Giant Goram pub sale stopped after bid is launched for community take-over

A Bristol pub was stopped from being sold for development after a proposal was tabled for the community to buy the site.

The Giant Goram, which is last pub standing in Lawrence Weston, was scheduled to be auctioned off for development with a guide price of £290,000 on Wednesday (February 16).

But a fierce campaign to save it has been amped up after a ‘community right to bid’ was lodged, stopping the auction in its tracks.

This means the pub, in Barrowmead Drive, could potentially be bought by the group and run by the community as an ‘asset of community value’.

A similar scheme is currently underway in Knowle after the Friends of Jubilee Pool applied to take over an under-threat swimming pool from Bristol City Council.

A spokesperson for Hollis Morgan, who are listing the pub on behalf of owners Hawkfield Homes, said they were ‘hopeful’ that the auction would still go ahead but confirmed that due to the bid it legally could not sell the property before July 29.

During this time, campaigners will need to develop a proposal and raise the funds it needs to secure the pub.

At the end of the 6-month period, the owner is free to sell the asset to whoever they wish and at any price.

The Giant Goram was built around 1960 and is situated in the heart of an estate, surrounded by housing developments which were constructed at the same time.

It has been at the centre of a planning battle since its closure in 2019, after Hawkfield Homes’ plans to replace the pub with seven new homes were rejected by Bristol City Council before a subsequent appeal against the decision was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate last year.

The pub is listed in the CAMRA South West Real Heritage Pubs.

On its website, the Bristol branch said: “If the pub is lost, there is very little else in Lawrence Weston for the community.

“Locals were saying the pub is the hub of the community.”

Several other pubs have been lost in the area in recent years, including the Penpole Inn, the Long Cross and the Masons Arms.