Family-run store to close after nearly six decades

An independent store that has been serving customers in Bristol since 1968 has announced its closure.

Marcruss, on Hotwell Road, has sold outdoor gear, camping supplies, workwear and army surplus for almost 60 years.

The owners told the BBC they had made the decision to close this summer "with heavy hearts". Co-owner Adam Pinson said they had "clung on through many a recession" and were "in a dreadful mess during Covid, but we managed to get through with help from the government", but then the city's clean-air zone came in "and the people didn't come".

Bristol City Council has been approached for comment.

Mr Pinson said: "To me it felt like it was people with older vans who perhaps go camping, and they just won't drive through Bristol.

"We are on our own here," Mr Pinson added. "There's not a draw for people to pay the clean-air charge to come here, and I think being inside that [zone] has just destroyed us. We're just not getting the people coming in."

Mr Pinson and the other owners of Marcruss say they have been overwhelmed with the response to the closure announcement.

Hundreds of messages of support have been left on the store's Facebook page, and the owners said customers had visited to say how sorry they were it was to shut down.

Mr Pinson admits it has proved difficult to cope with the public response: "It's been emotional enough, but it is breaking my heart."

A closing down sale is now under way, and Mr Pinson says he is feeling a great deal of stress: "There's no plans to reopen.

"I love doing what I do, I've been doing this for nearly 30 years. Maybe I will miss it when its gone, but at the moment I will be relieved, with the stress it has been causing me."

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