News / Broadmead
Council spends £440,000 to buy out tenant of two street food kiosks
Bristol City Council is spending nearly half a million pounds to buy out the tenant of two street food kiosks that are in the way of major changes to Broadmead.
The council, which owns the land at St James Place next to Primark, is upgrading the junction where Union Street meets The Horsefair, Lewins Mead and Rupert Street, as part of a wider transformation of the city centre over the next few years.
This includes thousands of new homes, pedestrianisation schemes, and dedicated lanes for public transport, cyclists, wheelers and walkers.
The sail sculpture will be removed in the next few months as part of road changes – photo: Martin Booth
The two kiosks – Cornish Bakehouse and Rana’s Dhaba Junction – have been vacated after the council agreed to pay the tenant £440,000, which is how much they would have received had the current leases continued until their end date in 2032.
The deal also includes a third, unnamed on-street outlet rented by the same leaseholder on Merchant Street at the request of the tenant, which will be maintained.
An officer decision notice on the council’s website said the pair of booths on St James Place were physically in the way of the new road junction layout.
It said: “Possible relocation of the St James Place kiosks was considered, however no suitable locations could be found.
“Furthermore following a survey of the kiosks it was decided that they were not capable of being physically reused.”
Cornihs Bakehouse was previously Martin’s newsagents – photo: Martin Booth
The transport and connectivity committee agreed to secure vacant possession of the food takeaways at the north end of Union Street in May 2025.
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “There are two kiosks in St James Place, both of which have been vacated – Cornish Bakehouse and Rana’s Dhaba Junction.
“These will be demolished in the coming months to make way for the new junction layout.
“The kiosk on Merchant Street will continue to operate as it does today – we will not be disclosing its name at this time.
Other things happening in the area which are worth noting include the large sail structure near the St James Place kiosks will also be removed in the coming months (and) streetlights will start to be replaced in preparation for the new junction layout.
Money for the whole city centre project is from the government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement given to WECA.
Main photo: Martin Booth
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