Fairfax House, Co-op building in Bristol

Bristol Co-operative Society's flagship department store, opened in 1962 and replaced by the Galleries shopping centre in 1988. Its site sloped in two direction and there were several entrances at different levels. The paternoster lifts had no doors and moved continuously so shoppers had to leap on and off them with precise timing.
#coop building #fairfaxhouse #paternosterlift #fairfaxstreet #bristoldepartmentstore

[@stevecampbell2430]

A nice video. I worked in Fairfax House from 1971 until 1975, it was my first job after leaving school at 15. Started as a sales assistant on the linen department then after 6 months moved to the drapery warehouse which was based opposite in the building within the car park. In late 1972 I transferred again to the regional display team doing shopfitting & alterations in different branches around the West Country. One of the jobs we had each year was building the Christmas grottos in 3 stores, Fairfax House being my favourite. In the video at 3.56 is a staircase with display shelves in the background, these were known as "The hanging shelves" & the only was to access them was to put a ladder at the bottom of the stairs & jump the gap onto the shelves, getting off was a jump from them onto the walkway.....a bit scary when you were on the 5th floor ones as the gap went right down to the ground floor!! Also myself & a friend who worked there would often walk up the stairs on the overhang piece on the outside of the glass. I had the privilege on a few occasions of visiting the boiler room which was below the river Frome level, the boardroom, the roof & the 3 bungalows on the roof which one was used for storage of Christmas grotto parts. I left in 1975 to pursue a career in engineering but later became a driver & retired from hgv driving aged 60 in 2016. Still have very fond memories of my few years at Fairfax House & the people who worked there.

[@MrHolzheim]

Hi Steve, see my contribution .

[@gordonyoung515]

Thanks, Steve - really interesting. Do take a look at my Bristol A to Z and Avon Gorge films

[@arbman101]

My Grandma and her second husband, we called him Uncle Dave, lived in the flat on the top of Fairfax House. Uncle Dave was the security man. My sister and I would stay with our Grandma late 60’s early 70’s and we would be allowed down in to the toy department after hours at weekends or on Sundays and could play with the toys. At Christmas time Uncle Dave would turn on the Santa’s Grotto so we could go in. Fantastic memories. Thanks

[@cherylrowlands4998]

I loved Fairfax House, although until I watched this video, I had no idea just how large it was. Sacrilege to tear down all that workmanship for the travesty that is now The Galleries, lying half-empty and now they want to demolish that too. Only a small child when Fairfax House was open, I have fond memories of playing on the Paternoster lifts when my parents were shopping there, and I used to get all my school supplies from The Midland Educational that used to be on the lower road (now the tunnel under the Galleries). Great memories, but sad times too seeing it all pulled down. Thank you for the video & info.

[@keithroberts5611]

I remember all to well as a young kid, Using the hop on lifts, If you stayed on beyond the ground floor you where plugged into darkness!! Personally for me a sad ending and to the people who worked there!!Looking at the amount of soulless buildings around Bristols centre just for work shy students is mind boggling!!!

[@arnuph1s]

I was still pretty young when this was demolished but I do remember how easy it was to get lost and that you would go up stairs and still be on the same floor.

[@leehazlewoodism]

Anyone remember the Star Wars show they had in about 1978? They showed parts of the film in a room done out like a spaceship. There were windows in the room and behind them, some kind of rolling background which gave a sense of movement. It was a wondrous thing for an 8 year old, they really put some thought and attention into it.

[@seanrm]

The magical Xmas sleigh ride in Fairfax House was the best Xmas grotto in Bristol by a country mile - well lush.

[@MrHolzheim]

Oh what glorious memories. I started work in Fairfax Hse in Nov '62 as a 16 yr old. Started in the furniture dept, and after a few months moved to Radio & TV. Some of my best life's memories are from that time. We we all young, mostly teenagers except management, and yes, we had floorwalkers. It was a pleasure to go to work in those days, because it was such fun, the banter, the jokes, taking the Mickey out of some of the customers, and the lovely girls from the offices on the top floor, that used to come and see us on a Saturday. Lunchtime drinks and darts across the road at the "Cat & Wheel", and the Christmas "do's", you couldn't do it today, too much PC and "wokery", besides, not one seems to have a sense of humour any more.

