News / BoxHall
BoxHall plans finally scrapped
Plans to open a BoxHall venue on Welsh Back have been abandoned following years of delays and uncertainty.
Originally due to open in June 2022, the site from the team at BoxPark promised to transform the former O and M sheds into an “all-day social dining experience including food, drink and events all under one roof”.
However, it has now been announced that these plans for the site have ultimately been scrapped.
The site on the Welsh Back has sat fenced off following numerous delays – photo: Martin Booth
Matt Snell, chief executive officer of BoxPark who joined the company in March 2025, told MCA that the change in leadership meant “we’ve had to step away from leases or sites that we were going to do”.
“I didn’t feel confident in those sites and the whole site selection process.
“It made me really nervous, so we had to find a way out”.
Former BoxPark chief executive Roger Wade and former mayor Marvin Rees met in the project’s infancy, with Rees saying BoxHall would be “a vote of confidence in Bristol” – photo: BoxHall
Originally, the O and M sheds were due to be converted into the food and drink trading hall alongside Ebenhaezer: a barge that had been moored at Welsh Back and purchased by Bristol City Council for £1.4m.
However, the vessel was deemed unsafe to remain in the harbour, and so this part of the project was cancelled.
Ebenhaezer was originally moored at Welsh Back and intended to be included in the restaurant project – photo: Martin Booth
The proposed independent venue hit further snags in its construction when the contractors behind the project entered liquidation in April 2023.
Despite callouts for independent traders and the employment of Josh Eggleton as a food consultant for the venue, work at the O and M sheds came to a total standstill.
The future of the site, which was once proposed to become a slavery museum, is not yet certain.
Main photo: Martin Booth
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