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The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the income from which provides funds for its maintenance. The bridge is built to a design by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw,[2] based on an earlier design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is a Grade I listed building and forms part of the B3129 road.

The idea of building a bridge across the Avon Gorge originated in 1753. Original plans were for a stone bridge and later iterations were for a wrought iron structure. In 1831, an attempt to build Brunel’s design was halted by the Bristol riots, and the revised version of his designs was built after his death and completed in 1864. Although similar in size, the bridge towers are not identical in design, the Clifton tower having side cut-outs, the Leigh tower more pointed arches atop a 110-foot (34 m) red sandstone-clad abutment. Roller-mounted "saddles" at the top of each tower allow movement of the three independent wrought iron chains on each side when loads pass over the bridge. The bridge deck is suspended by 162 vertical wrought-iron rods in 81 matching pairs.

The Clifton Bridge Company initially managed the bridge under licence from a charitable trust. The trust subsequently purchased the company shares, completing this in 1949 and took over the running of the bridge using the income from tolls to pay for maintenance. The bridge is a distinctive landmark, used as a symbol of Bristol on postcards, promotional materials, and informational web sites. It has been used as a backdrop to several films and television advertising and programmes. It has also been the venue for significant cultural events such as the first modern bungee jump in 1979, the last Concorde flight in 2003 and a handover of the Olympic Torch relay in 2012.

History
Plans
It is unknown when the first bridge was constructed across the Avon in Bristol, but the first stone bridge, Bristol Bridge, was built in the 13th century. It had houses with shopfronts built on it to pay for its maintenance. A 17th-century illustration shows that these bridge houses were five storeys high, including the attic rooms, and that they overhung the river much as Tudor houses would overhang the street.[3] In the 1760s a bill to replace the bridge was carried through parliament by the Bristol MP Sir Jarrit Smyth.[4] By the early 18th century, increase in traffic and the encroachment of shops on the roadway made the bridge fatally dangerous for many pedestrians. A new bridge, designed by James Bridges and finished by Thomas Paty was built in 1769 and 1776. Resentment at the tolls exacted to cross the new bridge occasioned the Bristol Bridge Riot of 1793.[5] Other crossings were considered, but were restricted by Admiralty rules that stipulated that any bridge had to be at least 100 feet (30 m) above the water to allow the passage of tall-masted warships to Bristol Harbour. To achieve this, any bridge constructed between Bristol Bridge and Avon Gorge, from Hotwells to Ashton Gate, would require massive embankments and viaducts.[6] The alternative was to build across the narrowest point of the Avon Gorge, well above the height required for shipping.

William Bridges’ design
In 1753 Bristolian merchant William Vick had left a bequest in his will of £1,000 (equivalent to £160,000 in 2020),[7] invested with instructions that when the interest had accumulated to £10,000 (£1,560,000), it should be used for the purpose of building a stone bridge between Clifton Down (which was in Gloucestershire, outside the City of Bristol, until the 1830s) and Leigh Woods in Somerset.[8] Although there was little development in the area before the late 18th century, as Bristol became more prosperous, Clifton became fashionable and more wealthy merchants moved to the area.[9] In 1793 William Bridges published plans for a stone arch with abutments containing factories, which would pay for the upkeep of the bridge. The French Revolutionary Wars broke out soon after the design was published, affecting trade and commerce, so the plans were shelved.[6][10] In 1811 Sarah Guppy patented a design for a suspension bridge across the gorge but this was never realised and was not submitted to the later competition.[11][12]

St Vincent Rock before construction began
By 1829, Vick’s bequest had reached £8,000, but it was estimated that a stone bridge would cost over ten times that.[13] A competition was held to find a design for the bridge with a prize of 100 guineas.[14] Entries were received from 22 designers, including Samuel Brown, James Meadows Rendel, William Tierney Clark and William Hazledine. Several were for stone bridges and had estimated costs of between £30,000 and £93,000. Brunel submitted four entries.[14] The judging committee rejected 17 of the 22 plans submitted, on the grounds of appearance or cost.[15] They then called in Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford to make a final selection from the five remaining entries.[15] Telford rejected all the remaining designs, arguing that 577 feet (176 m) was the maximum possible span. Telford was then asked to produce a design himself, which he did, proposing a 110-foot-wide (34 m) suspension bridge, supported on tall Gothic towers, costing £52,000.[15][8][16]

The Bridge Committee which had been set up to look at the designs sponsored the Clifton Bridge Bill which became an Act when the Bill received the Royal Assent on the 29th May, 1830. The Act appointed three Trustees to carry through the purposes of the Act, with powers to appoint more up to a total not exceeding thirty five or less than twenty. The three Trustees named in the Act were the Master of the Society of Merchant Venturers, the Senior Sheriff of the City and County of Bristol and Thomas Daniel. The Act allowed a wrought iron suspension bridge to be built instead of stone, and tolls levied to recoup the cost.[16][17]

