From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bristol |
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| — Unitary, City, Ceremonial county — |
Coat of Arms of the City Council |
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Coordinates:  51°27′N 2°35′W |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
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| Constituent country | England |
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| Region | South West England |
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| Ceremonial county | Bristol
(County corporate) |
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| Admin HQ | Bristol |
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| Royal Charter | 1155 |
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| County status | 1373 |
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| Government |
| - Type | Unitary authority, City |
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| - Governing body | Bristol City Council |
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| - Leadership | Leader & Cabinet |
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| - Executive | Lib Dem |
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| - MPs | Chris Skidmore (C)
Stephen Williams (LD) |
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| Area |
| - Unitary, City,Ceremonial county | 42.5 sq mi (110 km2) |
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| Elevation[1] | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Population (2008 est.) |
| - Unitary, City,Ceremonial county | 421,300 (Ranked 7th amongst English Districts / 43rd amongst Ceremonial Counties) |
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| - Density | 9,425/sq mi (3,639/km2) |
| - Urban | 587,400 (2,006 ONS estimate) |
| - Metro | 1,006,600 (LUZ2,009) |
| - Ethnicity[2] | 88.8% White (83.5% White British)
4.2% S. Asian
1.9% Black
2.2% Mixed Race
1.9% E. Asian or Other |
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| Time zone | GMT (UTC0) |
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| Postcode | BS |
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| Area code(s) | 0117 |
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| ISO 3166-2 | GB-BST |
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| ONS code | 00HB |
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| OS grid reference | ST595726 |
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| NUTS 3 | UKK11 |
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| Website | bristol.gov.uk/ |
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Bristol is the largest centre of culture, employment and education in the region. Its prosperity has been linked with the sea since its earliest days. The commercial
Port of Bristol was originally in the city centre before being moved to the Severn Estuary at
Avonmouth;
Royal Portbury Dock is on the western edge of the city boundary. In more recent years the economy has depended on the creative media, electronics and
aerospaceindustries, and the city centre docks have been regenerated as a centre of heritage and culture.
[6] There are 34 other populated places on Earth
named Bristol, most in the United States, but also in
Peru, Canada,
Jamaica and
Costa Rica, all presumably commemorating the original.
[7][8][edit]History
Archaeological finds believed to be 60,000 years old, discovered at
Shirehampton and
St Annes, provide "evidence of human activity" in the Bristol area from the
Palaeolithic era.
[9]There are
Iron Age hill forts near the city, at
Leigh Woods and
Clifton Down on the side of the
Avon Gorge, and on
Kingsweston Hill, near
Henbury.
[10] During the
Roman era there was a settlement,
Abona,
[11] at what is now
Sea Mills, connected to
Bath by a
Roman road, and another at the present-day
Inns Court. There were also isolated
Roman villas and small
Roman forts and settlements throughout the area.
[12] The town of
Brycgstow (
Old English, "the place at the bridge")
[13] existed by the beginning of the 11th century, and under
Normanrule acquired one of the strongest
castles in southern England.
[14] The area around the original junction of the
River Frome with the
River Avon, adjacent to the original
Bristol Bridge and just outside the town walls, was where the port began to develop in the 11th century.
[15] By the 12th century Bristol was an important port, handling much of England's trade with Ireland. In 1247 a new stone bridge was built, which was replaced by the current Bristol Bridge in the 1760s,
[16] and the town was extended to incorporate neighbouring suburbs, becoming in 1373 a
county in its own right.
[17] During this period Bristol also became a centre of shipbuilding and manufacturing. Bristol was the starting point for many important voyages, notably
John Cabot's 1497 voyage of exploration to North America.
[18]
The west front of Bristol Cathedral
By the 14th century Bristol was one of England's three largest
medieval towns after London, along with
York and
Norwich, with perhaps 15,000–20,000 inhabitants on the eve of the
Black Death of 1348–49.
[19] The plague resulted in a prolonged pause in the growth of Bristol's population, with numbers remaining at 10,000–12,000 through most of the 15th and 16th centuries. The
Diocese of Bristol was founded in 1542,
[20] with the former
Abbey of
St. Augustine, founded by
Robert Fitzharding in 1140,
[21] becoming
Bristol Cathedral. Traditionally this is equivalent to the town being granted
city status. During the
1640s English Civil War the city was occupied by
Royalist military, after they overran
Royal Fort, the last
Parliamentarianstronghold in the city.
