Matty Edwards

I'm a freelance journalist based in Bristol. 

For seven years, I was a reporter and editor at local media coop the Bristol Cable. I write features and investigations about politics, housing, transport, health and the environment.

The Bristol Cable •

East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood opposition mounts

“The first week, it took me 17 minutes for someone to let me out of my road. There was a queue of nine cars trying to get onto Church Road.”


St George resident Kay Jones is one of 30 or so locals at a meeting at Cafe Conscious, in Barton Hill – part of a campaign to stop the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood, a trial scheme restricting through-traffic. 

“My family feels further away,” says Kay, who juggles multiple jobs along with looking after kids, and has to commute as far as Filton an...
The Bristol Cable •

Council still sending in bailiffs despite ‘ethical approach’ promise

Jack Scott moved to Bishopsworth in 2019 before leaving Bristol in 2021. But years later, he would have to deal with intimidating phone calls from bailiffs for council tax he thought he’d paid, as he spiralled further into debt. 


Jack is one of thousands who have had council tax arrears sent to bailiffs by Bristol City Council in the last two years.


That’s despite a 2018 pledge by the local authority to stop using bailiffs to collect unpaid council tax, after a Cable campaign exposed how...
The Bristol Cable •

Leaseholders want the system to be abolished, so what will Labour change?

“This was supposed to be my first safe, comfortable home. Growing up, I lived in extreme poverty in homes that had collapsing roofs, floors and ceilings… I have fought tooth and nail to be able to afford my own home, I’m now reliving my childhood nightmare once again.”


This was an email I received from a Bristol leaseholder after I’d written an article about residents of Orchard House in Brislington who were ‘abandoned’ by the owner of their building.


Sarah*, who wanted to remain anonymous...
The Bristol Cable •

Historic Bristol general election result: First Green MP, Tory wipeout

Bristol has elected its first ever Green MP amid a Tory wipeout on the city’s fringes as part of an historic Labour landslide in Thursday’s general election. 


Carla Denyer, the Green Party’s co-leader, achieved a huge swing from Labour in Bristol Central, which was more than enough to unseat sitting MP Thangam Debbonaire. In the culmination of a hard-fought race between Labour and the Greens that attracted national headlines during the campaign, Denyer declared in her victory speech: “Bristol...
The Bristol Cable •

Building owner ‘abandons’ leaseholders in unsafe block of flats

“The mental stress of it is crazy because of money, and you feel trapped and in an unsafe building, it’s a horrible feeling,” says Steph Culpin, a leaseholder at Brislington’s Orchard House. “And to know that they are fully aware that it’s unsafe but have done nothing to rectify it.”


Steph has lived in the five-storey block of 54 flats on Stockwood Road since 2018. It is three years since serious fire safety defects were identified at the building, a former office block. 


Yet despite refor...
The Bristol Cable •

Rogue trader slapped with criminal order by Bristol court

In the summer of 2022, a group of customers who’d banded together after being scammed by a mysterious Bristol carpentry business delivered a detailed dossier of evidence to the police. 


They were pleased with what they’d uncovered. They’d linked it all back to one man, Lewis Thomas. But only now, after more than 18 months – and many more cases – the rogue trader has finally faced real consequences.


Thomas would offer jobs such as installing loft ladders and insulation, communicate with cus...
The Bristol Cable •

Listen: Bristol prepares for its first liveable neighbourhood

The Cable has been speaking to residents of east Bristol on the eve of the city’s first so-called ‘liveable neighbourhood’ coming into effect. The trial scheme will stop cars driving through the area along certain roads in an attempt to reduce air pollution, and make the area of narrow residential streets safer for walking and cycling. 


Similar schemes have been brought in up and down the country, but they have also sparked a backlash as part of a so-called ‘war on motorists’, a narrative now...
The Bristol Cable •

Is Bristol's 'ethical' council tax debt collection policy working?

A student being hounded for council tax debt he did not owe. A bailiff demanding £1,000 in cash at the door of a mother in poor mental health. Thousands of other Bristolians unable to pay council tax facing intimidation and spiralling debts. 


