New ‘supermarket’ to open in empty shops on deprived Bristol high street

Three shop units are set to be combined to form a new ‘supermarket’ on a deprived high street in south Bristol.     

Jeyam Sivakumaran, who has run the General Store convenience store on Filwood Broadway in Knowle West for seven years, is set to expand his business into the two empty shops next door.      

The new Premier store will occupy the former Broadway Butchers and newsagents, which have been closed for some time.     

The existing convenience store is set to become a store room for the new shop, which is due to open on Monday, January 22.    

Sivakumaran told BristolWorld the new shop will be a supermarket, with space for more produce including fresh veg and chilled products.  

“I like the people and they only need one shop so I wanted to make it bigger with cheaper prices,” he said.

In Knowle West, residents have been campaigning for a supermarket for years, with them having to travel to Whitchurch, Bedminster and Brislington for their weekly shops.  

A supermarket has also been proposed on the ground floor of a housing development on the old Broadway Cinema site.     

There is also currently a second convenience store on Filwood Broadway, the International Mini Market, which opened in 2021.     

Knowle West resident Helen Bailey, 68, who has previously campaigned for a supermarket to open on the Broadway, told BristolWorld she is cautious about the new Premier. 

“We need more variety, we need a store or a shop that’s going to be able to sell quality fruit and veg, cooked meat as well as the ordinary, something like the Tesco Metro,” she said.    

“We need something similar but not the expense, as it wouldn’t do very well.  

“I don’t think the council wants it. When you go back to the 80s, the decline of this place stems back to that. 

“That’s when this place started to decline, people were stealing, drugs and supermarkets just one by one came out.”   

Filwood has recently received £15m in regeneration money, with BristolWorld revealing how the 1930s community centre is due to receive a £10m investment.   

But there is scepticism about whether the regeneration will be successful, with BristolWorld also revealing how plans for housing on a derelict swimming pool site were pulled in November.  

“It’s words, I’ll believe it when it starts happening,” added Bailey.  

“Whatever's been regenerated in Filwood has been done by the community. I know we’ve got a nice play area but look at how long we've been fighting for that. 

“Hartcliffe has been regenerated; Lockleaze, Southmead - but we haven’t been. I have not got a clue why, if it’s the postcode or the area, but I do know we’ve missed out."