Tobacco Factory
Encyclopedia
The Tobacco Factory is the last remaining part of the old Wills Tobacco site on Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol
Southville, Bristol
Southville is an inner city ward of Bristol, England, situated on the south bank of the River Avon and northwest of Bedminster. Most of the area's houses were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries either for workers in the Bristol coal mining industry or the tobacco factories of W. D. &...

. It was saved from demolition by the architect George Ferguson
George Ferguson (architect)
George Robin Paget Ferguson, CBE, PPRIBA, RWA is a British architect, who has made a significant contribution to architecture, town planning and design in the South West of England and Europe....

 and through his vision has become a model of urban regeneration. It is now a multi-use building which houses Teoh's restaurant, animation and performing arts school, loft-style apartments, a café bar, offices and a theatre.

Inspired by the Manchester Independents campaign, George Ferguson decided to launch a Bristol based campaign from the Tobacco Factory, the purpose is to encourage the support and patronage of independent outlets and businesses to help redress the balance that has swung strongly in favour of the multiples at the expense of local character and enterprise. Business at the Tobacco Factory epitomises this, with home grown enterprises, such as
E3 Media
E3 Media (digital agency)
E3 Media is a privately owned digital communications agency founded in Bristol in 2000. It specializes in interactive marketing, design and build, and user experience and currently has a total of 50 employees in Bristol and Farringdon, London....

, CLIK, and Teoh's.

The motto worn on the shirts of the bar staff is "Strike a light for Independents!"

Tobacco Factory Theatre

Since the creation of the theatre space on the first floor in 1998, companies including Show of Strength Theatre Company
Show of Strength Theatre Company
Sheila Hannon and Nick Thomas co-founded the company in Bristol in 1986, and it began as a two-handed company performing in small touring venues. In 1989 the company moved into an upstairs reception room above the Hen and Chicken pub in Bedminster. In the succeeding years they produced five...

, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 and The Ministry of Entertainment have performed there as well as regular in house productions. The theatre is now recognised by Bristol City Council as a key arts provider. The theatre gained funding from the Arts Council of England for the first time in 2007. The current director of the theatre is Ali Robertson.

The Café Bar

The Tobacco Factory Café Bar opened in November 2001, serving Mediterranean style food in a post-industrial setting. Regular music nights complement the theatre upstairs.

External links

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