It has gone from being a run-down area with a bad reputation to a place famous and synonymous with Bristol’s creative, alternative spirit.
But now Stokes Croft is ‘reaching crisis point in its evolution’ as the very creative forces who changed it are becoming victims of their own success, and face being priced out of the area they transformed. The third stage of gentrification is hitting Stokes Croft like a slow-moving but relentless tsunami moving inland.
Where there was once redundant buildings occupied by artists, now there are developers and luxury flats. But there is one fightback already underway - and now it has won the backing of artists and creatives all over the city, who are urging other arts organisations - including the mainstream ones - to get behind the project to save the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft.