[@gordonyoung515]

Thanks for your comments and I'm glad my film awakened fond memories for you. Many folk criticise the building for being difficult to navigate. But have you been in an Ikea store? And what is really sad is that its replacement is about to be demolished and replaced with a big block of flats.

[@MrHolzheim]

@@gordonyoung515 Gordon, what's the piece of music you're using in the second half showing the demise of Fairfax Hse?

[@gordonyoung515]

@@MrHolzheim Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It's a really sad, moving piece so I thought I wouldn't hold back and I'd bung it on as background.

[@MrDaiseymay]

@@gordonyoung515 with a Germanic sounding name. I'd have thought he'd know.

[@user-eg4pu9ld2v]

I was I office then

[@ianhalsall-fox]

Slightly before I moved to Bristol in 1992 when The Galleries had just been completed but struggled to find tenants owing to the recession, and is now itself scheduled for closure and demolition!

[@bawns9416]

Knew it well. If you went in, you had trouble finding the way out 😂

[@pillred5974]

I think that was the idea lol.

[@peterfeltham5612]

Remember it so well,my wife and I bought our furniture there after our marriage in 1970.Bristol was a lovely city then,before madness invaded the city politics.

[@neilosborne716]

I remember going there every year to see Father Christmas and as myself and a friend my age used got a bit older we worked out that the amazing sleigh ride wasn’t really moving and we were always warned not to ruin it for our younger siblings. The Woolworths store used to be very impressive as well and I can remember when it was renamed 21st century shopping. It was sad that it all came down and a waste of money although personally I think the Galleries is a very smart and nicely built replacement with lovely brickwork and it will be criminal and a vast waist of resources if that too gets demolished as there is talk of, Bristol is always changing and often not for the better. Very interesting video though I was very interested to hear how the foundations were originally built to support a cinema. Thank you!

[@user-eg4pu9ld2v]

I worked in the offices and on the switchboards when the fire broke out. It was lunchtime and luckily we were all outside. The fire stated next to our office. Was scarey

[@tx3851]

I remember going there as a kid.....Broadmead is now a dying area....So sad....

[@MrDaiseymay]

it will ALL end up like this film , thanks to online sales, parking costs, and taxes on even entering the city. I miss the social gathering in large Department stores, especially at Christmas. I rmember Broadmead's hustle and bussle when Lewis;s, Debenhams, and other large stores opened in the late 1950's. Broadmead was always criticised by the amateur architects, but I liked it, when i shopped there every Saturday in the 1960's.

[@smudger671]

I can well remember shopping in Fairfax House years ago. Trouble is, you needed a GPS to find your way out! The layout was terrible - even finding the stairs to the next floor was a problem.

[@gordonyoung515]

I played in the building during school holidays, on paternoster lifts. It was pierced by the entry tunnel to the car park on the other side of Fairfax St. That meant that if you were on second floor you had to go down to first or up to third floors to overcome it and see the rest of the second floor. The top floor was admin offices and you had to get off the paternosters on the floor below. We stayed on and went around the top of the chain mechanism which powered the lifts. Exciting stuff, and it was before Health & Safety had been invented, of course.

[@cherylrowlands4998]

@@gordonyoung515 Me too!!! Loved playing on the Paternoster lifts!!! Such fun.

[@gordonyoung515]

The layout was complicated but the building had lots of windows and so you could orientate yourself as to which way you were facing but maybe not on which floor. Compare with IKea which is far more difficult to navigate.

[@smudger671]

I agree. I have only been to Ikea once, but never again. It was like a prison.@@gordonyoung515

[@wispywonder1650]

I remember it being really rundown and was glad it was demolished at the time. Seeing how it originally looked, it's quite a loss in hindsight. The Galleries is a monstrosity in comparison.