The three Trustees named in the Act met on the 17th June 1830 and appointed further Trustees, bringing the total up to 23. There were additions to this number in the weeks which followed, so by early July 1830 there were 31 in all, although not everyone had been formally sworn in by that date. Others included Thomas Durbin Brice, Master of the Society of Merchant Venturers, George Daubeny, John Cave, John Scandrett Harford, George Hilhouse, Henry Bush, and Richard Guppy.[17]

The first full meeting of the Trustees was held on the 22nd June 1830 in the Merchants Hall in Bristol. Alderman Thomas Daniel was in the Chair. 86 people had committed £17,350, an average of just over £200 each.[17]

These funds raised during the first few months of 1830 were not sufficient for the construction. Despite this Brunel produced a new proposal costing £10,000 less than Telford’s design and gained support for it in the local press. James Meadows Rendel, William Armstrong and William Hill also submitted new, cheaper proposals, complaining that the committee had not set a budget.[18] In 1831 a second competition was held, with new judges including Davies Gilbert and John Seaward examining the engineering qualities of the proposals. Thirteen designs were submitted; Telford’s was the only one in which the chains achieved the weight per square inch required by the judges but it was rejected as being too expensive. The winner was declared to be a design by Smith and Hawkes of the Eagle Foundry in Birmingham.[19] Brunel had a personal meeting with Gilbert and persuaded him to change the decision. The committee then declared Brunel the winner and he was awarded a contract as project engineer.[20] The winning design was for a suspension bridge with fashionably Egyptian-influenced towers.[8] In 2010, newly discovered letters and documents revealed that, in producing his design, Brunel had taken advice from his father, Sir Marc Isambard Brunel. The elder Brunel had recommended including a central support for the bridge, as he did not believe a single-span bridge of such length could be constructed. His son chose to ignore his advice.[21][22]

Construction
A ceremony to mark the start of the construction works was held Monday 20 June 1831. Work started on blasting of St. Vincent’s Rock, on the Clifton side of the gorge. Four months later work was halted by the Bristol riots, which took place after the House of Lords rejected the second Reform Bill, which aimed to eliminate some of the rotten boroughs and give parliamentary seats to Britain’s fast growing industrial towns such as Bristol.[23] Five to six hundred young men were involved in the riots and Brunel was sworn in as a special constable. The riots severely dented commercial confidence in Bristol; subscriptions to the bridge company ceased, and along with it, further construction of the bridge.[24]

An 1878 drawing of the Clifton Suspension Bridge
After the passing of the Act for the Great Western Railway reestablished financial confidence, work resumed in 1836, but subsequent investment proved woefully inadequate.[25] Despite the main contractors going bankrupt in 1837, the towers were built in unfinished stone.[26] To enable the transfer of materials, a 1,000-foot-long (300 m) iron bar, which was 1.25 inches (32 mm) in diameter, had been drawn by capstan across the gorge. A contract was placed with Dowlais Ironworks to supply 600 tons of bar iron, which was to be transported to the Copperhouse foundry to be forged into bar chains.[25] By 1843 funds were exhausted and another £30,000 was needed. As the work had exceeded the time limit stated in the Act, all work stopped.[27] Brunel suggested building a deep water pier at Portbury, which would make the bridge an essential road link, but funds for this scheme were not forthcoming.[25] In 1851, the ironwork was sold and used to build the Brunel-designed Royal Albert Bridge on the railway between Plymouth and Saltash.[28] The towers remained and during the 1850s intrepid passengers could cross the gorge in a basket slung from the iron bar.[27]

The plaque on the bridge
Brunel died in 1859, without seeing the completion of the bridge. His colleagues in the Institution of Civil Engineers felt that completion of the Bridge would be a fitting memorial, and started to raise new funds.[29] In 1860, Brunel’s Hungerford suspension bridge over the Thames in London was demolished to make way for a new railway bridge to Charing Cross railway station. Its chains were purchased for use at Clifton.[30]

A revised design was made by William Henry Barlow and Sir John Hawkshaw, with a wider, higher and sturdier deck than Brunel intended, with triple chains instead of double.[29]

