Bradley Stoke Journal website retired after serving community for 17 years

After an amazing 17 years, Bradley Stoke’s most popular community news website has come to the end of a remarkable journey.

No further news articles will be posted on the Bradley Stoke Journal (BSJ) website, however the site will remain live for the foreseeable future to serve as a historical record.

This step concludes a story that at its height saw the Journal distribute 92 issues of a monthly print magazine to all 8,600 homes in Bradley Stoke over the period May 2013 to May 2022.

Building on the success of the Bradley Stoke Journal, our sister publication the Stoke Gifford Journal (SGJ) distributed 29 issues of its own monthly print magazine to all 5,000 homes in the parish of Stoke Gifford (which includes Little Stoke and Harry Stoke) over the period October 2018 to May 2022.

In all, just short of one million copies of the BSJ and SGJ magazines were distributed between 2013 and 2022.

Taken together, the two magazines provided full-time employment for your editor for a period of nine years, part-time administration, sales and reporting jobs for a total of four people (for between one and three years each) and casual delivery jobs for an astonishing total of 128 (mostly) young people from the respective local communities.

The Bradley Stoke Journal launched a Twitter feed in May 2010, just in time to provide live coverage from the 2010 General Election count at Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre. A Facebook page followed in September 2010, which went on to attract more than 11,000 followers.

Launching at a size of 32 pages, the monthly BSJ magazine grew to become generally 48 or even 56 pages each issue in the period 2016 to 2018, but slipped back to mostly 40 pages thereafter, reflecting a general shift in advertising spend towards social media, in particular Facebook.

The impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns and subsequent print industry price increases led to a decision to cease publication of the BSJ and SGJ magazines after May 2022. Both titles then continued in an online-only format until the end of 2024 when the decision was made to ‘call it a day’ ahead of your editor reaching normal retirement age in 2025.

The period 2007 to 2024 saw 3,267 posts (news articles) published on the BSJ website, along with 348 information pages. The website incorporates 5,650 photos, diagrams and other images.

Additionally, more than 10,000 photos may be viewed within shared albums on the BSJ’s Google Photos account.

Our archive

The best way to find something specific on the Bradley Stoke Journal website is to use the Search function, accessed via the magnifying glass icon in the navigation bar. You can also browse the archives via the following entry points shown in the navigation bar and on the homepage:

• News articles
• Information pages
• Photos

A dropdown list of news article categories is available in the sidebar (or further down the page if viewing on a small screen).

Tip: Once you have found a post of interest, you can use the ‘category’ and ‘tag’ links at the bottom of the post to find related posts.

Magazine archive

All issues of both the BSJ and SGJ magazines may be read interactively on the issuu.com website:

• Bradley Stoke Journal magazine
• Stoke Gifford Journal magazine

For an index of website posts that correspond to articles in all 92 issues of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine, visit the Magazine Archive page.

Exploring the archives

Keep an eye on our Facebook page over the coming months as we delve into the BSJ’s archives to recall notable events from the town’s history through references to our news articles and photos.

Beginnings

Launched in December 2008 as a modest photo blog aimed at documenting the construction of our “new” town centre (now known as the Willow Brook shopping centre), the Bradley Stoke Journal quickly grew into a comprehensive news and information website.

From early 2008, the BSJ website covered a broad spectrum of topics that included news from our local councils, the police, schools and myriad community groups, as well as being responsive to issues affecting residents as they arose on a day-to-day basis.

Prior to the launch of the Journal, and the similar Bradley Stoke Examiner website which preceded it by a few months, residents were kept in the dark about what was really going on in the town, having to rely on quarterly issues of the town council newsletter and the Bradley Stoke Matters advertising handbook (also quarterly).

Both the Journal and the Examiner websites allowed readers to leave comments on published stories, which was quite revolutionary at the time (pre-Facebook!) and provided for some lively discussions.

In this pre-smartphone age, local councils had only the most rudimentary websites and newspapers like the Bristol Evening Post operated a print-first strategy, meaning that you had to wait until the next day to read about the latest news events. Being able to publish online stories as the news happened gave hyperlocal online-only new sources a big advantage.

At this time, only a few people would have had computers or laptops at home, so many would have been accessing the website in the office – a fact borne out by web server statistics at the time.

