I asked the council on Wednesday what was going on & they couldn’t get a response to me again by last night.
This used to be a deliberate strategy under the previous administration to try to quash or delay negative stories, & we didn’t have truck with it then & we don’t now.

Either this is a deliberate council strategy to price these community groups out of public spaces or the council officers responsible didn’t think this through and/or gave inadequate instructions to the new contractors given the job of managing its venues

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

This new corporate events strategy melted its brain with the CAMRA beer festival. It’s run by volunteers, who do it for the love of ale, not to make money & City Hall is a perfect venue, but it’s been treated like it’s a 5-day corporate convention
👇🏼

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

Bristol Choral Society rehearse in the council chamber. They pay a couple of hundred quid a week for that, but have now been told in April it’s going up above £3,100. A week!

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

If you’re a big Bristol firm putting on an all-day corporate convention, or if you want a wedding in a fancy venue then RA will cover venue, catering, everything.
But these council venues aren’t just for that sort of thing…

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

Well, no, it doesn’t seem so. Because the council also handed over control of hiring out the many rooms & venues at City Hall to Restaurants Associates too.
It’s not RA’s fault. They’ve been told to maximise revenue from these spaces & they are a top level venue & events firm.

Cllr Andrew Varney took up their case & we reported on this odd change.
The council didn’t respond to me (as usual) but after a week said they would U-turn & treat community groups as community groups, not corporate bookings.
A minor victory? 👇🏼

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

City Hall isn’t just for council meetings - loads of community groups & events happen there.
We look forward to reporting what the council does say about it & if they still won’t comment then we’ll keep reporting that.

It’s a shame because there might be something else happening behind the scenes that we, concerned cllrs & the community groups like the Choral Society & CAMRA don’t know about, but if the council don’t tell us then we can’t report it.
Is two & a half days enough time to respond?

Trouble is, community groups hire them too, & Restaurant Associates treated those bookings like corporate hires.
So the Bristol Naturalists Society’s monthly meet-up in the Create Centre went from a flat fee to a per person charge: so from £250 to £1500
👇🏼

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...

Earlier this year, the council handed over mgt of hiring out its venues to an upmarket corporate events firm called Restaurants Associates. You can hire places like the M-Shed & Create Centre for your wedding or business conference.
full story here 👇🏼

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...