Community rallies together to buy Turbo Island

Turbo Island in Stokes Croft is up for sale for £50,000

Members of the community have started crowdfunding to buy an infamous plot of land in Bristol.

Turbo Island - located on the corner of Jamaica Street in Stokes Croft, is up for auction starting at £50,000.

It is being earmarked as a potential development site for a mixed use scheme of a shop or a restaurant at ground level with accomodation above.

"It's a central hub for Stokes Croft," said Oscar Bailey, founder of the Save Turbo Island fundraiser, adding that it would be a "great loss" if it was turned into private property.

The fundraiser is just one of several that have appeared online since the news of the auction broke on Friday.

The land is privately owned by advertising company Wildstone. There are lots of stories about where the Turbo Island nickname comes from, with one theory suggesting the name came from a cheap cider which was popular in the eighties.

In 2022, Bristol City Council paved over Turbo Island in a bid to cut down on anti-social behaviour.

It has been used by high street drinkers and homeless people for a long time as a place to congregate, and there is often a bonfire lit on the ground.

The Island is a popular amongst Bristol nightlife

Benoit Bennett, director of the local community group The People's Republic of Stoke Croft said that talk of trying to remove Turbo Island is "trying to move the problem on, rather than cure it."

"Whilst I sympathise with people who have been affected by the anti-social behaviour there, it seems over simplistic or not useful to try and cure the symptoms of the problem, without talking about how to make systemic change.

Mr Bailey said the site has "a lot of potential".

"This campaign is not about saving the space and keeping it as it is. It's re-imagining what it could be.

Mr Bailey said he would like to see Turbo Island transformed into a community garden, art space, or even public toilet facilities.