First scoop

Barely four months after launch, the Journal landed a notable scoop which saw its photos used on BBC West TV news and in several regional and national newspapers. The pictures related to a dispute between Northavon Bowls Club (based at Baileys Court) and Bradley Stoke Town Council which had seen the bowls club members locked out of their green at the council-run activity centre.

On Sunday 20th April 2008 a large group of members mysteriously gained access to the green and set about playing a number of ‘ends’, only to be confronted minutes later by a contingent of seven police officers who arrived in four squad cars having been summoned by the centre’s caretaker.

The regional and national coverage included:

• Bristol Evening Post (22/04/08): ‘Bowls row boils over’
• Western Daily Press (22/04/08): ‘Battle of the bowls as police face fury of evicted players’
• Daily Express (23/08/08): ‘How many police does it take to stop a gentle protest at the bowls club?’
• Daily Mail (23/08/24): ‘Bowling green bust’
• Daily Mirror (23/04/08): ‘Four police cars swoop on bowls club OAPs’

This exposure put the Journal firmly in the limelight and resulted in us being invited to join the media distribution lists of Avon and Somerset Police and South Gloucestershire Council. Almost overnight the Journal was being treated as an equal of professional local media outlets such as the Bristol Post and Thornbury Gazette!

New town centre

Seventeen years on, it’s hard to underestimate the level of interest there was in the emergence of a ‘proper’ town centre for the town, replacing the ‘district centre’ that consisted of a single Tesco store surrounded by scrubland. True to its founding motive, the Journal continued to publish regular photographic updates from the town centre construction site – you can still see all (1,700+) of them on Google Photos: Bradley Stoke New Town Centre Build (2007-2009)

The Journal worked closely with the developer’s PR representative and the future centre manager to bring readers the latest news on tenant sign-ups and the anticipated opening date. And, of course, when the big day finally came (Monday 13th October 2008), we were there to record the historic event.

A week later, the full story of the new town centre’s development was presented in an exhibition of the Journal’s articles and photos at Bradley Stoke Library.

Onwards and upwards

For the next five years the Journal continued to grow, publishing an increasing number of local news articles and photos each month, and providing a genuinely useful discussion forum for residents. Over this period we were putting out an average of over 200 articles a year, the vast majority written by the editor, Stephen, who continued to run the Journal as a hobby while working full-time as a software engineer. However, in April 2013 we did take on our first (very) part-time recruit, Nikki, who contributed a couple of pieces each month.

Themes covered over this period included:

• Development of Willow Brook Phase 2 (the retail terrace)
• Council news
• Election news
• School Ofsted reports
• Planning applications
• Crime and anti-social behaviour
• Weather events (incl. snow and flooding)
• Community and charity events
• Sport news
• Schools news (incl. exam results)
• Bus services
• Traffic incidents
• Road safety
• Traveller encampments
• Healthcare

We also established comprehensive What’s On and A-Z Business Directory webpages.

Broadband campaign

One of the biggest topics covered in our early years was the campaign to improve broadband speeds in the town. Incredible as it might sound these days when speeds up to 1Gbps are available to many households, back in 2009 the best around half the homes in the town could expect was 1 to 2 Mbps – shockingly below average for an urban area. Following the lead set by local councillors, the Journal gathered support from local businesses to launch a Better Broadband campaign in November 2010.

Although Bradley Stoke just missed out on securing a top ten place in BT’s Race to Infinity competition, which would have guaranteed a prompt upgrade of homes on 01454 numbers, the huge demand demonstrated by the campaign ensured the town later became the first in South Gloucestershire to benefit from government-backed roll out of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband.

Other notable new items over this period included:

• Residents’ protest against Bradley Stoke porn film producer
• Night-time street light switch-off controversy
• Unauthorised traveller encampments alongside Bradley Stoke Way
• Petition for road safety improvement measures on Bradley Stoke Way

Birth of MetroBus

In July 2009, we shared the first news on proposals for a ‘bus rapid transport’ scheme linking Bradley Stoke and Bristol city centre, with a possible completion date given as 2016. What later became known as ‘MetroBus’ finally came into service ten years later in January 2019 following project descoping and lengthy delays in construction of the route.

