Our new Church Road Shop in East Bristol is working!

Hello everyone,

I’m writing this sat in the shop, just as we're closing, coffee in hand (because, of course :) i've got so much admin to do tonight); it feels like a good moment to try and put some thoughts down.

We’ve been on Church Road for a little while now and, for the first time in a long time, things feel… settled. Not perfect (I don’t think that exists in retail), but steadier. More grounded.

The biggest change has been the layout.

We’ve completely shifted how the space works so that all of our handmade oak furniture (that was at Cabot) is being used. It's giving the products the room they needs. And I think it’s changed everything.

Before, it always felt like we were trying to do too much in one space. Now it feels intentional. Calm. You can walk in and actually see the work. The weight of it. The detail. The time that’s gone into it.... and people seem to get it straight away.

There’s this pause when they come in (which we've always had in all of our shops), and then the questions start. Proper questions, about how things are made, why we’ve done something a certain way. It’s the kind of interaction you hope for when all the makers (including myself) has spent such a huge part of my life making things!

Being on Church Road has helped massively with that.

It’s a very different energy to what we’ve had before. It’s local in a way that feels real - not curated or overthought, or RUSHED. People live here, they work here, they come back, and because I also live locally everything feels a bit more joined up.

There’s more and also less separation between “shop” and “life”. If that makes any sense :)

I’ll recognise people from the street, from the cafe, from just being around. They come in, we chat, sometimes about work and the bladdy COUNCIL, sometimes not. The conversations feel more honest. Less transactional. More human. I didn’t realise how much I needed that until now.

A totally expected bonus is the queue across the road from Loaf. It’s constant!

There’s almost always people stood there waiting for coffee or food, and it’s become part of the rhythm of the day. What’s nice (and helpful, if I’m honest) is that a lot of them wander over afterwards. Coffee in hand, just curious.

From a business point of view, things are going well here. The team is smaller now, which, on paper, means more work per person and more to do, more responsibility, less room to hide if something needs doing...But somehow… it’s calmer.

There’s less stress and chaos. Fewer layers. Decisions happen quicker. Communication is simpler. Everyone knows what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. It feels more focused and gives me quite a lot of headspace. I was loosing the plot in Cabot, I really was. Personally, I feel more in control of things than I have in a long time. Not in a “everything is easy” way, but in a “this feels manageable” way.

Which, if you’ve ever run something like this, you’ll know is quite a big deal!!!!

That said (and this is the bit I can’t gloss over) we’re still carrying a huge deficit from the council. It’s there in the background of everything. We have a payment plan, and we’re sticking to it, but it’s hard. It’s a constant pressure that doesn’t really switch off. You can have a really good day in the shop and then remember that sitting behind it all is this weight that needs chipping away at.

I don’t say that for sympathy, just to be honest about where we’re at.

Because both things are true. The shop is doing well, but we have lots of overhanging debt. I think that’s just the reality of it. What I do feel, though, is that we’re in a better position to deal with it now than we were before. The shop feels stronger. More coherent. More what PRIOR started out to be and that counts for a lot.

If you’ve been in recently, you’ll probably understand what I mean. If you haven’t, I’d really love you to come and see the space. Not in a salesy way, just because I’m genuinely proud of how it feels in there now.

And if you can, please do spread the word.

Tell someone, bring a friend, mention us to someone who might like what we do. It genuinely makes a difference 0 probably more than you realise.

Anyway, that’s where we’re at.

Thanks for reading, as always.

Beck x