[22]Renewed growth came with the 17th century rise of England's
American colonies and the rapid 18th century expansion of England's part in the
Atlantic trade in Africans taken for
slavery in the
Americas. Bristol, along with
Liverpool, became a centre for the
Triangular trade. In the first stage of this trade manufactured goods were taken to
West Africa and exchanged for Africans who were then, in the second stage or middle passage, transported across the Atlantic in brutal conditions.
[23] The third leg of the triangle brought plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice and cotton
[23] and also a small number of slaves who were sold to the aristocracy as house servants, some eventually buying their freedom.
[24] During the height of the
slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slaving ships were fitted out at Bristol, carrying a (conservatively) estimated half a million people from Africa to the Americas and slavery.
[25] The
Seven Stars public house,
[26] where
abolitionist Thomas Clarkson collected information on the slave trade, still exists.
An 1873 engraving showing sights around Bristol
Fishermen from Bristol had fished the
Grand Banks of
Newfoundland since the 15th century
[27]and began settling Newfoundland permanently in larger numbers in the 17th century establishing colonies at
Bristol's Hope and
Cuper's Cove. Bristol's strong nautical ties meant that maritime safety was an important issue in the city. During the 19th century
Samuel Plimsoll, "the sailor's friend", campaigned to make the seas safer; he was shocked by the overloaded cargoes, and successfully fought for a compulsory
load line on ships.
[28]Competition from
Liverpool from c. 1760, the disruption of maritime commerce caused by wars with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to the city's failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of the
North of England and the
West Midlands. The passage up the heavily tidal
Avon Gorge, which had made the port highly secure during the
Middle Ages, had become a liability which the construction of a new "
Floating Harbour" (designed by
William Jessop) in 1804–9 failed to overcome, as the great cost of the scheme led to excessive harbour dues.
[29] Nevertheless, Bristol's population (66,000 in 1801) quintupled during the 19th century, supported by new industries and growing commerce.
[30] It was particularly associated with the noted Victorian engineer,
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the
Great Western Railway between Bristol and
London Paddington, two pioneering Bristol-built ocean going
steamships, the
SS Great Britain and
SS Great Western, and the
Clifton Suspension Bridge.
John Wesley founded the very first
Methodist Chapel, called the
New Room, in Bristol in 1739.
Riotsoccurred in 1793
[31] and 1831, the first beginning as a protest at renewal of an act levying
tolls on Bristol Bridge, and the latter after the rejection of the second
Reform Bill.
[32]
A map of Bristol from 1946
Bristol's city centre suffered severe damage from
Luftwaffe bombing during the
Bristol Blitz of World War II.
[33] The original central shopping area, near the bridge and castle, is now a park containing two bombed out churches and some fragments of the castle. A third bombed church nearby,
St Nicholas, has been restored and has been made into a museum which houses a
triptych by
William Hogarth, painted for the high altar of
St Mary Redcliffe in 1756. The museum also contains statues moved from
Arno's Court Triumphal Arch, of
King Edward I and
King Edward III taken from Lawfords' Gate of the city walls when they were demolished around 1760, and 13th century figures from Bristol's Newgate representing Robert, the builder of
Bristol Castle, and
Geoffrey de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances, builder of the fortified walls of the city.
[34]The removal of the docks to
Avonmouth Docks and
Royal Portbury Dock, 7 miles (11.3 km) downstream from the city centre during the 20th century has also allowed redevelopment of the old central dock area (the "
Floating Harbour") in recent decades, although at one time the continued existence of the docks was in jeopardy as it was viewed as a derelict industrial site rather than an asset. However the holding, in 1996, of the first
International Festival of the Sea in and around the docks, affirmed the dockside area in its new leisure role as a key feature of the city.
[36][edit]Governance
Bristol City Council consists of 70 councillors representing 35 wards. They are elected in thirds with two councillors per ward, each serving a four-year term. Wards never have both councillors up for election at the same time, so effectively two-thirds of the wards are up each election.
[37] The Council has long been dominated by the
Labour Party, but recently the
Liberal Democrats have grown strong in the city and as the largest party took minority control of the Council at the 2005 election. In 2007, Labour and the Conservatives joined forces to vote down the Liberal Democrat administration, and as a result, Labour ruled the council under a minority administration, with Helen Holland as the council leader.
[38] In February 2009, the Labour group resigned, and the Liberal Democrats took office with their own minority administration.
[39] At
the council elections on 4 June 2009 the Liberal Democrats gained four seats and, for the first time, overall control of the City Council.
[40] The Lord Mayor is
Lib Dem Councillor Chris Davis.
[41]Bristol constituencies in the
House of Commons cross the borders with neighbouring authorities, and the city is divided into Bristol
West,
East,
South and
North-west and
Kingswood.
