I went into Bristol today for a meeting with a couple of media luvvies (well, they’re not really, but why spoil a cheap in-joke with facts?) and passed through the main shopping area and city centre on the way.
I yield to no one in my love for this great city and just because we have crap public transport (thanks, Thatch, for flogging it off to private sharks) and no arena (usually a blessing in my humble opinion. Does anyone really want to see S Club 7?) doesn’t affect it one jot.
The shopping area is in two sections. The newish Cabot Circus is at one end and features designer shops, mid market chain restaurants and lots of people shuffling round looking at them.
Next door, on the way to the centre is Broadmead, the old shopping centre, far more downmarket, more appropriate for riff-raff like me but equally as boring as Cabot Circus (in my opinion). The best bit today was the German market that runs through a large part of Broadmead. I suspect the market is owned by one of the slimming giants like Slimming World because before Christmas you can buy industrial sized Bratwurst, all manner of desperately sweet confectionary and you can wash it all down with a few litres of Schlussmeister, the authentic Germany beer brewed in Daventry. All right, I made the last bit up. After a few liveness, you can invest in the essentials for Christmas like more sweets, models of various descriptions and, of course, scented candles, all the time spending money you probably don’t have. That’s Christmas, eh?
The Galleries stands in Broadmead, an indoor mall with an enticing selection of empty units, WH Smith and Boots the chemist for all those minor ailments. It doesn’t get any better than that.
The city centre is a wild clash of cultures. From the beautiful cenotaph to the ugly buildings constructed by, I would imagine, people who knew nothing about history and culture and everything about doing it all on the cheap. The city centre itself covers over part of the harbour with a bunch of pointless fountains. The waterfront itself is lovely, with a selection of ever-so-slightly-upmarket restaurants and bars (I know they are upmarket because they serve bottles of water). There are still the ghosts of Bristol past, the ancient canes and docks buildings which now serve as museums showing a time when this was a working harbour some 50 years ago. Here, the architects got most things right. The modern bits fit in very well with the old bits and it really is a pleasure to walk down there.
Slowly but surely, the repulsive buildings of the 1960s and 1970s are coming down and not before time. Often tacked on to structures of real beauty, they deface the city. What were the planners thinking about, allowing all this crap? Still too many ugly buildings among the beautiful.
I am still lucky to live here, mind you. Of the big cities, we have a real gem in Bristol. It has its faults, as I have mentioned, but they are minor compared with the plus points.