These were the shocking stories the Cable told in 2018 when we called for Bristol City Council to stop using bailiffs to collect unpaid council tax. The council duly promised to pilot a new ‘ethical’ approach, where enforcement is only used when people c...
The Bristol Cable •

No fault evictions rising in Bristol amid calls for stronger renting reforms

“No fault evictions should be renamed ‘no fault evictions and the potential destruction of your entire life’.”


61-year-old company director Mark* thought he’d avoided being evicted from his home in central Bristol in April when he agreed to a 30% hike to his rent. But just two months later, his landlord slapped him with another section 21 ‘no fault’ eviction notice – a practice soon to be outlawed by government reforms.


“After we came up with this agreement for the rent to go up in January...
The Bristol Cable •

Rent hike at iconic Clifton flats despite poor living conditions

For much of the 20th century, Queens Court in Clifton was as desirable an address as any to live. The V-shaped 1930s art deco block, surrounded by Georgian townhouses and grand university buildings, fits well with the picturesque ideal of the area. 


But today, tenants are living in flats riddled with damp and mould. And to add insult to injury, they have been slapped with a steep rent increase by their millionaire London landlords. 


In May, as the building’s management company City Estates...
The Bristol Cable •

Fear and anger in Somali community over liveable neighbourhood - The Bristol Cable

“Closing these roads, firstly it’s not what [the council] said to people. And secondly it’s not going to achieve a reduction of traffic.”


Abdihakin Asir from Bristol Somali Community Association is telling me passionately about the current concerns in his community about the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood.


The scheme, which will be trialled later this year, will stop vehicles driving through a large area of Barton Hill, Redfield and St George. Residents and businesses will retain acce...
The Bristol Cable •

Division emerges over Bristol’s first liveable neighbourhood scheme

“I give these wooden planters six weeks before they’re moved, destroyed or end up in the Feeder.”Martin, 69, a longtime Barton Hill resident, has come to a drop-in event to give his view on Bristol’s first ‘liveable neighbourhood’ scheme, which will be trialled in the autumn. He is outraged at plans to restrict cars driving through his area and thinks locals will take matters into their own hands.And yet, just half an hour before, another local resident, Naz Nathoo, came to the same event with h...
The Bristol Cable •

How can Bristol build truly 'liveable' low-traffic neighbourhoods?

From the windows of his espresso bar in Dergano, a residential area north of Milan’s city centre, Angelo Zhao saw his neighbourhood’s main square completely redesigned. Piazza Dergano used to have few of the typical attributes of an Italian piazza: two roads and four rows of parking spaces, with little space for anything else.


“It was a car park,” Zhao remembers. “The parking spots were always taken.” He says the piazza was dirty, too: sometimes, when he opened his bar at 6am, he would spot t...
The Bristol Cable •

Rent controls are being explored in Bristol – can it learn from Lille?

Martin is a student in his twenties living with two friends. Barely two weeks after they moved into their city centre apartment in September 2020, water damage put their bathroom out of action. 


“Two months without a bathroom, it was really a lack of respect,” says Martin, as he recalls having to shower at friends’ houses. 


Even after the bathroom was fixed, their rent was really expensive too. This story will feel familiar for anyone familiar with Bristol’s rental market, which is defined...
The Bristol Cable •

Bristol landlords are cashing in on lucrative short-term lets - The Bristol Cable

A group of experienced Bristol landlords have been found to own flats being let out at extortionate prices on short-term lets, the Cable can reveal.


According to Land Registry documents, four members of the Baryah family own a building adjacent to an off-licence they run on Fishponds Road, which contains five flats recently listed for a combined total of £18,500 a month.


This is just one example of Bristol landlords cashing in on short-term lets at inflated prices, a worrying trend meaning...
The Bristol Cable •

Revealed: Parents taking legal action over mistreatment of son at special needs school - The Bristol Cable

Kevin and Annette Maxwell received a call in July 2019. They were told an incident involving their 16-year-old son Jonah was being investigated by the police and he had to be picked up before the school closed in the next 24 hours. 


