Popular Bristol pub and restaurant set to be demolished to make way for student flats

A popular pub and restaurant on a major route out of Bristol could be shut and knocked down to make way 99 student flats.

A planning application to build on land at the Shield Retail Centre in Filton includes plans to demolish The Concorde Brewers Fayre on Gloucester Road North.

An outline planning application from Eagle One Retail Limited has been submitted to South Gloucestershire Council for a mixed use development comprising purpose-built student accommodation with some ground-floor commercial floorspace.

The plans include the demolition of the existing pub and restaurant to make way for a new five-storey building that includes residential accommodation for up to 99 student bedspaces.

There would also be space for cycle parking but dedicated parking is not proposed since the student accommodation is intended to be car-free. Visitors and staff using the retail accommodation would use the car parking associated with the Shield Retail Centre - which also has a KFC, Home Bargains and Snow + Rock stores.

The application states that the accommodation would be for students studying at the nearby University of West of England (UWE), which was this month ranked 61st in The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023.

UWE’s 2030 Strategy pledges to a guarantee of accommodation on campus for all students in their first year but the university does not provide for students beyond their first year, meaning that the majority of the student population has to make its own accommodation arrangements, or live over in Newport.

The news will be met with sadness from some people who use the pub chain. It is rated three-and-a-half star on TripAdvisor with customers leaving positive reviews over the past few months. One person wrote two weeks ago: “I don’t think these guys could have done a better job. Clean and super friendly & welcoming. Affordable, tasty food. It was the staff that made it, went out of their way to meet our every need. I wouldn’t hesitate to return.”

However, some have pointed out that the restaurant is looking dated and old fashioned. Nearby, there are several pubs including the Air Balloon and T he Plough. In 2012, the King George VI pub, on the corner of FIlton Avenue and Station Road, closed and is now a Brwers Decorator Centre.

South Gloucestershire Council will make a decision on the planning application in the coming months.