‘Community hero’ pub on Bristol outskirts expanding capacity to 8,000 people
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A pub on the northern outskirts of Bristol lauded as a “community hero” has been permitted to host events with a capacity of 8,000.
Almondsbury Creative is located off Gloucester Road next to the M5 motorway junction, with a large field used for festivals, firework displays and more.
South Gloucestershire Council has agreed to increase its capacity to 8,000, although the pub’s landlord said this was a “maximum theoretical number” and wouldn’t happen regularly. Previous events have held up to 6,000 people attending over the course of the day.
Events would have to end at 10.30pm outdoors and 1am indoors. The extra capacity was approved by councillors on a licensing hearing on Thursday, November 27. The pub’s licence now also allows boxing and wrestling matches to be put on as well.
Garth Jackson, the landlord, said: “We work really closely with the local community. Until recently I was the editor of the parish magazine. When we set up our events, we really consider the local houses. We make sure that the speakers are pointed towards the motorway, so it’s a buffer, and then there’s about a mile before you get to residential [areas].
“We’ve run these events for a long time, and we work really closely with the local authorities. In terms of traffic control, we have lots of marshals out on the road. We’ve been approached by a company that does white collar boxing, so it’s for charity where people raise money.”
The pub hosts live music, cider festivals, bouncy castles and other family-friendly events, and has a strong connection to youth sports. Almondsbury Creative was named runner-up in the Community Hero category of the Great British Pub Awards, winning £1,000 which was donated to the Grand Appeal, the charity of the Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Boxing matches would be held outdoors. White collar boxing is an amateur form of the sport, where people train for a few weeks and then fight a match at the end of training, often selling tickets to friends and family to raise money for charity. Two local residents objected to the application to change the pub’s licence conditions, raising concerns about noise and parking.
Writing to the council, one resident said: “The application includes a sound management plan that, were it to be followed, might deal with the problem, but up to now has not been. I had reason to complain about noise and the booming bass from the Halloween event. Then there is the issue of numbers — the resulting problem is parking and the danger of crossing the A38.”