Shortly after construction started a number of the builders involved in the project became bankrupt, leaving much of the Square unfinished.

[10] The area never achieved the fashionable cachet anticipated by the scale of the architecture and St Paul's church, being soon eclipsed by Clifton.

[note 1] Bristol suffered from heavy bombing in World War II and Portland Square did not escape.

[11] After the war, there was little interest in large Georgian properties[note 2] and by 1951 the Ordnance Survey map described parts of the Square as "in ruins".

[11] Bristol's brutalist planning and development policies in the 1960s did nothing to repair this damage, particularly in the adjoining Brunswick Square.

[13][14] Bristol's generally booming economy in the 1990s encouraged some restoration and sympathetic redevelopment, initially on a small scale by individuals and businesses.

[18] The most visible development was in 2004, the opening of St Pauls church (closed in 1988) as the Circomedia centre of excellence for circus and theatre training.