It’s been really nice, a privilege, to watch and document this band from their inception to their current point in their journey. Although I’ve known lead guitarist, Luke Horne, for years, my first contact with the rest of the band was when I went to photograph them rehearsing at the Rooftop Studios on Feeder Road. They only had a few original songs and were supplementing their set with Arctic Monkeys covers. There first gig was in a Battle of the Bands competition. They came second and won a set on stage at the Keynsham Festival in 2009. From there on they honed their act with more rehearsals and playing at friends’ parties.
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Replacing the short lived Italian restaurant, La Voglia, on Stokes Croft, The Social is a brand new bar and café located opposite the Metropolis. Arriving alongside other new ventures, The Bank (previously the dingy looking Mackies) and 51 (ex-The Junction), The Social brings a different vibe to this part of town. Whilst 51, The Bank and Canteen all offer late night openings and live music, The Social brings a more chilled out atmosphere with candle lit tables and high quality, locally sourced food. The menu is very vegetarian and vegan friendly with a few meat options thrown in as well but it is the roast dinners offered on Sundays that steal the show.
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Set up in 2008 and run by illustrators Lisa Hassell and Michelle Turton, Inkygoodness aim to provide a platform for new and emerging talent to showcase their work alongside more established artists, offering a unique opportunity to develop professional careers through self-promotion and networking. Although the group have a presence around the country, their roots firmly lie in Bristol and they are heavily involved in the art scene here.

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Bookshops are special places that exist in a dimension other then that which you and I exist within most of the time. I’m not talking about Waterstones, WHSmith or any other high street chain, no, I mean the sort of shop that upon entering time slows down as you are hit by the heady smell of ageing tomes and texts, and the cloistered rows of books impose themselves upon you. Such bookshops are dotted around Bristol but by their nature are usually tucked out of the way. If you don’t know about them, they can be hard to find although stumbling upon such a shop by accident is like finding a tenner on the street. The atmosphere is unlike anything you would find in a chain store; you invariably warm to the ambience and can lose hours poring through the volumes on offer. There’s no rush, you can dip into texts and spend ages aimlessly browsing. If your love affair with books is anything like mine, you’ll find an endless supply of delights.

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Ben, 31
Job: Area Sales Manager
Style: ‘Oliver Swift’ - Suits mostly
Fav Shop: I like Urban Outfitters but John Lewis is good
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With Hotwells - you know, the road out of Bristol on the way to the M5 and all that is Devon, Cornwall and Wales - the gems are hidden. It’s a cacophony of underpass and overpass, the Avon river and Georgian/modern architecture but within the colourful houses, secret gardens are speckled and many wonderful pubs and cafés adorn the water’s side.
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The Bristol Drugs Project is an organisation offering support to anyone affected by addiction. Starting from a team of probation officers which now also includes ex-drug users, BDP uses its years of experience to battle physical, social and psychological harm related to substance abuse. We spoke to Maggie Telfer about her experiences working with the organisation.

What is your role in the organisation and how did you come across the job?
I’m the Chief Exec at Bristol Drugs Project and have been involved since the beginning – almost 25 years ago. In that time we’ve grown from a small organisation of 4 employees to that of around 100 staff with 70 volunteers today. We lived through the massive expansion of heroin use from 1992 and crack cocaine from 1999 and of course (par for any voluntary sector organisation) lots of funding crises over the years. However it has always been a fantastic, if challenging, place to work.
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Tuesday 11th until Saturday 29th January 2011 @ The Brewery, Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol

Written, well just about, in 1953 by the late and great Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood was first conceived as a play for voices. Since its rather eloquent first words on the BBC it has walked miles, crossing TV and theatre stages on its way and still remains an ambitious text to adapt. Splice Productions rise to the challenge and present their audience with an interpretation which stays true to Dylan’s original play while also showing just how original and imaginative they are.

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Tough girls dominated the runway for autumn/winter as seen at Rag & Bone and Alexander Wang as fashion seems to be having a nineties throwback moment with grunge dragging its Doc Martins into the spotlight. Make-up artist Gucci Westman created the looks for Rag & Bone with Kate Moss cool kohl rimmed water-lines, while Diane Kendal went for greasy reddy-brown on the eyes and hair was an ode to emo with low side partings and oversprayed roots at Wang. Tom Pecheu created the look he described as “upper east side meets Woodstock” with a subtle gold shimmer on the eyes and deep violet lips giving grunge a girly spin.
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