A creative hub in Bristol which houses artists and independent business owners has closed permanently.
Two's Company Studios, which provided valuable working space for more than 20 people including screen printers, graphic designers, illustrators and painters, closed yesterday despite a spirited campaign to try and save it.
The landlord of the three-storey building in Old Market, which has operated as Two's Company for the past five years, wants to turn it into flats and a planning application is currently being considered for approval by Bristol City Council.
If the plans are approved, the studio spaces on the first and second floor will be converted into two two-bedroom flats.
The ground floor of the multi-purpose building was occupied by café Alex Does Coffee until May, and then Good Store Studios, a homeware and clothing shop run by a trio of talented creatives.
But that has now closed and the artists in the studios above are in the process of moving out.
Speaking to Bristol Live in May when the writing was all but on the wall for Two's Company, studio manager Beth Izzard - who also ran Good Store Studios - said the closure encapsulates what's happening all over the city.
She said: "It's just a case in point of what's happening in Bristol right now.
"Areas like Old Market become 'luxury areas' because artists come in and make them cool and trendy, but because of that we then end up getting priced out of the building. It's a bit of a catch-22 situation.
"Everyone will have to look for somewhere else to go now and we're hoping to find a place where we can carry on the Good Store Studios, but it all depends on costs.
"It's such a shame we have to leave, it's perfect here."
Beth said that the tenants of the building were offered a new lease but felt the rent was too high for them to continue, so the only option was to move out.
The full plans for the building can be seen on Bristol City Council's website.