Northavonalso covers some of the suburbs, but none of the administrative county. In the recent 2010 General Election in May, the boundaries were changed to coincide with the county boundary. Kingswood no longer covers any of the county, and a new
Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency includes the suburbs in South Gloucestershire. There are two Labour
Members of Parliament (MPs), one Liberal Democrat and three Conservatives.
[42]Bristol has a tradition of local political activism, and has been home to many important political figures.
Edmund Burke, MP for the
Bristol constituency for six years from 1774, famously insisted that he was a Member of Parliament first, rather than a representative of his constituents' interests. The women's rights campaigner
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence (1867–1954) was born in Bristol.
Tony Benn, a veteran left-wing politician, was MP for
Bristol South East from 1950 until 1983. In 1963, there was a
boycott of the city's buses after the
Bristol Omnibus Company refused to employ black drivers and conductors. The boycott is known to have influenced the creation of the UK's
Race Relations Act in 1965.
[43] The city was the scene of the
first of the 1980s riots. In St. Paul's, a number of largely Afro-Caribbean people rose up against racism, police harassment and mounting dissatisfaction with their social and economic circumstances before similar disturbances followed across the UK. Local support of
fair trade issues was recognised in 2005 when Bristol was granted
Fairtrade City status.
[44]Bristol is unusual in having been a city with county status since medieval times. The county was expanded to include suburbs such as
Clifton in 1835, and it was named a
county borough in 1889, when the term was first introduced.
[17] However, on 1 April 1974, it became a local government district of the short-lived county of
Avon.
[45] On 1 April 1996, it regained its independence and county status, when the county of Avon was abolished and Bristol became a
Unitary Authority.
[46][edit]Geography and environment
[edit]Boundaries
There are a number of different ways in which Bristol's boundaries are defined, depending on whether the boundaries attempt to define the city, the built-up area, or the wider "
Greater Bristol". The narrowest definition of the city is the
city council boundary, which takes in a large section of the
Severn Estuary west as far as, but not including, the islands of
Steep Holm and
Flat Holm.
[47]A slightly less narrow definition is used by the
Office for National Statistics (ONS); this includes built-up areas which adjoin Bristol but are not within the city council boundary, such as
Whitchurch village,
Filton,
Patchway,
Bradley Stoke, and excludes non-built-up areas within the city council boundary.
[48] The ONS has also defined an area called the "Bristol Urban Area," which includes
Kingswood,
Mangotsfield,
Stoke Gifford,
Winterbourne,
Frampton Cotterell,
Almondsburyand
Easton-in-Gordano.
[49] The term "Greater Bristol", used for example by the Government Office of the South West,
[50] usually refers to the area occupied by the city and parts of the three neighbouring local authorities (
Bath and North East Somerset,
North Somerset and
South Gloucestershire), an area sometimes also known as the "former
Avon area" or the "
West of England".
The
Avon Gorge, home to several unique plant species.
[edit]Physical geography
Bristol is in a
limestone area, which runs from the
Mendip Hills to the south and the
Cotswolds to the north east.
[51] The rivers
Avon and
Frome cut through this limestone to the underlying clays, creating Bristol's characteristic hilly landscape. The Avon flows from Bath in the east, through
flood plains and areas which were marshy before the growth of the city. To the west the Avon has cut through the limestone to form the
Avon Gorge, partly aided by glacial meltwater after the last
ice age.
[52] The gorge helped to protect Bristol Harbour, and has been quarried for stone to build the city. The land surrounding the gorge has been protected from development, as
The Downs and
Leigh Woods. The gorge and
estuary of the Avon form the county's boundary with
North Somerset, and the river flows into the
Severn Estuary at
Avonmouth. There is another gorge in the city, in the
Blaise Castle estate to the north.
[52][edit]Climate
Situated in the south of the country, Bristol is one of the warmest cities in the UK, with a mean annual temperature of 10.2-12 °C (50-54 °F).
[53] It is also amongst the sunniest, with 1,541–1,885 hours sunshine per year.
[54] The city is partially sheltered by the
Mendip Hills, but exposed to the
Severn Estuary and
Bristol Channel, Annual rainfall is similar to the national average, at 741-1,060 mm (29.2–41.7 in). Rain falls all year round, but autumn and winter are the wettest seasons. The Atlantic strongly influences Bristol's weather, maintaining average temperatures above freezing throughout the year, although cold spells in winter often bring frosts. Snow can fall at any time from mid-November through to mid-April, but it is a rare occurrence. Summers are drier and quite warm with variable amounts of sunshine, rain and cloud. Spring is unsettled and changeable, and has brought spells of winter snow as well as summer sunshine.
