Bristol City Council plans to buy boarded-up Lockleaze pub which hasn't been open since 2010

Bristol City Council is making preparations to allow it to forcibly buy a derelict pub in north Bristol.

The Gainsborough in Lockleaze closed nine years ago and remains boarded up and is now covered in graffiti.

It was the scene of a fire in June and is considered the last remaining eyesore in Gainsborough Square, following a £2million investment into the area a few years ago.

Last year, a petition from a residents’ group which described the pub as “an eyesore and a barrier to investment in the area” called on the council to start the “compulsory purchase order” process to forcibly buy the pub from its owner.

Now the council has done just that, and the ruling Labour cabinet is due to decide on September 3 whether to allow the compulsory purchase to go ahead.

A council spokesman said forcibly buying the pub would only be necessary if negotiations with the owner failed. Those negotiations have been going on for “some time”, he added. 

Cabinet will also decide whether to allow the compulsory purchase of a property in Branwhite Close if negotiations with the owner do not succeed.

The council said it was unable to provide any information about what the pub and the house would be used for until the relevant reports were published on the council’s website.

But it appears both properties sit in an area pegged for 354 new homes.

Last year, the cabinet agreed to move forward with an £178million scheme to regenerate and develop Lockleaze.

The Lockleaze Estate Regeneration and Housing Delivery plan will see 800 new homes built in the area – of which 265 would be affordable.

Cabinet papers from the March 2018 meeting show that 354 of them would be built across three sites, one of which sits to the north of Gainsborough Square and is bounded by Bonnington Walk, Branwhite Close and Nash Drive.

The draft Bristol local plan anticipates at least new 1,200 homes in Lockleaze, including sites that have already been allocated and “new development opportunities”.

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