How Bristol's grottiest spot became 'clean and odour free'

The coronavirus lockdown has made the city centre, especially the area around Broadmead, feel like a ghost town for weeks.

But that has given the people at the council’s Bristol Neighbourhood Enforcement Team and Bristol Waste the chance to tidy the place up a bit.

Right across the city, the teams are out answering calls to do everything from clear up flying tipping grotspots to jetwashing away unsightly tagging.

And there was one particular spot that was perhaps one of the grottiest in Bristol - a concrete jungle of shuttered up shops and tagging.

(Bristol Neighbourhood Enforcement Team)

Such was the severity of the state of the area between the Bearpit and the bus station that the council had to bring in an ‘experienced contractor’, and it was such a big job that they had to put it out to tender.

The Premier Inn chipped in too - tagging on their building needed sorting at the same time.

It’s been almost a year since the city council shut down the Bearpit roundabout itself, and evicted a group of homeless people and housing crisis campaigners who had set up camp inside the roundabout.

In the weeks after it was shut down, the council whitewashed the area and installed a series of new CCTV cameras to catch people tagging it again, in what council chiefs called a 'fresh start' for the area.

(Bristol Neighbourhood Enforcement Team)

But the final part of the jigsaw was the area at the exit towards the bus station and the Premier Inn hotel - which has finally been fixed.

Before and after pictures from the team showed the results, and a spokesperson said the area was ‘now clean and odour free’.

“Bristol City Council has worked with the Premier Inn to support and encourage the removal of graffiti on their Haymarket building and both levels of Haymarket Walk next to the Bear Pit,” she said.

“The extent of the tagging meant that Premier Inn had to find an experienced contractor to do the work for them and the cost of the work meant they had to put the work out to tender.

(Bristol Neighbourhood Enforcement Team)

“This meant the process took some time but has achieved fantastic results.

“The area which normally has high footfall from the bus station has been transformed and is now clean and odour free,” she said.