Since Broadway Lodge opened in 1974, many people have passed through its doors. They have experienced belonging, relief, support, anxiety, comfort, enlightenment and friendship. They have learnt that they are not alone and that others understand their situation. Stories are shared and new lives are discovered. With its gothic appearance and seeming maze of stairs and rooms, many have asked about the building and its history. Like those who have passed through the front doors, Broadway Lodge has its own story to tell.
Summarised below are some of the most significant events throughout Broadway Lodge’s own journey.
The history of Broadway Lodge
Before 1974
Broadway Lodge originates from a building called Totterdown Farm and the earliest document regarding the property that stood on the site is a sales account from 1755. Later, it became known as Totterdown House.
In 1923 it began a new life as a boarding school for girls and then in 1936, the Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society and the Order of the Poor Servants of God changed into the Totterdown Hall School for Girls, a convent school for high grade females over the age of sixteen with learning difficulties.
In the early 1970’s, enquiries were being made to set up a residential treatment centre for alcoholism. It was the brain child of Mr Travers Cousins who was, at that time the Director of the Bristol Council of Alcoholism. In 1974, an agreement was made so that Totterdown Hall could be rented from the Poor Sisters of the Mother of God. Dr.Dan Anderson from Minnesota agreed to be associated with the project and to provide guidance in setting it up.
This was a pioneering project as neither treatment centres nor the ‘Minnesota Method’ were recognised in the UK at this time. The trustees set out to establish a ‘Centre of Excellence for the treatment of Alcoholism’ which would be a model for others to develop their treatment centres. There was a recognition of the importance of staff training and of providing the means of obtaining reliable information about Alcoholism and so literature was imported from the USA (the only source).
The 12 Step Programme was then introduced to the UK by Broadway Lodge. In December 1974, the first patients arrived and the trustees soon recognised the need to include drug addiction in the service offered.
Historical moments since Broadway Lodge was established in 1974
Key events
1976 – The charity’s name changed from Totterdown Hall to Broadway Lodge, chosen partly because of the adjacent road name.
1977 – Broadway Lodge received its first media coverage with an article appearing in the Weston Press entitled ‘How a West Country House is Saving the Problem Drinkers’. It gave a brief outline of former patients’ stories and explains what a treatment centre was and how alcoholism is a hidden problem amongst the workplace and little understood by the medical profession.
1982 – An international conference was held at Bath University to publicise the work being done at Broadway Lodge. The following year, a larger conference was held at Oxford University which further built up Broadway Lodge’s reputation.
1986 – Princess Diana visited and brought her special touch. Apart from being a morale boost to patients and staff, the visit provided welcome press coverage and brought Broadway Lodge’s name to many people.
1989 – A visit from the Duchess of York gave another opportunity to show the world the work of Broadway Lodge by another high profile visit.
1993 – Broadway Lodge introduced Detoxification as an additional treatment into the programme as the first step towards long term recovery support.
1994 – Broadway Lodge introduced Renewal and Relapse Prevention Programmes for small groups of clients in recovery. The Renewal Programme was taken to other treatment centres such as Kenya and proved a successful tool to add to their existing 12 Step programme.
1997 – New technology arrived in the form of a new computer system, providing fast and efficient access to information and the production of a database.
1999 – Broadway Lodge celebrated 25 years of delivering treatment programmes and a visit from Keith Haliwell, the then Government Anti-Drugs Coordinator acknowledged that we were the longest established treatment centre in the UK, stating “It is the pioneer of drug rehabilitation…the results are really positive”.
2005 – Broadway Lodge admits its 6000th patient.
2009 – Broadway Lodge buys two houses in Bristol to use as Third Stage Housing.
2014 – Broadway Lodge created a set of short films called ‘Reflections on the 12 Steps’ to provide a better understanding of the 12 Steps and to dispel myths around religion. These DVDs can be watched on our website here.
2017 – A 90 minute documentary about patients at Broadway Lodge called ‘Rehab: Live Addicted’, aired on BBC3 in June 2017. Film maker Phillip Wood spent 10-12 hours per day, 7 days a week for 3 months in winter 16/17 recording footage. The final documentary uncovered what is done to help people beat their addictions and to start rebuilding their lives.
