Councillors have paid tribute to the “king of Knowle West” Jeff Lovell, a former lord mayor and firefighter who died last November aged 72. He served as a Labour councillor for Filwood, and lord mayor of Bristol City Council in 2016.
Beginning his career at the Bedminster Fire Station in 1974, Mr Lovell rose through the ranks of the Avon Fire Brigade over three decades of service. He retired in 2005 and then sat as a councillor on the Avon Fire Authority for many years.
He was first elected as a councillor in 2007, and was also cabinet member for social care during his time at the council, before standing down in 2021. Tributes were given during a full council meeting on Tuesday, January 14, which a “coach-load” of his family were attending.
Green Councillor Tony Dyer, leader of the council, said: “He was a fantastic guy, the king of Knowle West. I’m a Hartcliffe boy myself. You can knock on every single door in Knowle West and Hartcliffe and you won’t find someone who has a bad word to say about Jeff Lovell. He was that unique thing: hard-working, conscientious, honest, transparent and funny.
“Nobody described him as a politician, because he wasn’t a politician. He didn’t get involved in party politics stuff. What Jeff wanted to do was serve his community, his devotion to his community stands out.
“When I first came into the council, I was very nervous, as a working class kid with a speech impediment. People like Jeff give encouragement to people like me, Kerry and Kirsty [Bailes and Tait, both councillors for Hartcliffe and Withywood], to put ourselves forward.
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“Because once you see somebody else doing it, and doing it so well, you start to think ‘maybe my Bristolian accent isn’t that bad, maybe people aren’t going to take the mickey of me and not listen to me’. I already miss Jeff — he was the epitome of a nice guy, and I’m sure his family misses him so much more than I do.”
In his first year as a firefighter, Mr Lovell attended the IRA bombing of Park Street, which he later described as “quite an awakening for a young laddie”. He later worked as an investigative photographer, capturing the aftermath of fires. A funeral was held on December 17 at the South Bristol Crematorium, followed by a wake at the Folk House in Whitchurch.
Labour Cllr Paul Goggin, another former lord mayor, said: “There’s two words that come to mind when I think of Jeff: love and pride. He was immensely proud of his fire service career, his time as a councillor, and especially his time as lord mayor. In fact he was buried in his robes, so proud he was that a working class Wester could become Bristol’s first citizen.
“Jeff loved the fire service, he loved the Labour Party, he loved his service to the city, he loved his fishing, he loved his mates, he loved being lord mayor, he loved his Folk House. But the most important thing to him, always, is his family.
“And we were proud and loved him back. His funeral was testament to that: it was standing room only, and there was an honour guard from the service. So farewell Jeff, we’ll miss you mate.”