Our History

East Bristol Enterprise Ltd was born of a desire to improve the economic and employment prospects in Easton and the surrounding areas by offering business start-up advice, training and ongoing support to local people who wanted to start their own businesses, and flexible space in which they could operate.

The Old Co-op in Chelsea Road, Easton was purchased with help from Bristol City Council and Central Government in 1985, and following a refurbishment of part of the building in 2004/5, now offers 26 spaces for small businesses.

In 1991, both funding and planning permissions were in place to build the first phase of Easton Business Centre on the site formerly occupied by the Easton Colliery, and subsequently the Julian Flook Wine Supermarket.  The single storey and 3 storey buildings emerged from the ground. The larger spaces particularly were not easy to let and for 4 years the Company struggled with low occupancy rates. 

Then, suddenly and inexplicably the tide turned, occupancy rates improved dramatically, and the company was able to turn its attention to the "eyesore in the corner of the plot". The Raycrest site, an old brick built foundry with a rusting corrugated iron fence and girders, had been for sale since 1994, and was finally purchased at auction in 1999.  A further 9 workshop spaces and 10 office/studio spaces were created to form the site we see today.

In 2007 East Bristol Enterprise began working closely with Bristol East Side Traders as they redeveloped two historic buildings in the area to turn them into thriving enterprise centres. Acting as consultants and property management contractors we cemented a strong and ongoing relationship with the BEST team. In 2010 we intend to formally merge the two social businesses and manage all four sites as one networked community of business centres from our hub at Felix Road.

This is a very exciting and challenging time for us as we expand the business. The two new centres, The Old Library on Trinity Road, BS2 and The Schoolhouse, Barton Hill, BS5 offer a variety of small to medium sized office spaces, meeting rooms, training facilities, artist studios and deskhire spaces. Both are buildings full of character and historic charm but with up to the minute services and facilities for the modern business.