[@johnbeaven8951]

I remember Fairfax House well in the '70's and '80's when I was growing up. Such a waste of energy pulling it down in 1988 after only 26 years! In hindsight here in 2023 I truly believe it was one of the finest examples of post war modernist architecture in Bristol and would today probably be awarded listed status. As mentioned it was built and designed on an extremely challenging site being so long and narrow with several different ground floor entrances. It was certainly an interesting building and far superior to the brick monstrous lump of The Galleries which has aged very badly.

[@dommidavros2211]

I agree with almost everything you said but how has the Galaries aged badly? It looks the same to me as it's always looked!

[@michaelstephenson7808]

My wife Yvonne worked in the hairdressing salon from the day it opened. She was previously at the Co op salon in Gloucester Road and was at Fairfax House until she left at the birth of our first child Erika in 1968!

[@stevegibbs3943]

Interesting to think that the Galleries that replaced Fairfax House has been open longer than Fairfax House ever was.

[@davemassive8147]

Absolutely fascinating

[@benfletcher9659]

I was about 8 or 9 when they started demolishing Fairfax House to build the Galleries, so I would have known it but I simply can't remember it. The Galleries is now as old as Fairfax House was then and they are going to demolish it in the next year. End of an era but I guess the previous generations thought the same about Fairfax House.

[@gangleweed]

How the mighty hath fallen.....now the sleek hath inherited the earth and it too will grow old and fall in it's turn......nothing lasts forever.

[@pillred5974]

And the building they put up in its place the Galleries looks like it won't be up for much longer, this site seems cursed.

[@rayholloway9274]

Very Good!

[@Pequin1000]

Thank you.

[@user-eg4pu9ld2v]

Amazing❤

[@chrisrebar2381]

Always got lost in that building

[@Tigger4747]

I was terrified by those lifts when I was a child. My brother and his friend rode right up over the top and back down again. For years I thought there were two lifts and each one went down or up at the back upside down (not one set of lifts going sideways at the top and bottom and always the same way up) and wondered how they hadn't fallen out at the bottom. !!! Also the shop was really confusing because you could only go from one end to the other on a few floors.

[@davidhodder9939]

Remember my older sister taking myself and brother christmas shopping must have late 70s , we got lost countless times ,i think she was pulling her hair out in the end

[@moomoobearincorporation528]

And now I’m two years time they will be knocking down the galleries and rebuilding it for mainly student accommodation:-/

[@user-eg4pu9ld2v]

A man walked through the glass going into our swithboard room. Was dereadful .think he was very hurt

[@chriscooke2472]

I seem to remember it being derelict for some years when I was younger - but I am sure that you could still use part of it for parking? When did the shop part of the building cease trading?

[@tcraigh1]

End of 1987

[@christophernewman5027]

Even the police dogs got lost in Fairfax House...

[@TumbleTower]

Considering work had already started on the cinema block, and three other blocks were proposed, why were the Co-op allowed to buy the site at that stage? It's not as if they offered to buy the site when the cinema / shopping arcade block was first proposed or on the drawing board. If the Co-op had not been allowed to buy the site, and thus the cinema block had been completed, and the other three blocks had been built, would they have still been in use now, and thus The Galleries never built?

[@user-rm2yn3hx5i]

I'm interested to know, where are the archive photos of the interior and construction from please?

[@gordonyoung515]

I contacted the architect, John Kendall and he loaned me photos and his drawings. I assume the material is now in Bristol Archives

[@eastvillepark6037]

Why did bristol city council allow that lift ?

[@gordonyoung515]

Well, it was before Health & Safety regs, certainly. But Leicester University has one tall building on its campus and I was surprised to see a paternoster lift when I was there ten years ago.

[@justlookingaround9834]

I know with hindsight it’s easy to see the architectural significance of Fairfax house but at the time it was obviously seen as a dated behemoth. The problem is Bristol council has no foresight and replaced it with an architectural monstrosity then and still now. All over Bristol the city is littered with poor planning and ugly buildings with ill thought out areas. The old saying that the Bristol council finished off what the Nazis started, is still true today. But maybe a city gets what it deserves?

[@justlookingaround9834]

Sorry, a great video btw, brought back many good memories.