It has been argued that the size and technology of these revisions was so great that the credit for its design should go to Barlow and Hawkshaw.[31] The towers remained in rough stone, rather than being finished in the Egyptian style. Work on the bridge was restarted in 1862. Initially a temporary bridge was created by pulling ropes across the gorge and making a footway of wire ropes with wood planks held together with iron hoops. This was used by the workers to move a "traveller", consisting of a light frame on wheels, to transport each link individually, which would eventually make up the chains supporting the bridge.[32] The chains are anchored in tapering tunnels, 25 metres (82 ft) long,[33] on either side of the bridge and plugs of Staffordshire blue brick infilled to prevent the chains being pulled out of the narrower tunnel mouth. After completion of the chains, vertical suspension rods were hung from the links in the chains and large girders hung from these. The girders on either side then support the deck, which is 3 feet (0.91 m) higher at the Clifton end than at Leigh Woods so that it gives the impression of being horizontal. The strength of the structure was tested by spreading 500 tons of stone over the bridge. This caused it to sag by 7 inches (180 mm), but within the expected tolerances.[34] During this time a tunnel was driven through the rocks on the Leigh Woods side beneath the bridge to carry the Bristol Port Railway to Avonmouth.[32] The construction work was completed in 1864–111 years after a bridge at the site was first planned.[35]

Operation
Suspension bridge between two brick built towers, over a wooded gorge, showing mud and water at the bottom. In the distance are hills.
View from the observatory on Clifton Down
On 8 December 1864, the bridge was lit by magnesium flares for its ceremonial opening parade, but they were blown out by the wind.[36] The custom of lighting the bridge has continued with more recent events, although later thousands of electric light bulbs were attached to the bridge instead of flares.[37]

In 1860 the Clifton Bridge Company was set up to oversee the final stages of completion and manage the operation of the bridge. They paid £50 each year to the trustees who gradually purchased the shares in the company. The revenues from tolls were minimal initially as there was not much traffic; however, this increased after 1920 with greater car ownership. In 1949 the trustees purchased all the outstanding shares and debentures.[38] The bridge is managed by a charitable trust, originally formed by the Society of Merchant Venturers following Vick’s bequest.[39] The trust was authorised to manage the bridge and collect tolls by Acts of Parliament in 1952, 1980 and 1986.[40] A toll of £0.50 has been levied on vehicles since 2007,[41] but the £0.05 toll that the Act allows for cyclists or pedestrians is not collected.[42] Human toll collectors were replaced by automated machines in 1975. The tolls are used to pay for the upkeep of the bridge, including the strengthening of the chain anchor points, which was done in 1925 and 1939, and regular painting and maintenance, which is carried out from a motorised cradle slung beneath the deck.[43] By 2008 over 4 million vehicles crossed the bridge each year.[38] In February 2012, the bridge trustees applied to the Department for Transport to increase the toll to £1,[41] subsequently implemented on 24 April 2014.[44]

On 1 April 1979, the first modern bungee jumps were made from the bridge by members of the University of Oxford Dangerous Sports Club.[45] In 2003 and 2004, the weight of crowds travelling to and from the Ashton Court Festival and Bristol International Balloon Fiesta put such great strain on the bridge that it was decided to close the bridge to all motor traffic and pedestrians during the events. The closure of the bridge for major annual events has continued each year since then.[46]

The bridge illuminated; these lights have since been replaced with LEDs
On 26 November 2003, the last Concorde flight (Concorde 216) flew over the bridge before landing at Filton Aerodrome.[47] In April 2006, the bridge was the centrepiece of the Brunel 200 weekend, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. At the climax of the celebration a firework display was launched from the bridge.[48] The celebrations also saw the activation of an LED-based lighting array to illuminate the bridge.[49]

On 4 April 2009, the bridge was shut for one night to allow a crack in one of the support hangers to be repaired.[50] On 23 May 2012, the London 2012 Olympic Torch relay crossed over the bridge, where two of the torchbearers came together in a "kiss" to exchange the flame in the middle of Brunel’s iconic landmark.[51] The bridge carries four million vehicles per year,[52] along part of the B3129 road.[53][54] The bridge is a grade I listed building.[55]

In November 2011 it was announced that a new visitor centre, costing nearly £2 million, was to be built at the Leigh Woods end of the bridge to replace the temporary building currently being used. The new facilities were scheduled to be completed before the 150th anniversary of the opening, which was celebrated on 8 December 2014.[56][57] In December 2012 it was announced that the bridge had received £595,000 of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to improve the visitor centre.[58]

Archives
The University of Bristol Special Collections holds substantial records related to the bridge.[59] Letter books of the trustees of Clifton Suspension Bridge dated 1831–1862 are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. 12167/42-44) (online catalogue).

