BRISTOL POUND ON THE BRINK OF CLOSURE

Community currency the Bristol Pound could close next month unless it receives grant funding.

New Start has reported on Bristol Pound since its inception in 2012 when it was heralded as Bristol's ‘local economic incubator'. However, the community interest company (CIC) behind the currency says it is now increasingly difficult to raise grant funding to support the venture.

The concept behind Bristol Pound was a local paper currency that can be distributed and spent locally, which keeps money circulating within a geographical location and away from the pockets of shareholders of large corporations or bankers. It can be spent at 800 businesses in the city, you can pay your council tax with it, and famously the former mayor had his salary paid in the currency.

Bristol Pound had been the most high profile community currency in the UK and the model inspired other fledging currencies such as Bourn Coin, which have also struggled to become financially sustainable.

Bristol Pound CIC says all money currently held in the currency is safe until September 30, 2021.

To read the complete article, see:
Bristol Pound on the brink of closure (https://newstartmag.co.uk/articles/bristol-pound-on-the-brink-of-closure/)

A leading economist has slammed Bristol's local currency, which looks to be on the brink of closure.

Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute for Economic Affairs, said that the “only obvious beneficiaries of the Bristol Pound are the people who run the project”.

He said that local currencies like the Bristol Pound “confuse wealth with money – and make their areas poorer as a result”.

The Bristol Pound recently revealed that it needs £100,000 to cover its running costs, with its digital scheme ceasing to exist from April if no further funding is found.

This is “economic insanity” according to Snowdon. “Far from being a boost to the local economy, the Bristol Pound has more likely been a drain on it…

“Dig beneath the surface and the Bristol Pound looks less like a radical experiment to grow the economy and more like another taxpayer-funded make-work scheme for people with fashionable opinions.”

Snowdon may have written that the Bristol Pound confuses wealth with money, but its managing director Diana Finch has hit back, saying that he has confused cost with value.

Finch said: “Snowdon has fundamentally misunderstood the aims of the Bristol Pound. The primary aim was to encourage people and businesses to spend their money with independent businesses local to the region rather than large national and multi-national corporates.

“The reason is that local independent businesses are focused on serving the needs of the community. They also provide employment for local people that is unlikely to relocate to elsewhere at the whim of some corporate investment decision.

To read the complete article, see:
‘THE BRISTOL POUND IS ECONOMIC INSANITY' (https://www.bristol247.com/business/news-business/the-bristol-pound-is-economic-insanity/)

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