Welcome to a regular SY feature which we revel in calling Stomping The Streets. Each month we get on our walking shoes or bicycle clips and go out and explore the wonderful areas of Bristol, investigating what makes a certain spot so special. STS features can range from whole districts of the city, down to individual streets or just a bridge. There’s a whole lot to love!

For our student issue, we’ve got an overview of everything you need to know about the various areas of Bristol. The cities a damn large and interesting place so we’ve had to be pretty broad with the geographical paintbrush but once you’ve acclimatised yourself with these main areas, you too will be able to differentiate and understand the differences between Montpelier and St Werburghs, or Southville and Bedminster. For the time being however, thumb through this guide and go get stomping yourself!

The City Centre
Blurt; “Centre please, Drive,” on a bus in Bristol and it covers quite a large area. Most regard ‘The Fountains’ (the limp aqueducts by the harbour that look like a bunch of old men pissing) as the real centre of the centre but around that, throughout all the cobbled streets, busy roads, pedestrian walkways and back-alleys there can be found all the leisure and entertainment hotspots you would expect from a modern city centre and each road comes with its own vibe.

The Waterfront houses some very arty and interesting places but also a lot of the weekend’s ‘Fosters and fists’ culture. Corn Street and Baldwin Street too are prime spots for public urination and kebab dodging with their chain bars but it’s the off-shooting streets around them and all those around Queen’s Square, notably King Street, which home some of the most interesting bars and clubs.

Broadmead at the top of Corn Street is Bristol’s newest and largest chain shopping hub with more brands than you can shake a credit crunch at.

Park Street
Connecting Clifton with the harbourside and centre, Park Street and the Triangle have a bit of everything and although the steep gradient might make you hate the day you moved here, you will still find yourself walking up and down this independent and energetic street that literally never sleeps for anything and everything. Coffee all day long? Check. Interesting, cheap or fancy food? Check. Shopping for clothes, shoes, books, music, furniture, comics, vintage and everything else in between? Check. Bars, clubs and other alcohol doused establishments that play live music? Check. A place to wind down, have a stroll, enjoy the view? Check. Just off Park Street you will find Brandon Hill, one of the most beautiful parks in the city.

Clifton/Whiteladies Road
Clifton is often referred to as living in its own bubble. It is unquestionably the most affluent area of Bristol and though its picturesque streets lined with listed buildings manage to retain a village community vibe that’s nice to dip into and be part of, Clifton can be guilty of being very snooty. The area therefore carries equal heaps of respect and resentment from the rest of Bristol.

Whiteladies Road is Clifton’s entertainment pulse, chock-a-block with high end bars and restaurants and if you brave the hill all the way North you will come out onto the Downs, the largest and most glorious park in Bristol – a hive of activity on a warm day.

Redland/Cotham
Sandwiched in between the eccentric Gloucester Road and the prestigious Whiteladies Road are the beautiful residential areas of Redland and Cotham. The leafy streets are very popular with families as well as students after their initial years in halls because there are so close to both these bustling Bristol roads (off which they take a hearty dollop of influence) and are just behind the majority of the Bristol University buildings. Some streets like Chandos Road and the top of St Michael’s Hill feel like those of a small, rural village highstreet with locals cycling past waving in on the bakers and grocers but the student population ensures that at night these roads and boozers are bustling.

Stoke Bishop
Far off in the distance, on the other side of the Downs sits Stoke Bishop; a predominantly residential area that is completely forgettable except that it houses the majority of Bristol Uni first year students with most of the Uni’s halls located there amongst dramatic trees and empty roads. In Stoke Bishop you will find the Halls of Badock, Churchill, Durdham, Hiatt Baker, University and Wills and with all these students, I wish I could tell you the area was more exciting. Just be content you are about 20 minutes walk from the top of Whiteladies Road and the start of several very long and very messy bar crawls.

Gloucester Road
This is how the world used to do highstreets; a bustling, energetic, colourful, friendly street alive with independent cafés, bakeries, butchers, grocers and irrefutably several of the best shops, pubs and bars in Bristol. In fact Glossy Road is the longest single stretch of independent outlets anywhere in Europe - there’s nothing you cannot buy along its historic pavements. Although officially, the road only begins at the Arches, most will blanket Cheltenham Road and even Stokes Croft under the name too because Gloucester Road is more of a mind-set than it is a street marking.

For those that revel in the independent vibe and creative edge, Gloucester Road is a dream come true. Many move into the area, attracted by the open, liberal mind-set and it will be several years before they can drag themselves away from the community. All the areas in and around Gloucester Road then are alive with people and creatives, and houses in Bishopston and St Andrews are some of the most sought after in the city.

Trees line the busy road, alive with buses, cars, pedestrians and cyclists and I challenge anyone not to enjoy indulging in a spot of people watching, outside on the street in one of Gloucester Road’s numerous café culture sittings – just keep your eyes peeled for some local celebs like Shaun and Jason, Sapphire, the George Lucas Twins or Running Man!

Montpelier/St Werburghs
If you are an artist or poet in Bristol, then you live in Montpelier/St Werburghs. These are the seriously cool, bohemian areas of Bristol, complete with ‘hippy’ rainbow coloured murals around every corner and heaps of community festivals. There’s an abundance of thrift, affordable antiques and second-hand shops and a very strong and proud community vibe so that when you walk into one of their excellent local boozers, everyone knows your name and you recognise every face.

Stokes Croft
This renowned area of Bristol just outside Broadmead is the main route from the city centre to North Bristol and so millions travel along its historic streets every year. Why then is the area so run down and neglected you may ask? With 22% of the ground floor properties currently derelict, it seems Bristol has forgotten about Stokes Croft.

Stokes Croft has got all the homeless hostels, the brothels, religious centres and lots of socio-economic problems but out of this mixing pot, if you scratch under the surface you will see that the area is one of the most vibrant and exciting areas of Bristol and one that almost defines the city. Because of this neglect, Stokes Croft has been left to develop on its own and now within it’s streets you will find a plethora of artists, a thriving alternative music scene, the largest independent cinema in the UK and thanks to ‘The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft’, an ever-changing visual environment with vibrant street art absolutely everywhere you look.

Easton/Fishponds/Stapleton
The best way to describe these areas’ and their residents (and I’m sure they wont mind!) is a little rough around the edges but with a heart of gold. Fishponds is home to the UWE St Matthias and Glenside campuses with accompanying halls and though not many students’ first choice of where to live, the area does have enough bars, pubs and shops to keep it interesting.

Easton is again, a little rough a ready but is one of the most accepting communities in the city, where people of all creeds, colours, nationalities, religions and sexualities live happily side by side. At its heart, St Marks Road is a beautifully colourful place, home some great pubs, restaurants and the best ethnic food shops, the only place you are likely to find that obscure spice for those more daring recipes.

Southville/Bedminster/Totterdown
It’s easy to be a student in Bristol and forget that anything south of the river even exists but open your eyes and take a stroll over a bridge, it’s really rather nice!

Totterdown is another arts stronghold and has much the same vibe as Montpelier, especially now the Paintworks is in full flow and Southville is going through a bit of a re-invention, quickly heading in that fantastic direction too. North Street hosts a vibrant community, fuelled by local, independent strongholds like the Tobacco Factory and…long before Deco, Banco and Tinto, there was simply…the Lounge – a cosy den of food and booze where it’s very easy to loose an evening.

Bedminster in the middle is a wee more pikie and a hotspot for that famous Bristolian accent.

Natalie Burns, Anna Leon, Morgan Matthews, Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com