Despite having not worked in the St James Barton Roundabout since the beginning of November 2018, I wake up every morning and check the hashtag Bearpit. My heart sank to read there was a heavy police presence and an area was cordoned off. That all familiar feeling of anger and frustration came back.

Another attack.

It’s only been a few days since Incredible Edible Bristol released their statement stating they were pulling away due to threats and antisocial behaviour. The heavier feeling was that, a year ago today, we returned with big aspirations to introduce our vision for a better Bearpit.

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Following misrepresentation of the project in the press, we returned to the Bearpit for three months to have an open consultation showcasing elements of what The Circle could deliver. But the headlines read false truths – we were never going to rebrand the space, nor was it ever going to use any public money.

It’s always been our approach to be community focused, collaborating and creating partnerships with organisations across the city to solve the Bearpit problem. The large investment was to be used for creating improved and more infrastructure – reintroducing public toilets, a wellbeing centre and showcasing ways in how Bristol can be a resilient and sustainable food city.

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Instead it was caught up between a divisive and constructed argument of community vs corporates and council vs culture. We have remained quiet for so long and today, even after another assault, more fake news was spread, suggesting the removal of the squatters was to make way for an expensive new development. This is not true.

Whilst our livelihoods and the business that created 14 jobs were destroyed in 2018. The salt in the wound was that squatters had moved in after threats and online bullying took place, denying us access to what we had spent seven years building.

Our voice was not heard in the courts, as journalists portrayed a group of individuals as community saviours while publicly stating they were determined to take us down brick by brick.

I am not one to stand down to a bully. I have dealt with them my whole time in the Bearpit and life. It was the injustice that we saw everyday that gave us the perseverance to endure all those years.

And in spite of the glimpses of hope we had seen, and all the willingness we had, the complexity of this misunderstood public space continues to be wrapped up in politics, toxicity and lack of bravery to do the right thing. As it currently stands, the Bearpit isn’t a place where anything can thrive.

We said it was time for radical change. Our vision was to create a safe and welcoming destination, a city centre community-led example of how things could have been done differently, the Community Action Zone that we as a city could have been proud of. For many and complex reasons that has not come to pass.

With our heads held high, we walk away – taking our learnings, our experiences, the many partnerships we created and we will deliver The Circle somewhere, but with an incredibly heavy heart, it won’t be there.

Miriam Delogu is project leader for The Circle.

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