A blooming town

A reader’s letter published in April 2011 suggesting that townsfolk should work towards entering the ‘Britain in Bloom’ contest sparked interest within the community and eventually led to the formation of the Bradley Stoke in Bloom group.

Sister websites

Buoyed by the success of the BSJ, Stephen launched a number of other websites for neighbouring areas.

First up, in July 2009, came the South Glos Post, designed to give a platform to press releases and articles that we were being sent that had a wider geographical area of relevance.

The Patchway Journal followed in May 2011, having identified the Patchway area as lacking an independent hyperlocal news platform.

Finally, the Stoke Gifford Journal and Filton Journal were started in January 2012, completing coverage of the ‘Bristol North Fringe’ (the part of north Bristol that lies within the South Gloucestershire local authority area).

Moving into print

A big step was taken towards the end of 2012, when, looking for a change of career, Stephen decided to launch a monthly Journal magazine in direct competition with the quarterly Bradley Stoke Matters.

This involved a phenomenal amount of work – setting up a limited company, finding a magazine printer, training in desktop publishing, marketing to potential advertisers, planning delivery rounds and recruiting a 16-strong delivery team – all on top of continuing to gather news and publish articles on the website.

The concept was well received by advertisers and the first (32-page) issue hit the town’s doormats in May 2013.

Featuring a centre spread of photos from a recent Tesco staff charity fashion show at the Willow Brook Centre, there was also news of a controversial plan to introduce a ‘green bin’ charge. Local MP Jack Lopresti contributed an article titled, “We must not talk down local industry” (following the closure of Filton Airfield) and this was countered with an opposing piece from the Save Filton Airfield campaign group.

Other notable news articles featured in the first year of the magazine were:

• War memorial plans ridiculed in national press
• ‘Unexplained death’ at duck pond sends community into panic
• Councillors approve Stoke Gifford By-Pass plans
• New car parking rules at Willow Brook in effort to improve shopping experience

The April 2014 issue brought our first print article on the forthcoming MetroBus scheme, a topic that was to be featured regularly in the magazine over the next eight years!

The centre spread article, ‘MetroBus plans submitted: New bus lanes on sections of Bradley Stoke Way‘, included a plan of the planned works which would go on to cause massive traffic delays over a two-year period.

Later in the year it was a herd of runaway cows that made the front page. They made national headlines after they stampeded for hours through Bradley Stoke having escaped from a transportation trailer that overturned near ‘Rabbit Roundabout’.

The year had also seen our first 40-page issue (in February). This would be followed by the first 48-page issue in March 2015 and the first 56-page issue a year later in March 2016.

The much-dreaded MetroBus roadworks were finally under way by the time of our September 2015 issue. Alun Griffths, the scheme’s contractor, worked with the Journal to keep residents informed of the latest developments, which were anticipated to last until ‘spring 2017’ but eventually ended up taking until December of that year. This included a 17-month-long closure of the Bradley Stoke Way / Woodlands Lane junction (fully closed for 5 months and then partially closed for a further 12 months – see more details below and on our MetroBus Build information page).

December 2015 brought news that the MetroBus contractor’s discovery of “a shallow depth gas main and an unexpectedly large and complex network of pre-existing underground cable ducts” meant that the Woodlands Lane junction could no longer be reopened by Christmas.

To the dismay of commuters, South Gloucestershire Council then announced that it would soon commence work on a scheme to widen the Aztec West Roundabout and its A38 approaches, with the work being carried out concurrently with the delayed MetroBus works on Bradley Stoke Way.

There was better news, however, in June 2016 when we reported on the opening of the town’s new skate park at the leisure centre site, following an investment of nearly £300,000.

Just as residents thought things couldn’t get any worse on the roads, August 2016 brought news that MetroBus work would be further delayed by the discovery of an uncharted live gas main at the top end of Bradley Stoke Way, where a left-turn filter lane was being constructed for buses heading for the southbound A38.

From 2016 the Journal was pleased to work with the town’s shopping centre, Willow Brook, to promote the annual ‘Stars of the Stokes’ community awards. This scheme invited the public to nominate local residents who they felt deserved recognition for outstanding community engagement and/or achievement of personal goals, with the winners being recognised at a glamorous black tie event held at a local hotel (Hilton North Bristol in 2016 & 2017 and Aztec Hotel & Spa in 2018 and 2019).

