You’ll not be too surprised to learn that Old Market, the area of Bristol just off the city centre behind Cabot Circus and St Pauls, used to be a thriving…er…market. Historically it was situated right beside Bristol Castle with traders selling wares there as early as the 12th century before it grew up to become the first suburb outside of the castle walls. Right up to the early 20th century, Old Market was a focus for much of Bristol’s commerce, retail and business and Victorian photos show its wide streets awash with trams, carts and people, all bustling back and forth in pursuit of a quick buck. That was then.
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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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Gloucester Road is a hive of activity with plenty to offer. It is the free thinking older cousin of the city centre and is known as one of the last remaining local high streets in the country. It is populated by many students and young adults and this really adds to the vibrancy of the area and its strong sense of community. Supermarkets have tried numerous times to move in but they are met by strong resistance due to the residents’ strong support of independent shops. If ever you are bored of what the centre has to offer, take one of the ever regular buses to the top of Gloucester Road and let gravity pull you down a promenade of hidden treasures.
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A new autumn in Bristol brings with it some fresh breezes as well as a fresh bunch of fresh-faced students. May I be the first to congratulate you on your choice of city to study in; congratulations and welcome. Getting to grips with a new city can always be difficult. What you need is some sort of funky, free magazine to helpfully lay out a list of fifteen or so places to visit and things to do in your first six months here. Yer, something like that would be good. Well looky here…!

1. Must Visit the Clifton Suspension Bridge
Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s postcard picture bridge spans the Avon Gorge and really lives up to its spectacular reputation. A very good introduction to the city this.

2. Must Walk along the Harbour
You’ll soon learn that a lot of Bristol’s life revolves around its Floating Harbour. You would do very well to get to grips with all the fantastic pubs, cubs, cafés, restaurants and characters that line its banks.

3. Must Drink Cider, Drink, Drink and then Drink some more Cider
Hidden away in Clifton’s backstreets, the Coronation Tap’s legendary cider is so strong it can only be served in half pints - the ultimate student piss-up! The Apple in town too is every cider lover’s dream (no, not the one where you go apple-bobbing for boobs).
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Ashton Court Estate: 850 acres of woods, meadows, open grassland, deer parks and horse and bike riding trails not 2 miles from Bristol city centre. Just head west over the Suspension Bridge or walk up through Southville and past UWE Bower Ashton campus and you’ll be surrounded by a wide and seemingly infinite estate that has been keeping Bristolians sane for years. The estate is focused around Ashton Court Mansion, a super posh house that was taken over by Bristol Council in the 1950s and is now rented out for business conferences, parties and weddings, aside from just looking damn regal all year round.
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As 2010 swings into action, Bristol’s independent art scene starts the new decade in rude health. Away from establishments like the Arnolfini and Spike Island, there has been a marked growth in the kind of community work previously only found at places like the Trinity Centre. Although it’s merely the tip of the iceberg where the entire city is concerned, these days a walk down Stokes Croft is a sensory blur of colour and texture. Between the great waves of Hillgrove Street and the murals that skirt the derelict front of Westmoreland House, you find Turbo Island’s bold font, a tiny medieval Apothecary and countless tiny oddities that reveal themselves only with careful inspection.

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Canon’s Marsh is one square kilometre of new development in central Bristol: is it an area struggling businesses and ill fated tourist attractions, or the heart of Bristol’s much planned new café culture? The summer of 2010 will decide its fate.
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The Llandoger Trow is one of the most famous pubs in Bristol. The name comes from Llandogo, a coastal town in Wales, and from a trow, a flat bottomed barge, typical of the sort that used to moor up on the Welshback. Situated on the cobbled section of King Street, the pub is a striking building with black beamed gables and its interior has hardly changed since it came into being in 1664. The Llandoger Trow oozes history but it is particularly renowned for its literary connections…

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