Bristol’s vibrant harbourside quarter, Wapping Wharf, has today announced the names of the independent businesses set to open in the soon-to-be-extended CARGO retail hub.
CARGO – the city’s first retail hub made of converted shipping containers – currently houses 26 businesses, and is soon set to become the home of seven additional businesses.
Stuart Hatton, director at Umberslade, the developer behind Wapping Wharf, said: “I’m very excited to have on board such a great selection of independent businesses, ranging from an art gallery to a bike shop, from a bakery to an ethical clothing shop, and a burger joint to a beer merchant. With all the buzzing shops, restaurants, cafes and lifestyle businesses along Gaol Ferry Steps and at CARGO, there’s now a fantastic range of places to explore.”
The new businesses are as follows:
Beer Necessities - Beer Necessities is an independent craft beer retailer with a passion for seeking out the best beer available throughout the UK and further afield.
Brothers We Stand - Brothers We Stand is a new clothing retailer, selling exclusively ethically produced menswear from a tightly curated collection of independent brands and designers.
Lemonade - Lemonade creates pleasurably imaginative and tasty burgers, fries and lemonades.
Portside Gallery - The Portside Gallery is a contemporary art and craft gallery, featuring Jane Reeves’ unique fused-glass paintings, as well as a variety of high quality work from other selected artists and makers.
Temple Cycles – Temple Cycles is a Bristol-based bicycle producer, which manufactures a range of modern bikes with a classic aesthetic for town, country, touring and road riding.
The Assembly Bakery - The Assembly Bakery is a small team of artisan bakers with taste and ethics at our core. We bake pastries, cakes and bread and believe our sourdough is the best in Bristol! We move with the seasons and offer lots of gluten free and vegan deliciousness.
The Meat Box by The Story Butchers - We aim to become the neighbourhood butchery dedicated to using whole animals as much as possible, raised responsibly, often organic and always free-range.
The businesses are due to start their fit-outs in the coming weeks.
Henry Revell, director at Beer Necessities, said: “We have made the choice to open our first store at CARGO 2 as we feel it’s a great location with an exciting mix of independent retailers and restaurants. At Beer Necessities, we will be offering an eclectic mix of craft beer, from IPAs and sour beers to big imperial stouts in bottles, cans and growlers.”
Sam Mabley, director of Brothers We Stand, said; “We heard about this new development by the harbourside and upon visiting were convinced this should be the location for our first bricks and mortar shop. There’s a real buzz at Wapping Wharf, with a fascinating group of people and businesses that share a similar vision and ethos to us. We’re excited to join the community with our curated collection of ethical men’s clothing.”
Jane Reeves, artist at Portside Gallery, said: “Building on the success of my gallery in Padstow, I am delighted to be part of CARGO 2 in my home city of Bristol. We will bring the very best of contemporary painting, ceramics, sculpture and unique designer jewellery to this fantastic port side location.”
Alex Hayes, chef and owner at Lemonade, said: “CARGO celebrates Bristol's thriving independent and creative scene - there is no other place I'd want my business to start out.”
Luke Hasell, from The Meat Box by The Story Butchers, said: "The butcher shop creates a beautiful lifecycle for whole animals - beef, pork, lamb, chicken, rabbit and duck. The animals all come from farms that are organic or part of the Pasture Fed Livestock Association. Our suppliers have been hand-picked with the highest regard to animal husbandry and ultimate tastiness for our customers.”
Matthew Mears, designer, at Temple Cycles said: “We’ve decided to join CARGO as it offers a great spot for people to come and meet us to try out our bicycles.”
James Dingle, managing director at The Assembly Bakery, said: "The CARGO development has been so exciting for Bristol's food scene and we felt we had a great role to play in providing freshly baked breakfast pastries and croissants in the morning to hungry commuters, snacks of wonder at lunch and your daily loaf on your way home."
Umberslade, the developer behind CARGO, is adding seven new retail units to CARGO 2, the second phase of the scheme, which opened in May. The new retail space is set to compromise eight containers in total, two of which will form a ‘double size’ unit, plus some storage space. The extension is to be located at the far end of CARGO 2 down Museum Street.
The first phase of the Wapping Wharf neighbourhood is now complete, comprising 194 homes, with phase two, which will include over 320 new homes, coming next.