[55]
| [hide]Climate data for Bristol, England, United Kingdom |
|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|
| Average high °C (°F) | 7.2
(45) | 7.8
(46) | 11.1
(52) | 15
(59) | 17.8
(64) | 21.1
(70) | 22.8
(73) | 22.8
(73) | 20
(68) | 15
(59) | 10.6
(51) | 7.8
(46) | 15
(59) |
|---|
| Average low °C (°F) | 2.8
(37) | 2.2
(36) | 4.4
(40) | 7.2
(45) | 8.9
(48) | 12.2
(54) | 14.4
(58) | 13.9
(57) | 11.7
(53) | 8.9
(48) | 5
(41) | 2.8
(37) | 7.8
(46) |
|---|
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 97.7
(3.846) | 53.8
(2.118) | 85.9
(3.382) | 65.0
(2.559) | 92.5
(3.642) | 70.6
(2.78) | 79.8
(3.142) | 56.6
(2.228) | 64.5
(2.539) | 113.3
(4.461) | 118.6
(4.669) | 117.0
(4.606) | 1,015.3
(39.972) |
|---|
| Source #1: Weatherbase[1] |
| Source #2: Met Office- Yeovilton[56] |
[edit]Waste management and sustainability
Based on its environmental performance, quality of life, future-proofing and how well it is addressing climate change, recycling and biodiversity, Bristol was ranked as the UK's most sustainable city, topping environmental charity
Forum for the Future's
Sustainable CitiesIndex 2008.
[57][58] Notable local initiatives include
Sustrans, who have created the
National Cycle Network, founded as
Cyclebag in 1977,
[59]and
Resourcesaver established in 1988 as a non-profit business by Avon Friends of the Earth.
[60][edit]Demographics
In 2008 the
Office for National Statistics estimated the Bristol unitary authority's population at 416,900,
[61][62] making it the
47th-largestceremonial county in England.
[63] Using
Census 2001 data the ONS estimated the population of the city to be 441,556,
[64] and that of the contiguous urban area to be 551,066.
[65] and more recent 2006 ONS estimates put the urban area population at 587,400
[66] This makes the city England's sixth most populous city, and ninth most populous urban area.
[65] At 3,599
inhabitants per square kilometre (9,321
/sq mi) it has the seventh-highest population density of any English district.
[67]According to 2007 estimates, 88.1% of the population were described as
White British, 4.6% as Asian or Asian British, 2.9% as black or black British, 2.3% as mixed race, 1.4% as Chinese and 0.7% other. National averages for England were 88.2%, 5.7%, 2.8%, 1.7%, 0.8% and 0.7% for the same groups.
[68][edit]Historical population records
Note: Only includes figures for Bristol Unitary Authority i.e. excludes areas that are part of the Bristol urban area (2006 estimated population 587,400) but are located in South Gloucestershire, BANES or North Somerset which border Bristol UA such as Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Filton, Warmley etc.
[69] The figures for 2008 & 2009 are an estimate from the
Office for National Statistics.
| Year | 1377[70] | 1607[71] | 1700[69] | 1801[69] | 1811[69] | 1821[69] | 1831[69] | 1841[69] | 1851[69] |
| Total population | 9,518 | 10,549 | 20,000 | 68,944 | 83,922 | 99,151 | 120,789 | 144,803 | 159,945 |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Year | 1861[69] | 1871[69] | 1881[69] | 1891[69] | 1901[69] | 1911[69] | 1921[69] | 1931[69] | 1941[69] |
| Total population | 194,229 | 228,513 | 262,797 | 297,525 | 323,698 | 352,178 | 367,831 | 384,204 | 402,839 |
| | | | | | | | | |
| Year | 1951[69] | 1961[69] | 1971[69] | 1981[69] | 1991[69] | 2001[69] | 2008[3] | 2009[3] | | |
| Total population | 422,399 | 425,214 | 428,089 | 384,883 | 396,559 | 380,615 | 426,100 | 433,100 | | |
|
[edit]Economy and industry
The Nails in Corn Street, over which trading deals were made
As a major seaport, Bristol has a long history of trading commodities, originally wool cloth exports and imports of fish, wine, grain and dairy produce,
[72] later
tobacco, tropical fruits and plantation goods; major imports now are motor vehicles, grain, timber, fresh produce and petroleum products. Deals were originally struck on a personal basis in the former trading area around
The Exchange in Corn Street, and in particular, over bronze trading tables, known as "
The Nails". This is often given as the origin of the expression "cash on the nail", meaning immediate payment, however it is likely that the expression was in use before the
nails were erected.