Metrobus construction delays continued to fill yards of column inches throughout 2016. By the end of the year the Woodlands Lane junction had still not fully reopened. On top of this, work at the southern end of Bradley Stoke Way had been delayed due to “land acquisition issues”. In January 2017 the latest projected completion date for the whole of Bradley Stoke Way was given as “July 2017”.

January 2017 also saw over 200 people attended a public meeting to share their concerns over a surge in burglaries in the area, and in particular the proportion of these incidents in which so-called ‘high value gold’ was stolen.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom though as Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre officially launched a range of new facilities following a major £3.6 million redevelopment funded by South Gloucestershire Council.

A milestone was reached in April 2017 when Bradley Stoke Town Council marked its 25th anniversary. Our article included a photo of the cake-cutting ceremony along with a potted history of the first quarter-century of our parish/town council.

Bradley Stoke commuters received an early Christmas present on 18th December 2017 when the new Stoke Gifford By-Pass (part of the MetroBus project) finally opened, providing a speedier route between the town and the A4174 and junction 1 of the M32. The downside was that the MetroBus service wouldn’t be starting until “summer 2018”.

The January 2018 issue also continued the now well-established tradition of including cast photos from the Christmas productions at local primary schools.

A big story in 2018 was the submission of a planning application for McDonald’s and Starbucks drive-throughs at the Willow Brook Centre. Opposed by the town council, this was a story that was to run and run.

The Willow Brook Centre itself marked its ten-year anniversary later in the year, which we covered with an article by centre manager Andy Wynn.

The town’s M1 MetroBus service finally began running on 6th January 2019, following years of disruption caused by the over-running roadworks. The reduced journey times it offers have been much appreciated by commuters and it is now said to be one of First West of England’s most profitable routes.

If you’re looking to travel into the city centre though, the T1 Thornbury to Bristol service, introduced a few months before the M1, is often quicker as it gets onto the M32 at Junction 1 rather than going via UWE Frenchay Campus.

It wasn’t long though until the next disruptive major transport scheme began to make headlines – the replacement of the narrow railway bridge on Gipsy Patch Lane in Little Stoke. This would require a planned eight-month FULL CLOSURE of the road in 2020. Ahead of this, there was concern over where the diverted traffic would go (SGJ) – with the official diversion being via Bradley Stoke Way but Little Stoke Lane looking a more likely choice for those with local knowledge.

Meanwhile, the McDonald’s and Starbucks planning application, having been rejected by two different committees at South Gloucestershire Council was appealed and sent off to the Planning Inspectorate for further consideration.

South Gloucestershire Council imposed another ‘double whammy’ on the town with its announcement that a £2.9m scheme of improvements to Great Stoke Roundabout (a.k.a Rabbit Roundabout) would be starting in January 2020 and run concurrently with the full closure of Gipsy Patch Lane for the railway bridge replacement.

Fast food fans had cause to celebrate in January 2020 when the Willow Brook Centre’s planning application for McDonald’s and Starbucks drive-throughs was approved after a planning inspector overruled South Gloucestershire Council’s previous rejection.

Our March 2020 issue reminded residents of the imminent 8-month full closure of Gipsy Patch Lane due to start on 5th March. The road closure went ahead, but the railway bridge replacement was subsequently delayed by the onset of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic (SGJ), with 17 months eventually elapsing before the road would be reopened (one-way only).

Sadly the Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions meant that the Journal was unable to publish the magazine in the months of April, May and June, but we bounced back in July 2020. The impact of the pandemic meant that business advertising demand was depressed, but we were fortunate to have support from South Gloucestershire Council through a four-page ‘Getting back on our feet’ centre spread.

The pandemic continued to have an impact for the remainder of 2020, meaning that some of our traditional annual storylines had a different look this year – such as Bradley Stoke Community School’s ‘Class of Covid’ students celebrating their GCSE results alone at home.

Similarly, Bowsland Primary School’s ‘happiness snake’ – a 10-meter long chain of colourfully painted pebbles originally laid out during lockdown alongside a path in the Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve – found a new permanent home in the grounds of the Willow Brook shopping centre.

