Founded by Meg Grimes in 1986
Find out more about what we do and why we do it
We are open from 8.00pm to 9.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. We offer our guests hot meals, showers, clean clothes and a laundry service - a bag of clothes can be dropped off on one evening for collection on the next evening we are open. Hot drinks and sandwiches are available for guests to takeaway.
Beds are offered to guests via a referral system. We work in partnership with Bristol City Council and St Mungos Outreach Team to decide which guests are offered beds each week. Occasionally we have a spare bed if nominated guests do not turn up. The Shift Supervisor can offer any spare bed to a guest for that night only.
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We operate a Covid-safe environment. On arrival guests' temperature will be taken and they will be asked whether they have any Covid symptoms. Hand sanitiser and masks are available for everyone in the shelter. We encourage everyone to observe social distancing.
We ask all guests entering and leaving via our courtyard to be respectful of our neighbours and the wider community.
Homelessness in the City of Bristol has received much publicity over many years. Various official surveys have suggested that we have the largest numbers of homeless outside of London. There is also a range of views as to what extent the situation has improved since the 1980’s. One thing is certain that those who are roofless, sleeping rough around the city, have the most appalling conditions to contend with. It was for them that the Julian Trust was originally set up. Of those who present themselves at the Night Shelter many have been, or feel, rejected by society. Some are bewildered, confused, suspicious, even angry. They all share the burdens of poverty, loneliness and the inability at times to cope with life’s basic demands.
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The reasons for the plight of these people are many, each has their own individual story about their route to homelessness. The following factors often have a part to play: family breakdown, unemployment, bereavement, broken relationships, mental health issues, abuse of alcohol or drugs, difficulty in adjusting after coming out of prison, or withdrawal from a society that appears to have no use for them.
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These are men and women who have in many cases fallen out with the requirements of established institutions and who now, for a time, find they have nowhere else to go. In their emergency they will find a welcome at the Night Shelter with its open-door policy. For them, the Julian Trust offers human contact and the basic needs of food, warmth and an emergency bed for the night—without any forms to fill in or questions to be answered.
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The Julian Trust acknowledges the work of more than forty other agencies in Bristol who are working with homeless people. Our aim is to provide basic first stage emergency accommodation to get people off the streets. Other agencies try to assess and address long-term needs for housing, health care, employment training and addiction counselling where appropriate.
“Our aim is to provide first stage emergency accomodation
to get people off the streets."
THE JULIAN TRUST
The Julian Trust remains committed to serving the needs of homeless and vulnerable people in Bristol. We do not work alone; we work together with other agencies.
We work closely with other shelter providers in Bristol through the Shelter Programme Steering Group which includes:
St Mungos
who support rough sleepers in Bristol by working with them to find solutions to move away from the streets. St Mungos provide weekly nominations for our bed spaces.
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Caring in Bristol
who run the Caring at Christmas Project at the Trinity Centre, providing food, services and entertaintment in the Christmas period.
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who run the Spring of Hope shelter for women and the Bristol Churches Winter Nightshelter project
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We are active in the Bristol Homeless Forum which represents a great many of the organisation working with homeless people in Bristol that are listed in Bristol Homeless Connect, an online Survival Handbook.
Together we will continue to make a difference!