Iconic record industry name Rough Trade has opened in Bristol, following a deal arranged by commercial property specialists Hartnell Taylor Cook.
Rough Trade has agreed terms on the 4,465 sq ft Unit 3 at New Bridewell on Rupert Street, and opened its doors on Monday.
James Woodard, retail director at Hartnell Taylor Cook, said: “To see an international brand such as Rough Trade choose Bristol is great news, and a ringing endorsement for Bristol as one of the UK’s most important music cities – this is just the fourth Rough Trade store in the UK, along with one in New York.
“Specifically for this part of town, the deal is significant – with PMT, the city’s largest musical instrument shop, across the road, and some really important gig venues such as the Bierkeller, SWX and The Lanes close by, you could say there’s a ‘music quarter’ emerging here in the heart of the city.”
Developer Watkin Jones has delivered the New Bridwell project, on the site of the city’s former central police station, bringing accommodation for 500 students to the building along with retail and leisure at ground floor.
Rough Trade’s arrival in Bristol has come about by the brand buying out local independent record store Rise, with which it has been working for some years. Rise’s staff have been kept on by the business, with the intention very much focused on building further upon the store’s strong independent ethos, providing somewhere and something special for music lovers throughout the city.
Woodard said: “Rise was much beloved of music fans in Bristol, and was always so much more than a record shop – providing a community hub, café, affordable fashion by local designers, and performance space with regular in-store gigs.
“Rough Trade will be looking to build on this foundation, being such a valued hub is precisely what they want to do, and if anything, their stronger brand should make it even more of a draw. This should be great news for music fans.” The first act to perform in the new store’s performance area will be Bristol band Idles, on 16th December.
Along with Rough Trade and a collection of live venues, the Old Town area of Bristol is proving to be a hotspot for development at present. The Pithay, one of the city centre’s landmark buildings, has been rebranded as Programme following its acquisition by Resolution Property, the forward-thinking investors behind Colston Tower’s reinvention.
As well as transforming the building into collaborative, flexible and modern co—working spaces for digital and tech businesses, Resolution is now looking to re-present the ground floor with innovative uses, adding further to the mix of attractions in a part of city that is changing rapidly.