[73]As well as Bristol's nautical connections, the city's economy is reliant on the
aerospace industry, defence, the media, information technology and financial services sectors, and tourism.
[74] The former
Ministry of Defence (MoD)'s Procurement Executive, later the
Defence Procurement Agency, and now
Defence Equipment & Support, moved to a purpose-built headquarters at Abbey Wood, Filton in 1995. The site employs some 7,000 to 8,000 staff and is responsible for procuring and supporting much of the MoD's defence equipment.
[75]In 2004 Bristol's
GDP was £9.439 billion, and the combined GDP of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and North Somerset was £44.098 billion. The GDP per head was £23,962 (US$47,738, €35,124) making the city more affluent than the UK as a whole, at 40% above the national average. This makes it the third-highest per-capita GDP of any English city, after London and
Nottingham, and the fifth highest GDP per capita of any city in the United Kingdom, behind London,
Edinburgh,
Glasgow,
Belfast and Nottingham.
[76] In March 2007, Bristol's
unemployment rate was 4.8%, compared with 4.0% for the south west and 5.5% for England.
[77]Although Bristol's economy is no longer reliant upon the
Port of Bristol, which was relocated gradually to the mouth of the Avon to new docks at Avonmouth (1870s)
[78] and Royal Portbury Dock (1977) as the size of shipping increased, the city is the largest importer of cars to the UK.
[79] Since the port was leased in 1991, £330 million has been invested and the annual tonnage throughput has increased from 3.9 million long tons (4 million metric tonnes) to 11.8 million long tons (12 million metric tonnes).
[80] The tobacco trade and cigarette manufacturing have now ceased, but imports of wines and spirits by
Harveys and Averys continue.
The financial services sector employs 59,000 in the city,
[81] and the
high-tech sector is important, with 50 micro-electronics and silicon design companies, which employ around 5,000 people, including the
Hewlett-Packard national research laboratories, which opened in 1983.
[82] [83] Bristol is the UK's seventh most popular destination for foreign tourists, and the city receives nine million visitors each year.
[84]In the 20th century, Bristol's manufacturing activities expanded to include aircraft production at
Filton, by the
Bristol Aeroplane Company, and aero-engine manufacture by
Bristol Aero Engines (later
Rolls-Royce) at
Patchway. The aeroplane company became famous for the World War I
Bristol Fighter,
[85] and Second World War
Blenheim and
Beaufighter aircraft.
[85] In the 1950s it became one of the country's major manufacturers of civil aircraft, with the
Bristol Freighter and
Britannia and the huge
Brabazon airliner. The
Bristol Aeroplane Companydiversified into car manufacturing in the 1940s, producing hand-built
luxury cars at their factory in
Filton, under the name
Bristol Cars, which became independent from the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1960.
[86] The city also gave its name to the Bristol make of buses, manufactured in the city from 1908 to 1983, first by the local bus operating company,
Bristol Tramways, and from 1955 by
Bristol Commercial Vehicles.
The last ever flight of any
Concorde, 26 November 2003. The aircraft is seen a few minutes before landing on the
Filton runway from which it first flew in 1969.
In the 1960s Filton played a key role in the Anglo-French
Concorde supersonic airliner project. The Bristol Aeroplane Company became part of the British partner, the
British Aircraft Corporation(BAC). Concorde components were manufactured in British and French factories and shipped to the two final assembly plants, in
Toulouse and Filton. The French manufactured the centre fuselage and centre wing and the British the nose, rear fuselage, fin and wingtips, while the
Olympus 593 engine's manufacture was split between
Rolls-Royce (Filton) and
SNECMA (Paris). The British Concorde prototype made its maiden flight from Filton to
RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969, five weeks after the French test flight.
[87] In 2003
British Airways and
Air France decided to cease flying the aircraft and to retire them to locations (mostly museums) around the world. On 26 November 2003 Concorde 216 made the final Concorde flight, returning to Filton airfield to be kept there permanently as the centrepiece of a projected air museum. This museum will include the existing Bristol Aero Collection, which includes a
Bristol Britannia aircraft.
[88]A new £500 million shopping centre called
Cabot Circus opened in 2008 amidst claims from developers and politicians that Bristol would become one of England's top ten retail destinations.
[93] Bristol was selected as one of the world's top ten cities for 2009 by international travel publishers
Dorling Kindersley in their
Eyewitness series of guides for young adults.
[94]Panorama over Bristol, taken in 2004.
[edit]Culture
The Coopers Hall, entrance to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Royal complex
One of many
Banksy artworks in the city, which has since been vandalised with blue paint (partly cleared by the city council)
The city is famous for its music and film industries, and was a finalist for the 2008
European Capital of Culture, but the title was awarded to Liverpool.
