Bristol independent brewer, Left Handed Giant, has launched a new specialty café as part of the recently completed £12m refurbishment project at the city’s BLOK business hub.
Commune Café is already proving a huge hit with customers after opening its doors for the first time last month – serving up a quality selection of hot drinks, sandwiches and sweet treats.
The contemporary office space, located in the heart of Bristol’s commercial district, has been transformed thanks to an extensive ‘re-imagining’ process from owners Boultbee Brooks, which has breathed new life into what is now a most welcome amenity-rich addition to the Bristol business community.
Currently at 70% capacity, the site offers 70,000 sq ft of modern office workspace and a further 11,000 sq ft of welfare and amenity space, including a communal lounge, meeting rooms, a courtyard garden, roof terrace and private gym.
Left Handed Giant is a Bristol-based brewing company with seven further outlets serving food and drink across the city, including the Finzels Reach Brewpub which overlooks the city’s floating harbour and its main brewery Taproom site in St Philips.
Having started brewing in 2015, Commune Café complements LHG’s other coffee offerings at New Cut Coffee on the Harbourside Hotplate Diner in Stokes Croft. There are plans to expand the operation in the near future to include an alcohol licence so that customers can enjoy all of the beverages that Left Handed Giant offer.
Bruce Gray, MD of Left Handed Giant, comments: “This was a wonderful opportunity for us to expand our presence in the city and continue to serve top quality food and drink to the people of Bristol.
“The BLOK site has been extensively refurbished to an extremely high standard and to be able to open up the Commune Café as part of this project is truly exciting for everyone involved.
“We now operate two main brewing sites in the city, producing around 7,000 hectolitres of beer annually, which is sold through independent pubs, bars and bottle shops with the majority straight to tap through our Brewpub, the St Philips Taproom and from where it all began for us at the Small Bar.”
Having purchased the tired-looking 1980s-built property in 2021, Boultbee Brooks now has a raft of big-name tenants operating from BLOK, including Coreus Group, Basekit, 5 Values Consulting, RWK Goodman and Irwin Mitchell Solicitors.
The process of ‘reimagining instead of rebuilding’ at BLOK has prioritised sustainability and occupier experience, reflecting in the extensive building certification which includes BREEAM, very good EPC A, Fitwell 2* and Activescore Platinum.
Boultbee Brooks Managing Director, James Whitcher, comments: “The opening of Commune café completes the extensive £12m refurbishment of the building and we are absolutely delighted to welcome Left Handed Giant into the BLOK family and we look forward to working closely with them as we continue to deliver quality office solutions – and coffee – for the people of Bristol.”
Commune café is open daily from 8am to 5pm and includes access to a courtyard garden, as well as providing views of the iconic St Philip and St Jacob Church.
