council Aims To Tackle Problem St James Barton Roundabout

St James Barton Roundabout, more fondly known as the Bearpit, has been a huge source of contention in the city in recent months.

The location has always had a reputation in Bristol for being a tricky area. As far back as forty years, the Bearpit has played host to daytime drinkers, rough sleepers, people performing songs on guitars with three out of tune E strings and beggars. Recent attempts to gentrify the area have been declared a failure. Now, Bristol City Council have stepped in to sanitise the area in attempts to ‘take back control’.

Bristol Waste will be moving into the area to remove graffiti and tagging, whilst the council will work with organisations to make the space ‘safe and clean’ and install new CCTV.

“Some great work has been done within the Bearpit over the last few years and I am extremely grateful to those involved for all of their efforts,” Cllr Asher Craig, Deputy Mayor with responsibility for communities said.

“A lot has been achieved but we cannot ignore the unacceptable antisocial behaviour that has taken place recently, so it is necessary for us to take action and take back full control of the area.

“Thousands of pedestrians use St James Barton Roundabout as a through route every day and we need to ensure that this space is providing a safe and positive environment that people across the city can enjoy.

“We will be focusing in the short term on cleaning up the area and dealing with the crime issues, and we will then begin to gather ideas to help us decide on a more long-term strategy that will encourage community spirit and support local businesses.”

According to the council press release, there has been a recent increase in antisocial behaviour and crime, with traders located within the roundabout reporting attacks.

Community groups including the Bearpit Improvement Group and Bearpit Community Trust worked with the council, traders and local people over the last seven years to improve the situation in the area. But, for now, the council believe it is necessary to take back full control without a community group in charge.

Crime statistics for all policing areas are made available to the public on the Police website: www.police.uk

Crime Statistics for the St James Barton Roundabout area January 2018:

Crime on or near St James’ Barton
11 crimes were reported here in January 2018

Anti-social behaviour 6
Possession of weapons 1
Public order 2
Violence and sexual offences 2

Crime on or near Pedestrian Subway
9 crimes were reported here in January 2018.

Anti-social behaviour 9

Crime on or near Pedestrian Subway
6 crimes were reported here in January 2018.

Anti-social behaviour 3
Public order 2
Theft from the person 1

Whilst this seems like a crime wave, we looked at the statistics on the police crime map for the area we are based in which is St Judes in Trinity. The numbers were broadly comparable and we have most of Stapleton Road in our area statistics.

What you have with the Bearpit is a high visibility place in Central Bristol which is no different to our Wade Street, Stapleton Road, St Judes and other inner areas surrounding the centre of Bristol. What the Bearpit did have is a community group that was interested and worked on improving things. Come to Wade Street and there is nothing to improve and nobody to care. Our crime statistics are not far off the Bearpit’s. In September 2017, the Bearpit topped the league for the Bristol location with the most antisocial behaviour. Wade Street came second to this by only one  police incident.

So, in St Judes, we look forward to Bristol City Council taking back control of our area and investing in some new CCTV and crime initiatives. Or not really. Because the Bearpit far from being a crime hot spot, is just a fairly normal representation of real Central Bristol life that everyday people commuting in just don’t experience.

A recent discussion we spotted on a Facebook community page advised people not to walk alone down Houlton Street in St Judes to collect their car from Cabot Circus car park. It was simply too dangerous. These scaremongering tattle tales on Facebook are ridiculous. Families live, work and spend time in these ‘dangerous’ areas.

It’s clear why the Bearpit has been taken over by the council. It is gentrification that failed. Absolutely and totally gentrification by people with a need to sanitise character and culture out of an area that is not theirs. Now they feel safe plodding along staring down at a phone in one hand and balancing a triple crappalappuccino in another. Good work.

What a shame for Bristol to be loosing an area with such vibrant and diverse artwork.

 

 

 

 

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