[95]The city's principal theatre company, the
Bristol Old Vic, was founded in 1946 as an offshoot of the
Old Vic company in London. Its premises on
King Street consist of the 1766 Theatre Royal (607 seats), a modern studio theatre called the New Vic (150 seats), and foyer and bar areas in the adjacent
Coopers' Hall (built 1743). The Theatre Royal is a grade I
listed building[96][97] and is the oldest continuously operating theatre in England.
[98] The
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which had originated in King Street is now a separate company. The
Bristol Hippodrome is a larger theatre (1981 seats) which hosts national touring productions. Other theatres include the
Tobacco Factory (250 seats),
QEH (220 seats), the Redgrave Theatre (at
Clifton College) (320 seats) and the Alma Tavern (50 seats). Bristol's theatre scene includes a large variety of producing theatre companies, apart from the Bristol Old Vic company, including
Show of Strength Theatre Company, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Travelling Light Theatre Company. Theatre Bristol is a partnership between Bristol City Council,
Arts Council England and local theatre practitioners which aims to develop the theatre industry in Bristol.
[99] There are also a number of organisations within the city which act to support theatre makers, for example
Equity, the actors union, has a General Branch based in the city,
[100] and Residence which provides office, social and rehearsal space for several Bristol-based theatre and performance companies.
[101]Since the late 1970s, the city has been home to bands combining punk, funk,
dub and
political consciousness, amongst the most notable have been
Glaxo Babies,
[102] The Pop Group[103] and
trip hop or "
Bristol Sound" artists such as
Tricky,
[104] Portishead[105] and
Massive Attack;
[106] the
list of bands from Bristol is extensive. It is also a stronghold of
drum & bass with notable artists such as the
Mercury Prize winning
Roni Size/
Reprazent[107] as well as the pioneering
DJ Krust[108] and
More Rockers.
[109] This music is part of the wider Bristol urban culture scene which received international media attention in the 1990s.
[110] Bristol has many live music venues, the largest of which is the 2,000-seat
Colston Hall, named after
Edward Colston. Others include the
Bristol Academy, Fiddlers,
Victoria Rooms,
Trinity Centre,
St George's Bristol and a range of public houses from the jazz-orientated
The Old Duke to rock at the Fleece and Firkin and indie bands at the Louisiana.
[111][112] In 2010,
PRS for Music announced that Bristol is the most musical city in the UK, based on the number of its members born in Bristol in relation to the size of its population.
[113]The
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection of
natural history,
archaeology, local glassware,
Chinese ceramics and art. The
Bristol Industrial Museum, featuring preserved dock machinery, closed in October 2006 for rebuilding and plans to reopen in 2011 as the Museum of Bristol.
[114] The City Museum also runs three preserved historic houses: the
Tudor Red Lodge, the
Georgian House, and
Blaise Castle House. The
Watershed Media Centre and
Arnolfini gallery, both in disused dockside warehouses, exhibit contemporary art, photography and cinema, while the city's oldest gallery is at the
Royal West of England Academy in Clifton.
Stop frame animation films and commercials produced by
Aardman Animations[115] and television series focusing on the natural world have also brought fame and artistic credit to the city. The city is home to the regional headquarters of
BBC West, and the
BBC Natural History Unit.
[116]Locations in and around Bristol often feature in the BBC's natural history programmes, including the children's television programme
Animal Magic, filmed at
Bristol Zoo.
[117]Bristol University graduates include magician and psychological illusionist
Derren Brown;
[128] the satirist
Chris Morris;
[129] Simon Pegg[130]and
Nick Frost[131] of
Spaced,
Shaun of the Dead and
Hot Fuzz; and
Matt Lucas[132] and
David Walliams[132] of
Little Britain fame.
[133]Hollywood actor
Cary Grant was born in the city;
[134] Patrick Stewart,
Jane Lapotaire,
Pete Postlethwaite,
Jeremy Irons,
Greta Scacchi,
Miranda Richardson,
Helen Baxendale,
Daniel Day-Lewis and
Gene Wilder are amongst the many actors who learnt their craft at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,
[135] opened by
Laurence Olivier in 1946. The comedian
John Cleese was a pupil at
Clifton College.
[136] Hugo Weaving studied at
Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School
[137] and
David Prowse (
Darth Vader,
Star Wars) attended
Bristol Grammar School.
[138] [edit]Architecture
Outside the historical city centre there are several large
Tudor mansions built for wealthy merchants.
