A proposed student accommodation scheme in Bristol, which will feature a state-of-the-art music hub, could also be a lifeline for one of the city’s oldest retail businesses.
Family-owned specialist music firm Mickleburgh has been trading in Stokes Croft for more than 120 years. 
With its existing building no longer fit for modern retailing, the firm has teamed up with Bristol-based residential property developer Colico Living to create a mixed-use development on its site, pictured.
The Mickleburgh family say they know that they need to diversify and respond to changing shopping habits in the high street by creating a flexible space that offers more than the existing music shop with its traditional retailing experience.
They believe the scheme will enable the business to expand and diversify, so securing its future in Stokes Croft.
The new development will feature an all encompassing ‘music hub’ with a piano showroom and music shop as well as performance and event space, practice and tuition rooms and recording studios.
The family also intend to create and run a new live music venue in the basement, offering a range of performance types to add to the Stokes Croft area’s already vibrant nightlife.
To enable the development to proceed, Colico Living will develop new purpose-built student accommodation on the upper floors of the building with co-working areas, lounges, a cinema room and games areas.
Colico has already completed a student accommodation scheme in Bristol – the 133-bedroom Harbour Court on Anchor Road – and is currently working on a similar student scheme in Cardiff and rent-to-buy project in Birmingham city centre.
Plans for the Mickleburgh scheme recently submitted to Bristol City Council address some of the concerns raised during public consultation and feedback from council officers on an earlier version of the development.
In the latest proposals the top four floors of the building have been removed and the number of student bedrooms lowered from 192 to 126.
Colico said the reduction in height now matched nearby buildings in the conservation area and improved how the building will be viewed across the city.
Other design changes include putting copper cladding on the set back on the upper floor, using warmer brick tones and metal casement windows to reflect the history of the existing building as well as the area’s industrial heritage.
Mickleburgh Michael Barnfield said: “Stokes Croft is a vibrant cultural quarter; we love being a part of it and want to find a solution that will both enable us to stay in central Bristol and also provide much welcomed expanded state-of-the-art space for live music performance.
“Our building is no longer fit for modern day retailing, the maze of corridors and rooms is not ideal for the shopper or us!
“We know we must adapt to survive in the high street. We want to keep our core business of retailing musical instruments, but by providing a small live event space and music hub, our customers will meet other musicians, form bands, orchestras, quartets, choirs etc.
“We hope also to be able to provide the practice space to satisfy increasing demand from the growing number of city centre resident musicians who may not easily be able to practice within their accommodation, due to space and noise constraints.
“Without the partnership with CoLico Living, we would not be able to invest in diversifying the business, and it is this which will enable us to survive for many more years to come.”
CoLiCo Living director Jon Stewart added: “We want to provide a high-quality, sustainable building which will redevelop the existing tired site and contribute positively to the economy and social vibrancy of the area.
“We have heard what people have said about the height and believe that our new design sits well with its surrounding area.”
He said development would become a sustainable and accessible location for students as it was near the new Bristol campus of BIMM University, Europe’s largest and most connected music college, as well as being in the heart of the city with a range of public transport options.
Save Bristol Nightlife chair Annie McGann said having a music venue in the same building as so many music students would provide the “kind of symbiosis which keeps Bristol an exciting and attractive city in which to live, work and play music”.
