Sandwiched between the celebrated Arnolfini arts centre and the trendy cafes and bars overlooking Bristol’s Harbourside, it looks like a prime spot for development.
But a patch of land overgrown with brambles and full of rubbish is still one of the city centre’s eyesores after decades.
Over the years, this disused wasteland has seen a series of planning applications fail and, at one stage, it was a temporary home to rough sleepers and rats.
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This strange quirk of the Harbourside has been at the centre of a tug of war between two pub chains, one desperate to prise it from the hands of another reportedly unwilling to give it up.
One of those chains is Greene King, which owns the Shakespeare Tavern on Prince Street. The Georgian pub claims to be Bristol’s oldest alehouse, boasting an alcohol licence which dates back to 1722.
Greene King bought the cosy, wood-panelled pub about 18 years ago. It then tried to buy the land behind, in the hope of turning it into a beer garden for the Shakespeare.
But Greene King’s bids were reportedly rejected by the yard’s owner, the Yorkshire-based Samuel Smith Old Brewery, which is said to have refused to sell.
Frustration about the state of the site was clear when Bristol Live visited back in March 2020, and there has been little change in almost two years since then.
A look back through Bristol City Council’s planning portal shows Samuel Smith has owned the yard for at least 33 years.
In 1989, it secured planning permission to use the fence for advertising, before unsuccessfully applying to use the land for “storage of stone” in 1991.
The brewery, which has a historic pub in nearby King Street, also submitted plans for a four-storey development of a pub, restaurant and staff accommodation, but withdrew them in 1997.
That was the last time the site was subject to a planning application and it is not known if negotiations between Greene King and Samuel Smith over a potential purchase of the land have ever resumed.
Neither breweries involved were prepared to comment when approached by Bristol Live.