[142] Almshouses[143] and
public houses of the same period still exist,
[144] intermingled with modern development. Several
Georgian-era squares were laid out for the enjoyment of the middle class as prosperity increased in the 18th century.
[145]During World War II, the
city centre suffered from extensive bombing during the
Bristol Blitz.
[146]The redevelopment of shopping centres, office buildings, and the harbourside continues apace.
[edit]Sport and leisure
The city has two
Football League clubs:
Bristol City and
Bristol Rovers, as well as a
number of non-league clubs. Bristol City was formed in 1897, became runners-up in Division One in 1907, and losing FA Cup finalists in 1909. They returned to the top flight in 1976, but in 1980 started a descent to Division Four. They were promoted to the second tier of English football in 2007. The team lost in the play-off final of the Championship to
Hull City (2007/2008 season). City announced plans for a new 30,000 all-seater stadium to replace their home, Ashton Gate.
[147] Bristol Roversis the oldest professional football team in Bristol, formed in 1883. They are in the top half of League One, and reached the quarter-final stage of the
FA Cup. During their history, Rovers have been champions of the
(old) division Three (1952/53, 1989/90),
Watney Cup Winners (1972, 2006/07), and runners-up in the
Johnstone's Paint Trophy. The Club have planning permission to re-develop the
Memorial Stadium into an 18,500 all-seat Stadium, but has yet to start due to financial difficulties.
The city is also home to
Bristol Rugby rugby union club,
[148] a
first-class cricket side,
Gloucestershire C.C.C.[149] and a
Rugby League Conference side, the
Bristol Sonics. The city also stages an annual
half marathon, and in 2001 played host to the
World Half Marathon Championships. There are several athletics clubs in Bristol, including Bristol and West AC, Bitton Road Runners and Westbury Harriers. Speedway racing was staged, with breaks, at the Knowle Stadium from 1928 to 1960, when it was closed and the site redeveloped. The sport briefly returned to the city in the 1970s when the Bulldogs raced at
Eastville Stadium.
[150] In 2009, senior
ice hockey returned to the city for the first time in 17 years with the newly formed
Bristol Pitbullsplaying out of Bristol Ice Rink.
The
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, a major event for
hot-air ballooning in the UK, is held each summer in the grounds of
Ashton Court, to the west of the city.
[151] The fiesta draws substantial crowds even for the early morning lift beginning at about 6.30 am. Events and a fairground entertain visitors during the day. A second mass ascent is made in the early evening, again taking advantage of lower wind speeds. Until 2007 Ashton Court also played host to the
Ashton Court festival each summer, an outdoor music festival known as the Bristol Community Festival.
Bristol has two daily newspapers, the
Western Daily Press and the
Bristol Evening Post; a weekly free newspaper, the
Bristol Observer; and a Bristol edition of the free
Metro newspaper, all owned by the
Daily Mail and General Trust.
[152] The local weekly
listings magazine,
Venue, covers the city's music, theatre and arts scenes and is owned by
Northcliffe Media, a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust.
[153] Bristol Media is the city's support network for the creative and media industries with over 1600 members.
[154] The city has several local radio stations, including
BBC Radio Bristol,
Heart Bristol (previously known as GWR FM),
Classic Gold 1260,
Kiss 101,
Star 107.2,
BCfm (a community radio station launched March 2007),
Ujima 98 FM,
[155] 106 Jack FM (Bristol),
[156] as well as two student radio stations,
The Hub and
BURST. Bristol also boasts television productions such as
The West Country Tonight for
ITV West (formerly HTV West) and
ITV Westcountry ,
Points West for
BBC West, hospital drama
Casualty (due to move to
Cardiff in 2011)
[157] and Endemol productions such as
Deal Or No Deal. Bristol has been used as a location for the Channel 4 comedy drama
Teachers, BBC drama
Mistresses, teen drama
Skins and BBC3 comedy-drama series
Being Human.
[edit]Dialect
A dialect of English is spoken by some Bristol inhabitants, known colloquially as
Bristolian, or even more colloquially as "Bristle" or "Brizzle". Bristol natives speak with a
rhotic accent, in which the
r in words like
car is pronounced. The unusual feature of this dialect, unique to Bristol, is the
Bristol L (or
terminal L), in which an
L sound is appended to words that end in an 'a' or 'o'.
[158] Thus "area" becomes "areal", etc. Further Bristolian linguistic features are the addition of a superfluous "to" in questions relating to direction or orientation (a feature also common to the coastal towns of
South Wales), or using "to" instead of "at"; and using male
pronouns "he", "him" instead of "it". For example, "Where's that?" would be phrased as "Where's he to?", a structure exported to
Newfoundland English.
