The Knowhere Guide

Other Stuff in Bristol, Bristol*

Bristol, Bristol Stuff You Don't Get Anywhere Else

The Stuff We Can't Fit In Somewhere Else

• The bristol Old Vic Wind In The Willows is the best show I have even seen! The actors wre excellent!!!
• Stretch Limo Hire Tel: 07968 112704 Email: info@go-stretch.com Hire a stretch and see the Bristol nightlife in REAL style !
• Redfield. Someone was obviously not impressed with this area. I have lived here for nearly six months now and think its great. I am a Bristolian and admit I had to move to where I could afford but I'me very glad I did, its great. Friendly people, two nice parks, good shops (if you can bothered to look) and an excellent local. Not telling where as might get a visit from Mr Grumpy
• Dont Flash your Cash. Be on guard dont be out late alone especially in CASTLE PARK!! Granted it's usually ok But be careful through the trees late at night! Dont talk to crackheads.
• HAIR DRESSERS AND FOOTBALL CLUBS IN BRISTOL
• IT IS NOT TRUE THAT YOU GET MUGGED ON CASTLE PARK!
• Traffic!! The Council are mostly veggie minded and have had a policy of trying to get cars out of the centre. They concreted it all over and put in a ludicrous traffic scheme. Troublee is all these moronic cyclists don't seem to have grasped the fact that slowing down the traffic just creates more polution. The buses are so bad that we have to use our cars.
• Bristol City Centre - is just the best city centre in Europe - visionary,imaginative, ace!
• Bristol is big boring and its the sort of place you stay in if you were born here. If you visit the new Wal Mart store 6 miles North expecting a transposed one from THE USA you will be very dissappointed. Its jst a mssive ASDA hyeprmarket with practically the identcal produce to everry other supermarket in the UK. Be warned!Its a long journey there by bus numbers one or fifty four. From Rail Station.
• Err, Bristol isn't in Somerset -it's in Bristol. OK, parts of it are, but the centre is just plain Bristol.
• Bristol started changing a lot since the mid-70s with the influx of financial services companies from the south east of England, which I suspect was due to the completion of the M5 motorway connecting the south west and the midlands M6 and London M4 through the Almondsbury interchange. Bristol was a strong industrial centre, and could have survived without the yuppie influx. Clifton was already snobbish even at this time, and to a lesser extent Redland,Cotham and some other parts of North Bristol. By the time I had left in 1980 property prices were already on the way up with many old houses starting to be converted into flats for yuppies and to a lesser extent students.Obviously this has gone on since that time with even more white collar workers together with IT and Hi-Tech companies moving into or around North Bristol, which explains the comments about North-South differences within the City as many local people have been priced out of the housing market in the north. Most people in Bristol seem to blame Bristol City Council for abysmal planning during than the last 35 years.
• Just thought I'd mention that Bristol is not in the county of Somerset. The city of Bristol is a county of its own.
• Interested in old cars? From the plain interesting (old Jags etc.) to stonking Ferraris, Bristol Classic Cars can help you. They will rebuild paint and maintain that old classic at very reasonable prices. Give them a call on 0117 9569115 and ask for Mike.
• 'Course if yerrr lokkin ferrr reol Bristawl then yu find iht in Lawrence weston an aw the udder plaices wer ex. St paus, Be'mister an so on people got tossed afer the war. Yu reeely wanna 'err ow it waas on the neffer in the twenys an firhies then go en talk to anione over 70. Reol Bristolians don liv in plaices liek Clifon an reol Bristol ain't there!
• Areas of Bristol: Bedminster/Southville. I think this is a great area to live, and I've been living in Bedminster for 10 years now. It's south of the river, so tends to be avoided by yuppies and students, although there was an influx of aspiring yuppies in the late 80s. It's fairly quiet but it's got a good mix of people, and a fair amount of local activity. Good mix of born-and-bred Bristolians, a fair few yuppies and a large Italian community, and very friendly.
  Bedminster/Southville has got a brilliant free community newspaper (called "This is it") with excellent contributions from a wide range of people. The local community centre opened a few years ago and has an excellent cafe and a good range of events, and the "Show of Strength" theatre company used the Hen and Chicken as its venue for several years. Unfortunately, this excellent theatre company (who received good reviews in national as well as local papers) have lost their venue there and now play in Broadmead, but they should be returning to new premises in Southville shortly.
  Nearby is Windmill Hill, home of the Windmill Hill City Farm - well worth a visit. They sell a good range of organic produce, have loads of working exhibits and an energy-saving house.
  Bedminster has a couple of parks - Greville Smythe park which leads onto Ashton Court, and the huge Victoria Park stretching from Temple Meads through to Windmill Hill, and used for the annual "South of the River Show" community fair. Ashton Court holds vast numbers of events, notably the balloon fiesta held annually and the Ashton Court Festival in the summer, with major local and national bands - and it's free!
  The area is within easy walking distance of the docks and the centre, it's served by buses, the ferry, good cycle tracks and has a rail station (but with only a few trains a day).
• The person berating many of the areas of Bristol was probably right but then again, you have to live somewhere and I would rather live here where there is a lively nightlife and music scene and countryside, hills and coast within easy driving distance.
  The polution can get bad and we have more cars per person than anywhere else in the country, so parking and traffic can be fairly annoying but it's nothing compared to London!
• BRISTOL: Nirvana or nowheresville? Definitely nowheresville. I live in one of the scuzziest parts of this Godforsaken abyss, and by God it's crap. I'll start with the Inner City, where I live. The inner city in Bristol: worse than Brixton, better than Moss Side. Nine murders since the start of '96. Coke, heroin and crack EVERYWHERE. Fucking addicts, why the hell do they start? Anyway, this area, especially St. Pauls is worth avoiding at any cost, especially at night. Don't belive the lefty bullshit that it's 'really nice', I challenge anyone of that opinion to try saying that after walking down Grosvenor Road after 10 p.m. The Outer City: Hartcliffe & Knowle West, home of the 'Kevins' - tracksuit wearing psychos who'll smack you in the mouth for a pair of trainers, nick your car and then run you over with it. Again, I speak from personal knowlege: a friend of mine lived there for a few months last year and the little kids kept breaking into his flat to steal his stuff for smack money. Avoid. Kingswood, Horfield et al: BORING! Miles and miles of suburban sadcaseland. Forget it. Fishponds: As for Kingswood, only full of Fascists to boot. (pun) The Centre: Yuppie ridden hell hole, the only good thing about it is this netcafe'. And I cash my Giro there. Tip: Don't try to park your car in the city centre in the day unless you are willing to pay MONEY! Like, 2p a minute. Cotham, Clifton, etc: The Rich Areas of Bristol, apart from being exclusively occupied by rich people, have about as much character as a plastic cup. (lame huh?) Sadly Broke, er Bradley Stoke: Forget it. Well that concludes my online rant about this fair city of mine. Hope you enjoyed it and were offended ;).
• Have you been to Heaven on Earth on Picton Street in Montpellier? It's a mad shop, selling all sorts of weird and wonderful things, but mainly coffins! They are supposed to be an interior design concept - they are not coffin shaped, but chest shaped and can be used as bookshelves, wine racks, etc. They've also got Ghanan coffins carved into different things, like boats and BMWs. Pretty unusual and haven't seen it anywhere else in world - not that I've been everywhere(!)
• King Street Gallery is a good contemporary art gallery showing local artists

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

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Last updated: 2008-04-21