Broadmead and Cabot Circus: What’s Changing in Bristol This Year?

Bristol’s main shopping area, Broadmead, is changing. Broadmead has been key for Bristol shopping since The Galleries shopping center came in 1991, changing how people felt about the area. More shops opened later, and Cabot Circus arrived in 2008.

Broadmead will see big changes in 2025, and we already talked about city center changes, including car parks and new buildings. What will happen to Broadmead itself? The Galleries shopping center will likely be torn down.

Developers want to build new things there, including shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants. A hotel and offices are planned, along with hundreds of new homes and potentially student housing.

Demolition might start this year, so visitors will see changes soon as stores are leaving The Galleries now, knowing the demolition is coming. Damaged Society recently closed, and other stores will leave what was a top spot.

Cabot Circus wants to improve shopping with changes that started last year and continue to arrive. King Pins Bowl just opened there, adding to the fun things to do, and Six by Nico opens this month; this is just the start of new shops.

ProCook, a kitchen shop, is opening in March in the old Currys store, near the Santander bank. A new Odeon cinema is coming too, taking over the old Showcase Cinema unit, with more leisure and a restaurant also planned.

Marks & Spencer will open in the former House of Fraser in the autumn at a cost of about £21 million. Other shops could come to Cabot Circus, as some spaces are still empty after O’Donnell Moonshine and TGI Fridays left before.

The old Debenhams store will become a skate park, opening in March with a “skate plaza.” They hope to host other events there too, and The Dame bar from Bedminster will have a bar there.

Other businesses are part of this project, including skate park designers and coffee makers, as well as beer and skateboard companies. Campus Skateboarding leads the project, aiming to allow people to skate indoors.

The skate park won’t be there for long since tower blocks will be built instead, with the tallest one having 28 floors.

Broadmead may change in other ways too, and these changes will last for a long time. There are plans to make the area pedestrian-only, which was revealed last year as part of transport improvements.

Buildings around Broadmead are changing too. The old Bank of England will be torn down, and the St Mary le Port project will begin. The old Premier Inn is being demolished, and it will be replaced by tower blocks slowly; the hotel is getting shorter now.