15 reasons why Bristol is ‘more British’ than Bath

I read an article today on http://sabotagetimes.com/ claiming that Bristol was better than Bath.  I happen to agree, but I have a different take on it.

A friend of mine told me how Bristol was described in an US guide book.  I’m paraphrasing, but the gist of it was; Bristol is a place to get a cheap hotel room when you are on your way to Bath.  

I was outraged! 

Is that all Bristol is to anyone outside the UK – A place on the way to Bath?  

No, no, no tourists of the globe - it’s the other way around.

If you would like a glimpse of the Epcot stereotype of Englishness – Jane Austin, Georgian splendour and fine cheeses - then Bath’s your place.  But if you want to experience what modern Britain is really all about, come to Bristol.

Here are my 15 reasons why Bristol is awesome and more representative of modern Britain than Bath: 

1)  Cultural and Ethnic diversity – living and working together for the benefit of the whole city.  We’re a City of Sanctuary (http://www.cityofsanctuary.org/).  

2)  Food.  The days of fish and chips and tea and scones representing British Cuisine are over.  In Bristol you can do a food tour of the globe.  Modern British cuisine in Bristol is a fusion of great flavours, sourced locally and cooked with passion.

3)  Cider.  Our beverage of choice.  Bristol is the place to go for great local ciders.  I mean proper cider, made by apple geeks whose families have passed down their knowledge through generations.

4)  Craft beer.  Beer brewed in converted lockups by bearded men who know everything there is to know about beer and the best yeast, hops and barley to make it with.  Beer made in small, delicious batches around the city.

5)  Urban Art.  We have the biggest street gallery in Europe.  The city that spawned and encouraged Banksy has two whole festivals dedicated to street art (www.upfest.co.uk and http://www.seenoevilbristol.co.uk/)

6)  Music.  You can see live music any night of the week somewhere in the city, and I don’t mean at one of the big Venues like the Colston Hall or O2 Academy

7)  Theatre.  Only in Bristol would a factory that used to make tobacco be converted into a Theatre (http://www.tobaccofactory.com/ ).  Off the top of my head I can count 8 independent theatres in Bristol.  Showcasing the weird, wonderful and best of emerging talent out there, as well as the big shows.

 8)  Independent spirit.  We have the longest road of independent shops in Europe (Gloucester Road) and are so sick of mainstream politics we voted in an independent Mayor to shake things up in what has been rebranded as ‘City Hall’ as it belongs to the city not the Council.

 9)  Shopping. We have all the usual gaggle of chain shops but they are assembled in a fantastic piece of architecture (http://www.cabotcircus.com/) and not some neo-georgian pastiche of a shopping centre like the one in Bath

10)  Bristol Time.  Greenwich Mean Time was established to unify time across the UK when the Great Western Railway was built (http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.co.uk/info/bristol-time.htm).  A clock over the Corn Exchange in Bristol shows that in Bristol we’re 10 minutes behind Greenwich.

11) Architecture.    Our architecture is a visual record of the turbulent history of the city.  Some of it is beautiful, some of it is an eye sore but all of it has a story in tune with the cultural development of the whole of the UK.  We even have our very own Architectural style, unique to Bristol – Bristol Byzantine.

 12)  Reclaiming spaces.  Pop up shops in empty buildings are a familiar sight on the shopping streets of Bristol. If you leave a piece of ground unattended for too long in Bristol someone will turn it into a park or an allotment.

 13)  Strong sense of identity.  We have our own dialect and our own currency.  We are Bristolian and proud (http://bristolpound.org/ )

 14)  Engineering.  The most influential characters of the Industrial Revolution did it in Bristol.  Isambard Kingdom Brunel – The Suspension Bridge, revolutionary in its construction.  Temple Meads Station, the heart of the railways.  The SS Great Britain, the first ship of iron and the great, great grandma of all large oceangoing vessels (http://ssgreatbritain.org/ ).  
Also;  Rolls Royce, Airbus, and a business park dedicated to science

15)  And finally, if you want Victorian splendour and a taste of oldie-worldie England – head to Clifton (It’s like little Bath but with better views).


I could fill this blog post with lots of cool photos of the city – but honestly, it’s better to see for yourself (http://visitbristol.co.uk)


(I couldn't resist one iconic image of Bristol though)

Bristol Suspension Bridge