South Bristol residents raise £470,000 to buy their own community building

Zion Community Art Space has become a fully community-owned asset following a crowdfunding campaign.

Last year, the landlord announced plans to sell the building, but the Bedminster Down community was able to crowdfund £230,000 in shares to cover 50 per cent of the capital.

The campaign was also backed by Bristol City Council, Sovereign Housing, Co-operatives UK, Power to Change, Nisbet Trust and John James Bristol Foundation.

Zion’s centre manager Emma Moore said: “I would like to thank everyone involved in the purchase.

“The community shareholders, the grant organisations involved, the staff, directors and everyone in Bedminster Down and the wider area who come to Zion and support us daily.

“We’re all really excited for the future.”

During winter, Zion was used as a ‘warm space’ and offered cost of living support to locals. The current team plan on continuing this work and will open up applications to shareholders to become directors on the board of the Community Benefit Society, later this year.

Mariam is one of the 345 shareholders and runs the creative writing group on Wednesdays. She said: “It’s an absolutely wonderful asset. There isn’t much else for people to do, particularly mature people, widows or people who for one reason or another are on their own.

“These lunch clubs are really handy, it’s nice to have the community and to meet other people. Anything that keeps a community facility going is really important.”

Originally built in 1829, the Zion Chapel on Bishopsworth Road fell into disrepair in the 1980s. In 2011, it was converted into a cafe and events space offering more than 200 activities, concerts and events each year.

The building also houses meeting rooms, offices and smaller spaces for the community to use, including the Andy Lewis Community Room named in memory of late Zion director, Andy Lewis.

The team at Zion were pleased to receive the outlying capital from the government’s Community Ownership Fund, meaning that they did not need to take on the added financial burden of a commercial mortgage.

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https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/hub-becomes-community-owned-after-crowdfunding-campaign/
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/south-bristol-residents-raise-300000-8443574