Features / St Pauls
St Paul’s residents: ‘Children shouldn’t grow up with drug dealers dealing on streets’
“We feel so let down”, says an anxious resident of St Paul’s, who is only one of many who have come forward with concerns about their neighbourhood.
The first of these concerns was raised in October 2024, via an email to Bristol24/7, when a resident urged an investigation into St Paul’s, where they describe the crime as “through the roof”.
A series of vague and frantically written emails followed from different individuals.
All raising the same concerns – rising crime rates, rampant drug usage, safety concerns and anti-social behaviour.
While many of these residents later stopped responding, those who have been brave enough to share their stories in detail, remain fearful of the consequences of their identities being leaked and have asked to remain anonymous.
What they describe is a community that has been neglected by those who are charged with being responsible for their safety and wellbeing.
St Paul’s is known to have a close knit Afro-Caribbean community – photo: Bristol24/7
St Paul’s has been an integral part of Bristol’s history, with the seeds of the Bristol Bus Boycott movement sown here in 1963. It remains as what is widely described as a “buzzing lively area with a strong Afro-Caribbean community.”
It has however, also become synonymous with crime and substance abuse. With residents noting a brief improvement in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
But things have regressed they say.
19-year-old Eddie Kinuthia was fatally stabbed on Grosvenor Road in July 2023. A few months later, Hubert Brown was stabbed in what was later proved to be a racially-motivated killing on the same road.
They say that despite “the majority of 2023 being so bad” the police presence from November 2023 and early 2024, instilled a sense of faith that authorities were acting on the crimes.
“However, from July 2024, none of us have genuinely seen any police walking the area or cycling round.
“As a result, the area has just exploded [with crime] and we feel so let down and neglected, as well as scared for our families’ safety.
“Due to the amount of murders and stabbings, none of us feel comfortable openly talking about this and feel that the police need to do something.
“Most of us were pro-police before this, but it’s been so bad the last year we’ve all lost faith completely.
“It shouldn’t be normal for our children to grow up with drug dealers openly dealing on most streets and addicts smoking crack and heroin in front of them.”
Substance abusers can often be spotted in Brunswick Cemetery and Brunswick Square – photo: Martin Booth
Concerned residents have spent hours trying to piece together information and lay out places that have become dangerous in recent times.
Most of them “genuinely feel like it is every street, lane and park you’ll either see drug addicts waiting, smoking, injecting, drinking or being dealt to with hooded up males, wearing balaclavas”.
They describe Brunswick Cemetery, Albany and Brook Road and Rosa Parks Lane as “no-go” zones because of the rampant substance abuse and crime.
They have all been consistently raising their concerns and complaints with the police, all three ward councillors, the neighbourhood sergeant, MP Carla Denyer and local charities, with some having gone as far as writing to the prime minister Kier Starmer.
But the residents have been met with disappointment from all sides and feel “they are being neglected”.
Avon and Somerset Police has maintained that there has been police action in some areas that residents now call “no-go zones”.
Multiple people have been arrested between the months of February and May, for drug-related offences in Portland Square, Grosvenor Road, Brunswick Cemetery, Bishop Street, West Grove and Little Bishop Street, with some of them being sentenced and others pending trial.
In 2025 alone, more than 30 people have been arrested for drugs supply offences in the area, of which 24 have been charged.
Grosvenor Road has seen two murders and residents are fearful of another one – photo: Martin Booth
St Paul’s, which falls within the Ashley Ward of Bristol City Council, has three Green councillors: Abdul Malik, Izzy Russell and Tim Wye.
When speaking to Bristol24/7, Malik shared the residents’ concerns about safety in the area. He emphasised that this was a “long-standing and complex” issue that he admitted to having raised with the police several times, too.
“Since being elected, I’ve made it a personal priority to tackle these issues head-on. I hold weekly surgeries – something no other councillor in the city does – where residents raise exactly these kinds of concerns,” he added.
“However, it’s important to be honest with the public: policing is severely underfunded and officers are stretched. That doesn’t mean we give up, it means we must get smarter.”
Malik sees underreporting to the police as a contributing factor because “if incidents aren’t logged, the system assumes there’s no problem”.
In order to get more resources and attention allocated to his ward, he has spent the last few weeks in discussion with neighbourhood sergeant Maz Collacott-Nuur, police and crime commissioner Claire Moody, and MP Carla Denyer.
Drug dealers are often seen waiting around and intimidating people on Albany Road and Brook Road – photo: Martin Booth
In a statement, Maz Collacott-Nuur has assured residents that they are making efforts to make everyone in St Paul’s feels safe – an intention that at the moment, has been crippled by a shortage of officers in the area.
She emphasised that information regarding locations and descriptions of those involved in criminal activity is extremely valuable to carrying out their work, she explained: “This helps us to act, apply to the courts for warrants, bid for extra resources and target our patrols effectively.”
She continued to say that while action may not be seen immediately that they do “review everything that comes in.”
She revealed that they would in fact be getting more staff into the neighbourhood team very soon.
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Read more: Man charged in St Paul’s murder investigation
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The policing of drug markets in St Paul’s, according to the police, remains an “operational priority” for them.
Beyond multiple arrests and convictions, the police have also confirmed officers in either uniforms and plain clothes patrol Albany Road, Grosvenor Road, Rosa Parks Lane and Brunswick Square.
Evidence of prosecution is also being built against drug dealers who have taken over homes of vulnerable residents, with provisions being put into place to safeguard these affected residents.
The police have also shared information about upcoming ‘Talk to Us’ sessions, where residents can raise concerns, highlight unsafe areas and seek advice.
The next ‘Talk to Us’ session are as follows:
- May 22, St Pauls Learning Centre, midday-1.30pm
- May 23, Grosvenor Road, 1pm-2.30pm
- June 4, Albany Green, 2pm-4pm
- June 13, Mina Road Park, 5pm-6.30pm
- June 19, St Pauls Learning Centre, midday-1.30pm
- June 30, Brunswick Square, midday-1.30pm
- July 10, Portland Square, 4pm-5.30pm
Residents have also started avoiding Rosa Parks Lane to keep safe – photo: Martin Booth
While collaboration seems to be forming to tackle the problems in the area, as well as the promises of additional PCSOs, its been months of exasperation and fear in the daily lives of the St Paul’s residents which may have caused irreversible damage.
Main photo: Martin Booth
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