Much-delayed by the fallout from the pandemic, the Gipsy Patch Lane railway bridge replacement project suffered a further hugely embarrassing setback in October 2020 when the massive new pre-cast concrete bridge got stuck in soft ground as it was being manoeuvred into position. By the time the issues had been resolved, with the new bridge in the correct position and the track reinstated, the mainline railway line had been closed for 30 days, an overrun of 17 days on the planned 13 days.

The autumn half-term brought some relief from the pandemic misery when the town council organised its first charity scarecrow trail. An estimated 600 families completed the trail which was formed of 26 figures each depicting a famous witch or wizard.

The third national Covid-19 lockdown, in early 2021, meant we had to skip the January and February issues. When the magazine returned in March 2021 a hot topic was the recent introduction of an e-scooter hire scheme across Bristol. We reported on concerns over under-age riding, anti-social and dangerous riding, inconsiderate parking, confusion over where the e-scooters were permitted to be ridden, and the clarity of hire charges and penalties.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Gipsy Patch Lane railway bridge was still making headlines – this time with the news that the road might now not open until December 2021 (and then only one way). The latest delay was due to engineers deciding that a larger than originally anticipated pumping station and drainage system would be needed to prevent flooding of the lowered highway under the bridge.

November 2021 brought a long-awaited start to a project to desilt the lake in Bradley Stoke’s Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve. The £250,000 scheme, which required the removal of up to 4,000 cubic metres of silt, was intended to improve the wetland area for wildlife and visitors, increase resistance to flooding and enhance local biodiversity.

A decline in advertiser interest, brought about by the general economic climate and a gradual drift away from print to social media meant that there was no magazine published in January or February, but we did manage to return for what turned out to be our final two issues in March and May.

Perhaps fittingly, we were able to report the anticipated two-way reopening of Gipsy Patch Lane in April 2022, marking the beginning of the end for a topic that had regularly featured in our magazine for over three years!

Our 92nd and final issue in May 2022 featured one of the most shocking stories we covered in the magazine’s nine-year existence – an arson spree which saw 24 motor vehicles destroyed at seven locations across the Stokes and Patchway in a single night.

On a happier note, the issue also included a detailed programme of events for the Bradley Stoke Community Festival, the first to be held for three years due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The demise of the magazine was announced with an article on page 29. You can read it on the BSJ website here: Bradley Stoke Journal magazine enters retirement

Editor’s farewell

Journal editor Stephen Horton writes:

“The Journal has been a big part of my life for over seventeen years. Looking back, I’m very proud of what I have achieved, with the help of an amazing team and the unstinting support of my family.”

“Special thanks go to my wife Tara, who proofread all 121 BSJ and SGJ magazine issues and had to put up with me working lots of overtime on the monthly ‘magazine deadline’ weekends.”

“Turning full time and starting the magazine in 2013 was a bold step which required lots of hard work, but the gamble paid off and it was satisfying to see the business grow from year to year.”

“Being able to provide part-time employment to a total of over 130 individuals over the nine years of the two magazines, with up to 30 on the books at any one time, was equally rewarding. For many of our young magazine deliverers it was their first experience of work and helped instil a strong work ethic, which will undoubtedly have helped them in their future careers.”

“All of this would not have been possible without the incredible support of our advertisers, ranging from local tradespersons to national companies, to whom I am extremely grateful.”

“From day one the Journal has been about serving the community through balanced reporting – and never about promoting my personal views. Those involved in local events will have got to know me, but to anyone else I would have been just the faceless ‘SH (Editor)’. To the best of my knowledge, my image appeared just once in the Journal, and that under sufferance, when I was asked to stand in for an absent business sponsor at the Stars of the Stokes presentation.”

“Ceasing the magazine in May 2022 due to profitability pressures in the local advertising market was the right decision for me at my time of life. I really didn’t want to see the publication deteriorate into a shrinking compendium of bland press releases and lacking any proactive journalistic content.”

“Similarly, with just months to go before my 65th birthday, I feel that now is the right time to pull down the shutters on the Journal website and prepare for new adventures.”

“Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did!”