Having endured the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic, we were faced with the largely unexpected impact of the conflict in Ukraine, inflationary pressures and rising interest rates which created further turbulence and uncertainly in the market.
Bristol city centre take up at the end of 2024 totaled 440,562 sq ft, with Grade A and Prime take up accounting for 41% of this total. This is made up of 100 completed office transactions, of which Burston Cook transacted 31% of these deals (in terms of number of deals done).
The outlook for Bristol city centre offices remains positive as supply remains historically low due in the main to some 1.5 million square feet of older office stock being removed from the market for residential development since the advent of Permitted Development, following the last recession. As a result, rents have held firm and prime, headline Grade A city centre office rental levels have remained at £48 per sq ft since Q2 2024. Bristol continues to have the highest prime rent across the UK Big 6 markets.
The out-of-town market does however continue to lag behind the city centre, held back partly by the oversupply of older, un-refurbished space and impacted further by the resurgence in popularity of city centre offices, where onsite car parking is no longer a priority and employees can readily walk or cycle to their place of work and benefit from an abundance of amenities close by. For 2024 only 186,221 sq ft of space was taken out of the market, which is down from 2023 whereby 276,867 sq ft of space was transacted. There is however still demand for higher quality refurbished offices out of town, where those businesses benefit from access to the motorway network and therefore still require a good ratio of car parking.
Burston Cook remain the most active office agency in Bristol having handled more transactions each year over the last decade than any of our competitors.
There are now strong indicators of healthy demand for retail stock on both the high street and in prime shopping centre areas. Local retailers who remained resilient during the recent economic ups and downs have continued to take space and we are now seeing demand rising from larger national “multiple” occupiers as bricks and mortar stores continue to play a vital role in the retailing experience.
In Bristol, despite the tough and challenging trading conditions of the last 12 months, we continue to receive high numbers of enquiries on retail space. Completed deal volumes remain strong and we are starting to see the shoots of rental growth in some areas, after a prolonged period of falling rents and rent stagnation as retailers became more rent sensitive and landlords adjusted their expectations from historic high rent levels to offer rent levels which are conducive to long term occupation and successful trading.
The majority of take up in Bristol is driven by smaller independent businesses which have long been the mainstay of the Bristol retail market. In particular, properties which offer rent rolls of less than £25k a year combined with no, or low business rates tend to generate the highest levels of demand. We are now, however, seeing a return of some of the larger retailers to the Bristol market, with Marks and Spencer taking the flagship store at Cabot Circus and Odeon Cinemas reviving the long vacant Vue site there, which demonstrates the increasing trend of consumers returning to the city centre for leisure and shopping.
Vacancy levels have fallen in locations such as Park Street and Whiteladies Road, and we are seeing exciting deals happening in these locations too, with Vibro Barefoot and Ripcurl taking space on Park Street. Popular neighbourhood shopping areas such as Clifton Village, Southville and Gloucester Road continue to generate strong demand with rentals holding up well, and in some cases increasing.
There are still high vacancy levels in some areas of Broadmead and whilst some major vacant buildings in these centres are destined for student / residential conversion, the scale of vacancies and the future of these centres can only be addressed by a co-ordinated large scale redesign and development in the coming decades.
Bristol’s other major retail destination, Cribbs Causeway, remains a very popular retail location offering shoppers extensive onsite parking and an excellent mix of high quality shops, within a safe and uplifting shopping environment. New tenancies for Castore and KIKO Milano have led to 100% occupation of the centre and demonstrate its enduring success as a retail centre.
The restaurant sector continues to face testing times and sadly we have seen a number of very good, independent restaurants struggling to stay afloat. This being said, there remains good demand for well positioned units, with some of the best independent restaurants and chains continuing to thrive. The likes of Pasture, Cote, Little French, Wilsons, Bosco, New Moon and Nutmeg remain a sell out as they tick all the essential boxes – atmosphere, service, quality and value. We have completed a large number of delas in this sector in the last 12 months and demand remains strong in Bristol’s thriving food scene.
Whilst we anticipate more retail stock coming back to the market throughout 2025 and into 2026, we are positive that there will be relatively good levels of demand to fill vacant units, particularly in popular city centre and neighbourhood retail pitches across Bristol.
Demand remains healthy but with limited supply across most sectors of the Bristol market take up is being restricted. Supply of immediately available stock is a continuing concern with higher build costs and softening investment yields making the delivery of speculatively built space very difficult for developers. Although demand is healthy, growth in rents and capital values have levelled off somewhat. Due to domestic and international economic uncertainty and rising costs, affordability remains a key issue for businesses but has had the knock-on-effect of creating an increased demand for occupier purchase opportunities.
There have been numerous challenges for the car manufacturer and dealership sectors in the last few years due to Brexit and COVID-19, however supply has been returning and aligning with demand. There is currently a strong used car demand, and a push to EV that has now entered the used car market. However with a tight new car market and new brands coming through meaning more competition, the new car market remains challenging. Ford announced at the start of 2025 that it has terminated 50 more dealerships, meeting its target under plans announced in 2020 to cut its dealerships by nearly half, meaning a plethora of dealership premises will be coming to the market.
The accident repair market, in which Burston Cook is active nationally, has been growing over the years driven by several factors including increased traffic density, rising repair cost, higher used car values and a rise in the average driving age. There has been a plethora of M & A activity in the sector over the last couple of years and ARC’s are having to invest in expanding their EV repair capability and keeping up with changing technology and systems in the automotive industry.
Our latest quarterly overview of the Bristol commercial market.
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