New plans to demolish the bank on Bristol’s main road have sparked concern from residents

The owner of a former iconic Bristol bank which has become a roofless blight over the past ten years has again asked council planners if he can demolish it – or demolish most of it and leave the building’s facade intact.

But local residents and councilors say they are concerned the old Edwardian bank building in Bishopston could be left to “fall down” anyway, with dozens of objections to two different planning applications submitted by the owner.

In March, Bristol Live revealed that council planners had refused permission for building owner Omid Jalil’s plan to build a six-storey block of flats on the site of the prominent 110-year-old bank building on Gloucester Road. Now, Mr. Jalil is back with two slightly different apps.

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The first was submitted by Mr. Jalil in mid-April. It applied to Bristol City Council for permission to demolish the old bank building, with the frontage facing Gloucester Road and Longmead Avenue partially retained. Then, last week, Mr Jalil submitted a second planning application, which asked whether prior notice was required for the complete demolition of the bank.

That would seem unlikely given that the main reason council planners gave in March for refusing the six-storey flats plan was that the building itself was listed as a ‘local historic asset’, even unless officially listed by Historic England.

The building itself was most recently an office for a recruitment firm, but has been empty for more than ten years. Mr Jalil’s original plan to convert the building into nine luxury apartments above a cafe was approved and work began in 2019, but was struck by Covid a year later. The roof was knocked off and it has been a shell of a building ever since, creating an eyesore in a prominent location on Gloucester Road.

In the application, Mr Jalil told council planners: “The remaining parts of the building are unsafe and not suitable for conversion.

“Complete demolition is proposed to allow the site to be redeveloped. The demolition will be carried out by a demolition company who will provide method statements for the work before the work starts,” he added. Demolition work on the building is proposed to take place between the end of June and the end of September this year.

Locals said they wanted the building to be saved and not demolished. Neighbor Emily Koch said the request to keep the facade was a “step in the right direction” but residents were still worried the whole building could end up falling down anyway.

“There are still concerns – how will the structure be supported and what about the missing roof?” she said. “It’s getting ridiculous. He clearly has no respect for the building. It’s insecure because he made it insecure. If it was not suitable for development, they should not have bought it and submitted development plans and they should not have demolished half of it, including the roof,” she added.

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Local councilor James Crawford (Green, Bishopston and Ashley Down) said he would work with planners and the building owner to get more details.

“Retaining the facade in one application is a step in the right direction, it’s possible to keep the facade and link it to a new building, which I hope is what’s being considered here,” he said. “In some cases, I find the mix of heritage and more modern styles can be quite appealing.

“However, I share the residents’ concerns about what will come after the demolition,” he added.