2018 – A family programme held every other Sunday is reintroduced, open to relatives and friends of both clients and non clients suffering addiction, a valuable resource in the area.
2018 – Outpatient support was offered to those who do not require residential treatment or who are not yet ready for inpatient rehabilitation.
2018 – The September Reunion, themed ‘Strong & Inspirational Women in Recovery’, saw the first all-female share at the annual event. Another first was a very special live performance from song writing legend and frontman of British rock band Squeeze. Chris Difford kicked off the Reunion, entertaining attendees by performing several Squeeze classics including Cool for Cats and Up the Junction.
2020 – The sudden arrival of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 brought various challenges to overcome. One major change we made, in order to keep all clients safe, was to move our detox area and nurse department from our main house into our separate 10-bed Gordon Beard Unit, previously used for clients who had progressed to secondary care. This meant we could safely quarantine new admissions in-line with government guidelines, before they would mix with peers. The Gordon Beard Unit remains in operation as our admissions unit and clients in secondary care, now known as ‘extended care’, stay in our main house.
2021 – Weekly aftercare returns after the coronavirus outbreak put a hold on this well-used service. A major change we made was to introduce online aftercare using video-calling platform, Zoom, so no matter where former clients are located, as long as they have access to WiFi and equipment required, they can still get our support and keep a connection with Broadway Lodge.
2021 – A major refurbishment is carried out in the main house to modernise well-used client areas. Previously, all bedrooms were shared by same-sex peers. As part of these works, most bedrooms were remodelled to create 13 single-occupancy bedrooms (nine with en-suite facilities) and three twin bedrooms, keeping three four-bed rooms but changing the size of beds from singles to doubles. This is the first time in Broadway’s history that single-occupancy bedrooms have been available.
2021 – We introduce specialist treatments Hypnotherapy and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing) to add value to the client experience. Hypnotherapy can be highly effective in treating a wide array of symptoms, health conditions or problematic behaviours, from wanting to quit a habit like smoking to general stress, pain management and trauma and is particularly effective to treat anxiety and phobias. EMDR is a psychotherapy method that is particularly effective in helping people to recover from trauma and other distressing life events. Read more about these specialist treatments here.
2022 – We launched our very own podcast called ‘Miracle Mansion Podcast’ after the nickname Broadway Lodge has been given by clients. Each podcast episode features a different former client in conversation with Markkus (Head of Treatment, Counselling & Aftercare), typically detailing their life in active addiction and how life has changed in recovery and what they have learnt since leaving Broadway Lodge. They are available to download from major streaming platforms including Spotify and the video versions are available on YouTube and on our website here.
2024 – Broadway Lodge reaches its 50th anniversary year and it was celebrated through holding a special 50th year ‘red carpet’ reunion, a celebration of recovery and a fundraiser for Broadway Lodge. We also held a golf day fundraiser, raising over £17,000 and fundraising events were also held by insurance business, Partners&, who made Broadway Lodge one of their charity partners of the year.
2024 – Our treatment programme has evolved to become compassion focused with the 12 Steps remaining at its core. We formally introduced Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) into our addiction treatment programme due to the wide number of benefits CFT can bring about. It’s especially beneficial to people who are highly critical of themselves because CFT is effective in managing the inner critic, something which is often very prevalent in the people we treat. Read more about CFT at Broadway Lodge here.
2025 – ITV Westcountry newsreader, Alex Lovell, became Patron of Broadway Lodge, joining fellow Patron Chris Difford.
2025 – Two new bedrooms are created on the ground floor – one accessible single-occupancy bedroom and one twin room. These were repurposed from two former offices. A new accessible wet room is also created within the same area along with another shower room. This was funded significantly through grants we gratefully received.
Download brochure
To find out more about our programmes and treatments, download our brochure.
Download
If you or someone you know is suffering with addiction and would like to make your first life-changing step towards recovery, you can speak to us confidentially on 01934 812319 or send us a message.
Get in touch