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Colston Hall to be renamed Bristol Beacon following Black Lives Matter protests

Workmen remove the Colston Hall name sign - Tom Wren / SWNS
Workmen remove the Colston Hall name sign - Tom Wren / SWNS

Bristol's Colston Hall has been renamed Bristol Beacon following protests over its association with the slave trade.

The music venue, in the city centre was named after the 17th century slave trader Edward Colston despite being built almost 150 years after his death.

It has long been the focus of debate, with Bristol Music Trust, which runs the venue, announcing in 2017 that it would rename the building as part of a £49 million refurbishment.

Following the Black Lives Matter protests and the toppling of Colston's statue in Bristol in June (as shown in the video below), the trust reaffirmed its commitment to the name change and removed the Colston Hall lettering from the hall's facade.

On Wednesday, after an in-depth consultation process in which 4,000 people from across Bristol were spoken to via surveys, interviews, focus groups and community events, the Bristol Beacon name was revealed for the first time.

The unveiling took place at an event in the venue's foyer, without a live audience due to Covid-19 restrictions, and included a poem by Bristol's city poet, Vanessa Kisuule, and speeches by Louise Mitchell, the chief executive of the Bristol Music Trust, and the Bristol Mayor, Marvin Rees.

Ms Mitchell said that the name was a "symbol of hope and community" and a "place of welcome, warmth and light".

Councillor Craig Cheney, the deputy Mayor, said the name will "help the venue reach out and connect with the whole city", adding: "The connection with community, contending with our history and looking ahead resonate with our ambitions for the venue's inclusive future as a world class arts and cultural venue to represent Bristol.

"It also runs in a parallel with the city conversation reflecting on our history and how this understanding can be represented in our future."

The hall, built in 1721, did not have any financial backing from Colston, and Bristol Music Trust said it did not want it to be seen as a monument to someone who played such a key role in the slave trade. The organisation said the new name would ensure "that everyone feels included".

Matt Griffiths, the CEO of Youth Music, said the change would be "remembered for generations to come" and "acknowledges cruel injustices and inequalities of the past".

Thangam Debbonaire, the MP for Bristol West, said it was an "appropriate metaphor" that "celebrates and values diversity".

"We can learn from our history – and we must," she said. "The Black Lives Matter movement has shown that we do not need to be reminded of the names of slave-traders to do so."

But not everyone agreed with the new name, with one Twitter user, community manager Ethan Clark, writing that it was "not a great name but it needed to change", while Seb Whitehouse, a Bristol TV reporter, said it "doesn't sound like a historic concert hall" and was "embarrassingly bad".

The name change takes place immediately, and the new logo will be installed on the outside of the building in the coming months.