4 min readWapping Wharf is celebrating its 10th anniversary in style this year, with a free public party to mark the success of its hospitality and retail hub, which has become a popular landmark in Bristol and beyond.
Taking place from 5pm into the evening on Friday 3 July, the family-friendly, free-to-attend event will be an evening of food, drink, music and entertainment to mark a milestone for Bristol’s favourite independent community. Acts will include live music from Batala Bristol and The Ambling Band, a silent disco, face painting and walkabout entertainers.
The cluster of around 50 independent businesses has helped bring the neighbourhood to life, becoming a major draw for people in the city while also helping to put it firmly on the tourist map.
Some of the first businesses to open at Wapping Wharf are still going strong, and many have gone from strength to strength, opening new sites locally and nationally.
Wapping Wharf has become famous for its iconic deep blue CARGO shipping containers, which have provided a unique opportunity for local fledgling businesses to try out new concepts in the heart of Bristol. These complement the businesses along Gaol Ferry Steps and Rope Walk, all of which have become home to a range of independent food, drink and lifestyle traders. Each business has fitted out its home in its own individual style, creating an eclectic mix of high-end restaurants, takeaways, street food, bars, shops and lifestyle businesses.
Key to their success has been the strong sense of community that has developed between the businesses and the support they give each other, with their individual fortunes closely tied to the future of the whole area.
The idea for CARGO was hatched on a trip to New York’s High Line by developer Stuart Hatton, who was looking for a temporary use for parts of the Wapping Wharf site before the next phases of development could go ahead. There he saw shipping containers being repurposed in inventive ways and felt the concept would fit well into the Bristol dockside location while reflecting the city’s shipping history.
Wapping Wharf has received praise from local and national media, and the concept of introducing independent businesses to new city developments to give them individual character has since been widely copied both locally and across the country.
Stuart Hatton, managing director of Wapping Wharf owners and developers Umberslade, said:
“We knew from the start that we wanted to create something here that truly reflected Bristol and this dockside location, which would set it apart from the identikit developments up and down the country.
“Bristol is known for its independent streak – it’s a place that does things its own way – and we wanted to make the most of this. To be able to focus on smaller independent businesses who showed promise but didn’t necessarily have strong financial backing, we decided to hold onto the buildings ourselves and share the risk with them.
“We’ve also striven to create a balanced neighbourhood by curating the mix of businesses at Wapping Wharf, so there’s a broad offering which appeals to a wide range of people, and we’ve been lucky that there’s always a waiting list of businesses wanting to set up here.
“The large number of people crossing Gaol Ferry Bridge from south Bristol into the city centre and strolling up and down the harbourside also gave us confidence that we’d be able to attract enough customers to an area which was a bare patch of land when we bought it over 20 years ago.
“But above all, I’d put the success of Wapping Wharf down to the businesses themselves, their passion, dedication and hard work. We know each business individually and work closely with them to support them and tackle any issues they face.”
Earlier this year, Umberslade received its long-awaited planning consent for the final phases of development to complete the neighbourhood at Wapping Wharf. The plans include new, much-improved homes for the CARGO shipping container businesses, enabling them to build their future in permanent bases and realise their potential. Alongside these will be generous landscaped public spaces, room for more businesses, and 245 homes in a range of sizes and tenures, including family homes.
However, there is still much work to be done before further development can go ahead. New building regulations and rises in construction and material costs must be factored in, meaning the businesses at CARGO will remain in their temporary homes until at least 2028.
“While we work through our plans, find partners and investors, and do all the necessary preparatory work, we’d like to encourage everyone to continue to come and explore what’s on offer at Wapping Wharf and support the businesses which have made it such a special place for the city,” said Stuart.
