Gloucester Road: A community like no other

Stokes Croft, Bristol. Credit: Unsplash

Bristol is a city full of surprises, while people may be familiar with Aardman, Brunel, or the Balamory-style houses scattered throughout the town, once you get to know the place, you discover what makes it feel like home to the locals, the strange array of people who occupy it.

Over the years, Bristol has been home to several notable people; Banksy, Cary Grant, and a host of comedians such as Russel Howard and Jayde Adams. However, if you were to approach someone who lives there and ask who embodies Bristol for them, you’re less likely to have heard of their response.

It should be established early on that the defining terms of Gloucester Road here are somewhat non-traditional. While for many, the area extends along a section of the road, full of independent shops and posh houses, many will refer to Gloucester Road far beyond its geographical end, expanding to an area called Stokes Croft.

PJ Gould, who grew up near Gloucester Road said: “Some of the people round there really make the area what it is, the twins, Sean and Jason were two of my favourites, they were always about giving high fives and hugs.”

The twins were also a regular staple of my childhood, Jason would always approach me, put his finger on my belly, and when I looked down would flick me in the face, I fell for it every time. Even when I returned to Gloucester Road last summer, after having not seen him for around five years, he still recognised me, and I still fell for it. Now, there are even stickers with the faces of the two twins littered on lampposts and windows along Gloucester Road.

Stokes Croft is where many of Bristol’s key characters migrate from Gloucester Road’s high street. Notable events in the area include the 2011 Stokes Croft riots, which you may remember from its broadcast on national news. In a typical Stokes Croft fashion, these riots began in a graffiti-riddled building and were a response to the opening of a Tesco Metro, which interrupted the string of independent shops which was claimed to be Europe’s longest. It should be stated that the origins of this statistic are a little nebulous.

Victoria Schofield, who lived in the area for many years said: “When the riots first started, it felt like a real Bristol thing, people standing up for the little independent community they had built, but it quickly spiralled and was on national news, it was quite scary living near there at the time. I guess Bristol’s known for that sort of thing now.”

Within Stokes Croft is Turbo Island, almost a micro-district within itself. Right next to Banksy’s Mild, Mild West, you may imagine Turbo Island to be a paradise by its name. In reality, it is a small triangle of concrete, once grass (the concrete was the council’s grand plan to transform the area). It is home to many of Bristol’s homeless people while this may sound depressing, there is something admirable about Turbo Island, the community even has an Instagram account to showcase it. This usually shows raging bonfires of burning mattresses or hordes of people staggering to trance music at 4 am, it is a home to many, who are an important part of the area and speak to everyone about their day as they walk home from work.

One resident of Turbo Island is Jeff, a Big Issue seller. No one gets past him without a hug or a fist bump, and he is so widely loved that there have been many fundraising campaigns to help him, one of which resulted in Jeff getting a brand-new caravan. Soon after I walked past Turbo Island on my way to work at 6 am, Jeff was sleeping on the floor, because that’s where his community is. I imagine the caravan was swiftly converted into bonfire fuel.

Victoria said: “I remember Sapphire [a local drag queen] taking me out one night, we ended up vaulting over these garden fences to get to a hidden underground club in someone’s basement.”

The nightlife along Gloucester Road is infamous, DJ Derek was one of Bristol’s many legendary DJs, who played reggae well into his 70s. He was a regular feature at grimy venues such as the Star and Garter. A Bristol legend, Derek’s story ended tragically, he disappeared in 2015. After 8 months of searching and a series of potential sightings being investigated, at the age of 78 DJ Derek’s remains were found along the side of the road near Cribbs Causeway, a retail park on the outskirts of the city. We still don’t know what happened to him.

This hasn’t been the only tragedy in the area’s music scene in recent years. Big Jeff Johns is one of several famous Bristol faces, personally, my first encounter with him was at an art gallery open day, where I saw a tall mass of curly blonde hair thrashing around to a drummer and saxophonist situated in a corner. Upon further research, it became clear that no matter where you go on a night out in Bristol, if Big Jeff’s there, you’ve chosen the right gig. He is known for attending a concert every night. Unfortunately, in 2022, Big Jeff was the victim of a housefire, while he is still recovering, he is sorely missed in Bristol’s venues.

Growing up in the area, my neighbour, Brenda, was known for her scathing commentary on passersby. When looking out of my window one morning I wondered what a news crew was doing talking to her. The next thing I knew, her face was everywhere, saying her new catchphrase “Not another one?!” in response to the announcement of a snap general election, and Brenda from Bristol had a new pastime, harassing teenagers knocking at her door and asking for a photo.

There are many honourable mentions of characters who could be included here, PJ said: “I always liked the doomsday fella who stood in the middle of the road with his cardboard sign, he reminded me of that character in Do the Right Thing, I smiled every time I passed him, I guess that wasn’t the response he was after.”

While I may no longer call Bristol my home, I only recently realised how proud I am to have grown up in this area. When I dragged my Scottish boyfriend down to Turbo Island on his first trip to Bristol last year, I stood with a grin of pride and gestured at a patch of concrete with a group of men passed out in some substance-induced slumber in the middle of the afternoon. “These are the guys I was telling you about!”

Bristol is not without its problems, and it would be remiss of me to glamourise what many of these people are living through, but the community established here is so strong, as demonstrated by Jeff and his abandoned caravan, what isn’t there to be proud of?