[159]Stanley Ellis, a dialect researcher, found that many of the dialect words in the Filton area were linked to work in the aerospace industry. He described this as "a cranky, crazy, crab-apple tree of language and with the sharpest, juiciest flavour that I've heard for a long time".
[160][edit]Religion
In the
United Kingdom Census 2001, 60% of Bristol's population reported themselves as being Christian, and 25% stated they were not religious; the national UK averages are 72% and 15% respectively.
Islam accounts for 2% of the population (3% nationally), with no other religion above one percent, although 9% did not respond to the question.
[161][edit]Education, science and technology
Bristol is home to two major institutions of higher education: the
University of Bristol, a "
redbrick" chartered in 1909, and the
University of the West of England, formerly Bristol Polytechnic, which gained university status in 1992. The city also has two dedicated
further education institutions,
City of Bristol College and
Filton College, and three
theological colleges,
Trinity College,
Wesley College and
Bristol Baptist College. The city has 129 infant, junior and primary schools,
[171] 17 secondary schools,
[172] and three city learning centres. It has the country's second highest concentration of
independent school places, after an exclusive corner of north London.
[173] The independent schools in the city include
Colston's School,
Clifton College,
Clifton High School,
Badminton School,
Bristol Cathedral School,
Bristol Grammar School,
Redland High School,
Queen Elizabeth's Hospital (the only all-boys school) and
Red Maids' School, which claims to be the oldest girls' school in England, having been founded in 1634 by John Whitson.
[174]In 2005, the then
Chancellor of the Exchequer recognised Bristol's ties to science and technology by naming it one of six "science cities", and promising funding for further development of science in the city,
[175] with a £300 million science park planned at
Emerson's Green.
[176] As well as research at the two universities,
Bristol Royal Infirmary, and
Southmead Hospital, science education is important in the city, with
At-Bristol,
Bristol Zoo,
Bristol Festival of Nature and the
Create Centre being prominent local institutions involved in science communication. The city has a history of scientific luminaries, including the 19th-century chemist Sir
Humphry Davy,
[177]who worked in
Hotwells.
Bishopston gave the world
Nobel Prize winning physicist
Paul Dirac[178]for crucial contributions to
quantum mechanics in 1933.
Cecil Frank Powell was Melvill Wills Professor of Physics at Bristol University when he was awarded the Nobel prize for a photographic method of studying nuclear processes and associated discoveries in 1950. The city was birth place of
Colin Pillinger,
[179] planetary scientist behind the
Beagle 2 Mars-lander project, and is home to the psychologist
Richard Gregory.
[180] Initiatives such as the
Flying Start Challenge help encourage secondary school pupils around the Bristol area to take an interest in Science and Engineering. Links with major aerospace companies promote technical disciplines and advance students' understanding of practical design.
[181][edit]Transport
| [show] [v • d • e] Bristol Area Railway Map |
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The city is served by
Bristol Airport (BRS), at
Lulsgate, which has seen substantial investments in its runway, terminal and other facilities since 2001.
[182]Public transport in the city consists largely of its bus network, provided mostly by
First Group, formerly the
Bristol Omnibus Company – other services are provided by Abus,
[183] Buglers,
[184]Ulink,
[185] and Wessex Connect.
[186] Buses in the city have been widely criticised for being unreliable and expensive, and in 2005 First was fined for delays and safety violations.
[187][188]Private car usage in Bristol is high, and the city suffers from congestion, which costs an estimated £350 million per year.
[189] Bristol is
motorcycle friendly; the city allows motorcycles to use most of the city's bus lanes, as well as providing secure free parking.
[190] Since 2000 the city council has included a
light rail system in its
Local Transport Plan, but has so far been unwilling to fund the project. The city was offered European Union funding for the system, but the
Department for Transport did not provide the required additional funding.
[191] As well as support for public transport, there are several road building schemes supported by the local council, including re-routing and improving the
South Bristol Ring Road.
[192] There are also three
park and ride sites serving the city, supported by the local council.
[193] The central part of the city has water-based transport, operated by the
Bristol Ferry Boat, Bristol Packet and Number Seven Boat Trips providing leisure and commuter services on the harbour.
[194]Bristol was named "England's first 'cycling city
'" in 2008,
[197] and is home to the sustainable transport charity
Sustrans. It has a number of urban cycle routes, as well as links to
National Cycle Network routes to Bath and London, to Gloucester and Wales, and to the south-western peninsula of England. Cycling has grown rapidly in the city, with a 21% increase in journeys between 2001 and 2005.
[189][edit]Twin cities
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