St Christopher’s was a residential school for children with severe learning disabilities and complex needs in Bristol’s leafy Westbury Park, run by private provider the Aurora Group.


A week after this incident, where Jonah Maxwell was pushed inappropriately by...
The Bristol Cable •

Would a database that names and shames rogue landlords help protect renters? - The Bristol Cable

Last month Bristol landlord Adam Habane was banned from letting or managing properties for five years. This came after Bristol City Council uncovered horrific and unsafe conditions in flats he was renting on Lower Ashley Road in St Pauls.


Officers found Habane’s property had been crudely converted into seven flats, where up to 18 people – including six children – had been living. Smoke alarms were issued on the spot due to fears over fire safety, and the council then obtained an order prohibi...
The Guardian •

What Bristol’s Green surge means for progressive politics in the city | Matty Edwards

Just hours after Labour’s Marvin Rees won the Bristol mayoralty for a second term, his party lost its council majority, with the Greens gaining an unexpected 13 council seats.After the Greens came second in the mayoral race, swings from Labour to Green, including in seemingly safe Labour areas, unseated long-serving councillors and cabinet members. Labour had hoped to keep overall control of the council, but the Greens caught them up as the joint-largest party with 24 councillors apiece.Bristol...
The Guardian •

The police have their version of the Bristol protests. Locals tell a different story

Last Sunday, a peaceful demonstration in Bristol escalated sharply into clashes between protesters and riot police – leading to their vans being torched and the windows of the city’s main police station being shattered. The riot, following a demonstration against the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, was widely and quickly condemned.Since then there have been two further demonstrations against the bill, on Tuesday and Friday. But these were very different events.On Tuesday, hundreds sta...
The Bristol Cable •

Revealed: The true story behind the closure of privately-run mental health ward at Priory Bristol - The Bristol Cable

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Illustration: Sophia Checkley


Content warning: Descriptions of self-harm






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A teenager leaves their room and walks down the corridor, their arms up to the elbow covered in blood. Shocked, Michael* runs to see what has happened, and finds where they have cut themselves. As they mumble, he grabs them by the hands to make sure they don’t hurt themselves any more until the paramedics ar...
openDemocracy •

Dodgy bar charts, misinformation and propaganda in Bristol North West

This piece is part of a collaboration between openDemocracy and the Bristol Cable.Voters in the Labour-held marginal seat of Bristol North West have been targeted by print leaflets employing misinformation and negative campaigning, as well as Facebook ads by political parties and more opaque groups.With the help of members and readers, the Cable has collected print leaflets from all political parties, including ones posing as local newspapers, magazines and bill letters, while others have used d...
The Bristol Cable •

A safe fix for Bristol’s drug users and the city - The Bristol Cable

Tegan Smith stops off at Greggs on her way to work in the city centre. Inside, she notices a middle-aged woman with her belongings at her feet. After fiddling with something for a few minutes, she puts a needle in the bin, pats her arm and paces around, eyes rolled back.
Tegan assumes she has just injected herself with drugs. Her reaction is shock, but also sadness for the woman, who needs support for her habit. She is just one of the many people who inject in public places because they have an...
VICE •

Inside the UK's First City Centre Drug Testing Facility

At Bristol’s Love Saves The Day festival, news spreads on Sunday morning that two people have died after taking “dangerous high strength” drugs at Mutiny Festival in Portsmouth.Outside the tent run by charity The Loop – where festival-goers can get their drugs tested for purity and strength – 67-year-old Chris Lark says: “There were two people killed yesterday, so if [The Loop’s work] stops two people dying, it has to be a good thing.”
This is The Loop’s third summer of reducing drug-related har...
The Guardian •

Drug fatalities highest where treatment cutbacks deepest

More heroin and crack users are dying of overdoses in the areas of England where cuts to drug treatment budgets have been among the greatest, analysis by the Observer shows.The findings have prompted concern that addicts are at greater risk of dying due to funding cuts to the public health grant received by local councils. Over the past four years councils in 85% of areas that have an above average drug mortality rate have reduced the amount they spend on drug treatment, a comparison of drug fat...