Two arrested over illegal rave in an old Bristol Wickes store

Two people have been arrested and two van loads of sound equipment seized following an illegal rave in a warehouse.

The unlicensed music event began on Saturday evening in an old Wickes building off Winterstoke Road in Ashton, Bristol.

The music was not turned off until 09:00 GMT on Sunday despite police first attending late Friday evening.

Avon and Somerset Police said it understood the public’s frustration but said it had not had the officer numbers needed to bring the event to a close sooner.

Residents in Ashton, Bedminster and Southville said they had been kept awake all night by the noise.

“It was just thump, thump, thump the whole night long. People around here had no sleep at all,” one resident told the BBC.

Another man said: “It was a lot of very loud music and very deep base, almost to the point of shaking the house.”

Lorry driver Darren Stone said: “I’ve no problem with people having fun, but don’t do it in a residential area – do it somewhere outside, you can have as much fun as you want then.”

One attendee said: “I was quite surprised by the location, normally when they have these types of parties they are a bit more tucked away.

“Maybe it was a bad location but it was a great party.”

When asked what she would say to residents who had been kept awake all night, she replied: “I had a great time.”

A man who had travelled from Wales for the event said: “I think it’s really important that we let the young people represent themselves – they’ve had a really hard time in Covid and it’s a really hard time to be young.

“I’m glad I’m a bit older. They only do it once a year, let them have their time.”

Inspector Gareth Pike told the BBC that two people had been arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance.

He said that officers had met with hostilities when they first attended, and had been pelted with stones and bottles.

“We understand the frustration of the public around us not being able to respond immediately to close it off,” he said.

“It was due to officer numbers and it being a very busy Saturday night for us on the force.”

Around 70 officers were eventually deployed to the scene to shut the event down, Mr Pike said.

He said no officers had been injured and as far as the force knew, none of the attendees had been injured either.

But he added: “There is no safe unlicensed music event and we will continue to take robust action towards them.”