Swindon & Wiltshire News
Your chance to own a share of Ashton Court Mansion
Bristol residents are being invited to help bring Ashton Court Mansion into community ownership through a new £500,000 share offer aimed at securing the future of the Grade I listed building.
Ashton Court Mansion Trust has launched the two-month fundraising drive, with investments available from £100. Every investor will become a member of the Trust and receive an equal vote, regardless of how much they invest.
The money will provide start-up and working capital for the Trust as it seeks to take on a proposed 125-year lease of the Mansion from Bristol City Council, which will retain the freehold of the building and wider estate.
The offer opens ahead of a council decision in November on the lease proposal. A positive decision would allow the Trust to move towards taking on the Mansion, but only if it has raised sufficient funds to operate it sustainably.
Trust chair Simon Cook MBE said: “This marks an important moment in the long story of Ashton Court Mansion. For generations, people across Bristol have known and loved Ashton Court, but much of the Mansion itself has been inaccessible and without a sustainable long-term future.
“This share offer gives people the opportunity to do something very tangible about that. We are inviting people to become members of the organisation that will care for the Mansion, help us secure its future and play a part in bringing this extraordinary building back into the life of the city.”
Around three-quarters of the Mansion is currently derelict and much of it has been closed to the public for decades. The building is also on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register.
The Trust estimates that full regeneration could require £20 million to £25 million of investment over up to 20 years. It plans a phased restoration, bringing individual rooms and wings back into use as funding becomes available.
Its first five-year programme is estimated at about £12 million, with the majority expected to come from major institutional funders. The £500,000 share offer is separate and intended to establish a financially sustainable organisation capable of attracting that larger funding.
Trust vice-chair Josh Nesfield said: “The £500,000 is what unlocks what comes next, giving us the working capital we need to secure the lease, begin opening more of the Mansion, build a sustainable organisation and start applying for the significant funding that will be needed to restore this building properly.
“This is not about asking the public to somehow fund a £20 million restoration themselves, it is about creating a strong, community-backed organisation that can make that restoration possible.”
The Trust took temporary responsibility for the Mansion in May 2026 and has since hosted events including filming, exhibitions, art classes, orchestral rehearsals and weddings. Public tours have also begun, with several thousand visitors attending during August’s Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.
It has recruited around 80 volunteers in addition to 30 existing Friends of Ashton Court Mansion volunteers, with an ambition to grow the base to 200 people.
Future plans include expanding public access, tours, workshops, exhibitions and community events, alongside commercial activity such as weddings, filming, artist studios and private hire. The Trust estimates its core community programme could create more than 15,500 participation opportunities in its first five years.
The share offer opened on Wednesday, 21 October and runs until the end of the year.
For more information and to invest, visit: www.fundsurfer.com/ashtoncourtmansion
