Bristol : Britain

Bristol Travel Guide : Britain
Bristol is a port city in south-western England, on the River Avon. From its earliest days, the city’s prosperity has been linked to that of the Port of Bristol, the commercial port which originated in the city centre but which have now migrated to the Bristol Channel coast.
The city extends to this coast and includes Avonmouth where much of the current port is located. Suburbs of the city include Kingswood, Filton, Patchway, Mangotsfield and Keynsham.
Bristol is England’s eighth, and the United Kingdom’s eleventh most populous city. It had been, for half a century, the second largest English city after London, until the rapid rise of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, in the 1780s.
Arts and leisure in Bristol
The city has two significant football clubs: Bristol City F.C. who play in Football League One and Bristol Rovers F.C. who play in Football League Two. The city is also home to a Rugby Union club currently known as Bristol Shoguns and a first-class cricket side, Gloucestershire C.C.C.
Each summer the grounds of Ashton Court to the west of the city play host to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, a major event for followers of the sport of hot-air ballooning in Britain. The “Fiesta� draws a substantial crowd even for the early morning lift that typically begins at about 6.30 am and a fairground atmosphere is sustained throughout the day. A second mass ascent is normally scheduled for the early evening, again taking advantage of lower wind speeds.
Ashton Court also plays host to the Ashton Court festival each summer, an outdoors music festival which used to be known as the Bristol Community Festival.
The city’s principal theatre company, the Bristol Old Vic, was founded in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic company in London. It has premises on King Street consisting of the 1766 Theatre Royal (400 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 and the oldest continuously-operating theatre in England. The Bristol Old Vic also runs a prominent Theatre School. The Bristol Hippodrome is a larger theatre (1981 seats) which hosts national touring productions, while the 2000-seat Colston Hall, named for the controversial local figure Edward Colston, is the city’s main concert venue.
The music scene is thriving and significant. In particular, Bristol was the birthplace of a kind of English hip-hop music often called trip hop or the Bristol Sound, epitomised in the work of artists such as Tricky, Portishead and Massive Attack among many others. It is also the brithplace of drum n bass with notable bands like Roni Size/Reprazent and Kosheen.
The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection of natural history, archaeology, local glassware, Chinese ceramics and art of a variety of periods. The Bristol Industrial Museum, on the dockside, shows local industrial heritage and operates a steam railway, boat trips, and working dockside cranes. 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.
Stop frame animation films and commercials painstakingly produced by Aardman Animations and high quality television series focusing on the natural world have also brought fame and artistic credit to the city. It is where the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has its regional headquarters, and Natural History Unit. This was a key attraction to a number of independent media companies who located in the city, and in recent times have grown into a significant industry. Bristol is also the birthplace of the actor Cary Grant.
Tourist attractions and places of interest
Arno’s Vale
Arnolfini
Ashton Court
Ashton Court Festival
At-Bristol
Aviation Heritage Museum
Avon Gorge
Blaise Castle
Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Zoo
British Empire and Commonwealth Museum
Cabot Tower
City Museum and Art Gallery
Clifton Cathedral
Clifton Down
Clifton Suspension Bridge
Concorde 216
Create Centre
Cube Microplex
Durdham Down
Festival of Nature
Floating Harbour
Harbour Railway
Industrial Museum
International Balloon Fiesta
John Wesley’s Chapel
Leigh Court
Leigh Woods
Oldbury Court
Old Vic Theatre
Snuff Mills
SS Great Britain
St Mary Redcliffe
Watershed Arts Centre