We visit the ‘timeless’ Bristol shopping arcade that was abandoned for more than 100 years

These days, shoppers and tourists flock to Clifton Arcade to browse and buy antiques, furniture, jewellery, designer clothes, art, books and music but it took 115 years before this vision was accomplished.

The Clifton Shopping Arcade, formerly known as King’s Arcade, the Clifton Bazaar or King’s Clifton Bazaar and Winter Garden, was constructed between 1876 and 1878 by Joseph King, a self-taught architect, entrepreneur and builder, and was a Victorian version of a shopping mall.

However, King’s Clifton Bazaar and Winter Garden was an instant flop after its opening in 1879, due to King’s inability to let the spaces in his arcade and he went bankrupt.

In December 1879, the property was sold and became The Wilsonia Depot, selling magnetic belts, corsets, vests, spine bands and gloves.

However, the company also flopped and was sold to the Knee brothers in January 1880 and they turned the property into a warehouse for their furniture storage business. After Edward Knee died in 1985 at the age of 92, the whole arcade was deemed unsafe after hardly being touched since its original construction.

In 1989 repair work started and some 60 tonnes of debris were removed from the property, including a caravan.

The current owners, Moorpoint Ltd, bought the arcade and undertook the restoration of those parts of the building that could be saved. The terrace was rebuilt in a similar Bristol Venetian style and it reopened to the public in November 1992.

Nowadays, The Clifton Arcade is open Mondays to Saturdays from 10am to 5.30pm and Sundays from 11am to 4pm and is home to 17 independent shops, including the popular Primrose Cafe, which has been open more than 30 years.

We visited The Clifton Arcade on a sunny Wednesday and chatted with some of the traders to see how the summer has treated them and what impact the living crisis has had on their trade.

Hermione Harbutt is an accessory designer specialising in bridal and red carpet headpieces and matching jewellery and accessories. She told Bristol World that her business thrived over the summer.

“Post-COVID, many people rebooked their weddings for the spring and summer, and as I predominantly trade in the wedding field, this period was very busy for the business.

“Because of the living crisis, some people are having smaller weddings with fewer guests to navigate the cost of living crisis but they haven’t cut back on choosing a fabulous outfit for themselves for the wedding.”

Lizzie at Heron Books said she had her business has enjoyed a busy summer, especially since there were a lot of tourists around Clifton, but the cost of living crisis was still having an impact on customers and traders.

“Some people have commented about the rise in book prices but the biggest impact of the living crisis on the business was the rise in energy bills. Throughout the winter, I could not afford to turn on the heating which meant it was very cold in the shop.”

At Hidden Gallery, Agnes said business had been good over the summer especially with tourists coming in but as a gallery with a national reputation it has customers from far and wide.

“Hidden Gallery also caters to a wide range of clientele and they had not felt much of the impact of the living crisis,” she told us.

On the other hand, Xiuli from Nook Deco, a small boutique furniture shop specialising in restored Chinese furniture, shared that the summer had been ‘terrible’ and was only getting worse.

“Since the cost of living crisis, people have been struggling and are more cautious about their spending. We used to receive calls every day, but now we only sell two or three pieces of furniture on Saturdays.”

At Period Pieces, a shop dealing in antiques and bric-a-brac, Victoria Bourne said the summer was ‘not brilliant’ but it was steadier than it is now although there are some days when she makes no sales at all.

Overall, there was a mix of responses from the traders. Most had benefited during the summer, especially with the new wave of tourists, but overall, unless their trade was attached to a specific season, most businesses were struggling and many seemed worried about the coming months as we head into another long winter.