One of the oldest buildings in Bristol is home to one of the fastest growing phenomena’s of current business life. Self storage. The familiar red-bricked warehouse in Ashton Gate, Bristol has recently undergone a major refit to provide one of the largest storage centres in the UK owned by the UK’s No 1 provider of self storage – Safestore.
Previously a bonded tobacco warehouse built by WD & HO Wills, this 1914 grade 2 listed building may look as if nothing much has changed from the outside. However for the last 10 years the building has provided 150,000 sq ft (13935 m²) of storage over its ten floors of modern steel panelled, secure storage – each floor roughly the size of a football pitch. The store boasts the luxury of background heating and for the first time in its history the store can now provide 24-hour access to its customers. The refurbishment has also meant the installation of the latest security and CCTV systems, as well as upgrading the lighting and overall ambience of this fine building.
According to Bristol’s Safestore Manager, Richard Elson, the old building more than meets the needs and demands of today’s households and businesses: “Our customers, many of whom have been with us for some years, appreciate the benefits of this long-established building. In particular the large access - we can accommodate 40 ft trailers – and the 4 loading bays mean that “where time is money” there is no waiting to load or unload. On top of this we have dedicated forklift trucks that guarantee a smooth discharge. Our 7 days a week opening time is of great value in particular to our household customers that can come and go even outside normal business hours.”
“An absolute unique feature is the background heating that prevents the atmospheric temperature from fluctuating like in most other modern facilities. This is an important factor particularly for solicitors, banks, architects and engineering companies who store thousands of paper plans, documents and records”.
Richard, who has been the Manager at Bristol Ashton Gate for the last 15 years, explains it’s not all about large areas of storage, many companies just need a little extra space when moving home or when de-cluttering their homes. “Our smallest secure storage space is 16 sq ft (1.49 sq m) about the size of a telephone box right up to 1,000 sq ft (92.9 sq m) the size of a ballroom. Besides households, many business start-ups and increasingly .com companies use this type of storage because it’s competitively priced, with an all-in cost and there are no long-term lease commitments. You can literally store from 1 week up to a couple of years.”
Ninety years on and one of Bristol’s few remaining bonded warehouses is still doing what it was originally created for – storage – and it is being maintained ship shape and Bristol fashion!
While not all Safestore’s storage centres have this long and fascinating history, Safestore is equally proud of its other 80 nationwide first class stores, meeting all domestic and business storage needs.
http://www.bristolselfstorage.com