Features / Politics
I visited UKIP’s national headquarters in Bristol
At the UKIP rally last weekend, I kept on hearing the same question. UKIP? Are they still going?
The answer to that is yes. The United Kingdom Independence Party may have achieved their main aim of the UK leaving the European Union but they now describe themselves as “the party of the patriotic working class and believe Christianity should be put back into the heart of government and that our culture should come first”.
“We are the voice for the voiceless – vote UKIP if you are sick of your hard earned money going to foreigners and foreign entities.”
is needed now More than ever
Reading their official literature (someone’s got to do it) and watching the official UKIP videos back, I also noticed something: UKIP’s registered address is in Bristol.
Henleaze Business Centre, 13 Harbury Road, Henleaze, Bristol, BS9 4PN to be exact.
A visit to Harbury Road – just off Wellington Hill West and close to the Beehive pub – took me to Henleaze House Business Centre.
UKIP’s head office is registered at this building in Henleaze – photo: Martin Booth
At the front door of Henleaze House Business Centre is a list of more than a dozen companies based there including estate agents, electrical contractors and a mediation service.
No political party.
But Henleaze House Business Centre has a sister company, Virtually There, who promise new clients to be able “to present your business more positively and appear more established”.
Via email, I asked UKIP’s chairman, Ben Walker, whose name appears alongside the address in Henleaze on official party promotional material, why does the party have an address in this leafy corner of north Bristol?
Walker replied: “Our Head Office operation is based in and around Bristol. The address you refer to is our Head Office and has been for several years.”
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My journalistic instincts tell me that the UKIP HQ in Henleaze is more of a forwarding service than the epicentre of the party.
But while I was in contact with Walker – who in 2024 was removed from his duties as a magistrate after failing to disclose that he had been convicted of five offences – I wondered if he could tell me why Bristol was chosen for his party’s most recent ‘mass-deportation march’ and how he thought the day had gone?
“The party organises protests monthly right across the UK. Bristol was chosen as one of the places to visit,” Walker told me.
“We always knew that Bristol would be a difficult city to carry out a protest in as it’s a far-left nest. This was evident from the type of counter-protester that the police were forced to deal with…
“We are referred to as Nazis yet it’s not us that suppress free speech and act violently towards legitimate, lawful protest and police officers; it’s the city’s very own far left and domestic terrorists.”
While I was standing near the UKIP rally on Saturday, I heard Tommy Robinson’s name regularly chanted, with party leader Nick Tenconi also calling for the “deportations of left-wing extremists”.
Walker said his party’s ‘mass-deportation’ rally “was a success as our message was clearly conveyed and the footage from the protest shows exactly how vicious, indoctrinated, violent and small-minded members of the counter-protest were..
“For too long Bristol has been allowed to thrive as a hotbed for these people with no opposition brave enough to stand-up to them.
“On Saturday, UKIP and fellow patriots demonstrated there is an alternative view to their madness.”
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Will Bristol ever be a place where UKIP can achieve success?
“Bristol will always be a tough nut to crack politically for any party like ours but, there are still good patriotic Bristolians who want Britain to be ‘Great Again’ and need a political voice,” Walker replied.
“We will always strive to stand candidates wherever possible to give those people their voice and offer a real alternative to the sad uni-party choices forced upon the electorate. 2029 is very much our target.
“We are taking our country back and if others want the same, they need to take it back. Join us and make a stand before it’s too late.”
UKIP leader Nick Tenconi, a personal trainer from Reading, was at the party’s rally on the Centre on Saturday – photo: Martin Booth
So UKIP are still going and remarkably they are still going from Bristol, where as a city we regularly come out in force against the far-right.
We stand in line in front of a hotel housing asylum seekers when racist thugs try to attack it. We turn a counter-protest against the far-right into a street party.
There is no place for racism in our city.
On Saturday at midday, ‘the Great British National Strike’ is due to take place in Castle Park from a group that – like UKIP – opposes illegal immigration, net zero and so-called ‘two-tier justice’.
Similar to the counter-protest at the UKIP rally, a protest is taking place at 11am in Castle Park against the latest far-right attempt to gain a foothold in our city.
A Stand Up to Racism leaflet says that the ‘Great British Strike’ is “pushing racist lies and scapegoating under the guise of being anti-establishment and progressive”.
“Say no to their politics of hate, racist violence and division which undermines the unity we need if we want to win real change.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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