After an amazing 13 years, Stoke Gifford’s most popular community news website has come to the end of a remarkable journey.
No further news articles will be posted on the Stoke Gifford Journal (SGJ) website, however the site will remain live for the foreseeable future to serve as a historical record.
This step concludes a story that at its height saw the Journal distribute 29 issues of a monthly print magazine to all 5,000 homes in the parish of Stoke Gifford – which includes Little Stoke and Harry Stoke – over the period October 2018 to May 2022.
Founded in January 2012, the Stoke Gifford Journal website built on the success of the neighbouring Bradley Stoke Journal (BSJ) website which began four years earlier and built up a strong following.
The SGJ later followed the BSJ into print, with the first Stoke Gifford Journal magazine appearing in October 2018.
In all, just short of one million copies of the BSJ and SGJ magazines were distributed between 2013 and 2022.
Taken together, the two magazines provided full-time employment for your editor for a period of nine years, part-time administration, sales and reporting jobs for a total of four people (for between one and three years each) and casual delivery jobs for an astonishing total of 128 (mostly) young people from the respective local communities.
The Stoke Gifford Journal launched a Twitter feed in January 2012. A Facebook page followed in June 2012, which went on to attract more than 4,000 followers.
The monthly SGJ magazine maintained a consistent size of 32 pages throughout its lifetime, whereas the more established BSJ magazine was often 40 or 48 pages during this period.
The impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns and subsequent print industry price increases, coupled with a general shift in advertising spend towards social media, led to a decision to cease publication of the BSJ and SGJ magazines after May 2022. Both titles then continued in an online-only format until the end of 2024 when the decision was made to ‘call it a day’ ahead of your editor reaching normal retirement age in 2025.
The period 2012 to 2024 saw 730 posts (news articles) published on the SGJ website, along with 139 information pages. The website incorporates 1,590 photos, diagrams and other images.
Additionally, more than 600 photos may be viewed within shared albums on the SGJ’s Google Photos account.
Our archive
The best way to find something specific on the Stoke Gifford Journal website is to use the Search function, accessed via the magnifying glass icon in the navigation bar. You can also browse the archives via the following entry points shown in the navigation bar and on the homepage:
A dropdown list of news article categories is available in the sidebar (or further down the page if viewing on a small screen).
Tip: Once you have found a post of interest, you can use the ‘category’ and ‘tag’ links at the bottom of the post to find related posts.
Magazine archive
All issues of both the SGJ and BSJ magazines may be read interactively on the issuu.com website:
For an index of website posts that correspond to articles in all 29 issues of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine, visit the Magazine Archive page.
Exploring the archives
Keep an eye on our Facebook page over the coming months as we delve into the SGJ’s archives to recall notable events from the town’s history through references to our news articles and photos.
Our timeline
From early 2012, the SGJ website covered a broad spectrum of topics that included news from our local councils, the police, schools and myriad community groups, as well as being responsive to issues affecting residents as they arose on a day-to-day basis.
The first year of operation saw 89 posts (articles) published on the website. Topics covered included planning applications for the Filton Triangle rail depot, the Bristol Rovers stadium at UWE and the multi-storey car park at Bristol Parkway.
The number of posts published on the website dipped over the period 2013 to 2017 as your editor focused his efforts on launching the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine. However, once the decision was made to launch a magazine in Stoke Gifford, we took on our first (very) part-time employee, Laura, which led to a boost in the number of posts made per month from January 2018.
Some of the more important stories covered during this period were:
- Planning, construction and opening of the Stoke Gifford By-Pass
- Controversy over a planned MetroBus lane along Hatchet Road
- National outcry over parish council’s Little Stoke parkrun decision
Moving into print
Building on experience gained from launching the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine in May 2013, a eleven-strong team of deliverers was recruited in time to launch the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine in October 2018.
Lead stories in the first issue were the grand opening of Stoke Gifford Toy Library (located within a heritage phone box beside the village green), the Beaufort Arms going ‘dog friendly’ and the revival of the Friends of Meade Park volunteer group.
Another story that was to be the first of many about the proposed ‘East of Harry Stoke New Neighbourhood’ reported that decisions on two planning applications to build 1,600 homes along the Stoke Gifford By-Pass were set to be decided soon.
The second issue, in November 2018, saw the first mention of another major construction project – the replacement of the railway bridge on Gipsy Patch Lane (as part of the Cribbs Patchway MetroBus Extension scheme) – which was to go onto to fill yards of column inches for the entire life of the magazine. The article raised awareness of a public meeting that had been called to discuss the planned “two years” of roadworks that would be needed to implement the scheme. As we now know, that “two years” eventually became almost four, the reasons for which were dutifully reported month-by-month by the Journal.
Despite the dominance of the Gipsy Patch Lane scheme there were plenty of other stories covered by the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine over its four-year life, including:
- Land at Harry Stoke housing development [1]
- East of Harry Stoke New Neighbourhood housing development [2]
- Official opening of Stoke Gifford Retirement Village
- New mixed-use development at Fox Den Road [3]
Notes:
- Now known as Brooklands Park / Brook Park
- Now known as Highbrook View / Mulgrove Farm Village
- Now home to Aldi, Costa, Premier Inn and Beefeater
Sadly the three Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions meant that the Journal was unable to publish a magazine in several months over the period April 2020 to February 2021.
A decline in advertiser interest, brought about by the general economic climate and a gradual drift away from print to social media meant that there was no magazine published in January or February, but we did manage to return for what turned out to be our final two issues in March and May.
Perhaps fittingly, the final issue reported on the long-awaited two-way reopening of Gipsy Patch Lane. There was also coverage of the shocking arson spree which saw 24 motor vehicles destroyed at seven locations across the Stokes and Patchway in a single night. On a happier note, the final magazine included the programme of events for the 2022 Stoke Gifford Village Fête, the first to be held since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The demise of the magazine was announced with an article on page 29. You can read it on the SGJ website here: Stoke Gifford Journal magazine enters retirement
Editor’s farewell
Journal editor Stephen Horton writes:
“Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did!”
Read more about the North Bristol Journal Series of websites and magazines in this extended article on the BSJ website: Bradley Stoke Journal website retired after serving community for 17 years
Thanks for such great service over the years. Your great local reporting was much appreciated. Enjoy your retirement
Many thanks for all your kind comments on our Facebook page. See this post:
https://www.facebook.com/StokeGiffordJournal/posts/pfbid02KbR4VoP1sSvKZURmW9zNuURfxfPpCHGZwAgCDpXSDDwvgq5ZWcr4A3i32znCoW6hl
Stephen, SGJ Editor