Engineering

One of the chains, taken from the original Hungerford Bridge on the Thames
Although similar in size the bridge towers are not identical in design, the Clifton tower having side cut-outs whilst the Leigh tower has more pointed arches and chamfered edges. Brunel’s original plan proposed they be topped with then-fashionable sphinxes, but the ornaments were never constructed.[60]

Looking up at the arched ceiling of the interior of the abutment under the Leigh Woods side of the bridge, showing stalactites.
The 85-foot-tall (26 m) Leigh Woods tower stands atop a 110-foot (34 m) red sandstone-clad abutment. In 2002 it was discovered that this was not a solid structure but contained 12 vaulted chambers up to 35 feet (11 m) high, linked by shafts and tunnels.[61]

Roller-mounted "saddles" at the top of each tower allow movement of the chains when loads pass over the bridge. Though their total travel is minuscule, their ability to absorb forces created by chain deflection prevents damage to both tower and chain.[60][61]

The bridge has three independent wrought iron chains per side, from which the bridge deck is suspended by eighty-one matching vertical wrought-iron rods ranging from 65 feet (20 m) at the ends to 3 feet (0.91 m) in the centre.[62] Composed of numerous parallel rows of eyebars connected by bolts, the chains are anchored in tunnels in the rocks 60 feet (18 m) below ground level at the sides of the gorge.[61] The deck was originally laid with wooden planking, later covered with asphalt, which was renewed in 2009.[61] The weight of the bridge, including chains, rods, girders and deck is approximately 1,500 tons.[63]

Dimensions
Clearance: 245 ft (75 m) above high water level[64]
Dip of chains: 70 ft (21.34 m)[65]
Height of towers: 86 ft (26 m) above deck[64]
Overall length: 1,352 ft (412 m)[64]
Overall width: 31 ft (9.45 m)[66]
Span: 702 ft 3 in (214.05 m)[64]
Incidents
Two men were killed during the construction of the bridge.[63] In 1885, a 22-year-old woman named Sarah Ann Henley survived a suicide attempt off the bridge when her billowing skirts acted as a parachute and she landed in the thick mud banks of the tidal River Avon at low tide; she subsequently lived into her eighties.[67]

The Clifton Suspension Bridge is well known as a suicide bridge and is fitted with plaques that advertise the telephone number of The Samaritans. Between 1974 and 1993, 127 people fell to their deaths from the bridge.[68] In 1998 barriers were installed on the bridge to prevent people jumping. In the four years after installation this reduced the suicide rate from eight deaths per year to four.[69] Nicolette Powell, the wife of UK rhythm and blues singer Georgie Fame, formerly the Marchioness of Londonderry, died by suicide from the bridge on 13 August 1993.[70]

In 1957 a Filton-based RAF Vampire jet from 501 Squadron piloted by Flying officer John Greenwood Crossley flew under the deck while performing a victory roll[71] before crashing in Leigh Woods, killing the pilot.[72] The accident caused a landslip that led to the temporary closure of the nearby Bristol to Portishead railway line.[73] A helicopter from National Police Air Service Filton flew under the bridge during a search in 1997.[63][74]

On 12 February 2014 the bridge was closed to traffic due to wind for the first time in living memory.

Bristol (/ˈbrɪstəl/ (About this soundlisten)) is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England.[5] Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire, to the north; and Somerset, to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in South West England.[6] The wider Bristol Built-up Area is the eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom.[7]

Iron Age hill forts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon, and around the beginning of the 11th century, the settlement was known as Brycgstow (Old English "the place at the bridge"). Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373 when it became a county corporate. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities, after London, in tax receipts; however, it was surpassed by the rapid rise of Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool in the Industrial Revolution[citation needed].

Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497 John Cabot, a Venetian, became the first European to land on mainland North America. In 1499 William Weston, a Bristol merchant was the first Englishman to lead an exploration to North America. At the height of the Bristol slave trade, from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried an estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas. The Port of Bristol has since moved from Bristol Harbour in the city centre to the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth and Royal Portbury Dock.

Bristol’s modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries, and the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as centres of heritage and culture. The city has the largest circulating community currency in the UK; the Bristol pound, which is pegged to the Pound sterling. The city has two universities, the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, and a variety of artistic and sporting organisations and venues including the Royal West of England Academy, the Arnolfini, Spike Island, Ashton Gate and the Memorial Stadium. It is connected to London and other major UK cities by road and rail, and to the world by sea and air: road, by the M5 and M4 (which connect to the city centre by the Portway and M32); rail, via Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations; and Bristol Airport.

One of the UK’s most popular tourist destinations, Bristol was named the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017, and won the European Green Capital Award in 2015.

Early recorded place names in the Bristol area include the Roman-era British Celtic Abona (derived from the name of the Avon) and the archaic Welsh Caer Odor ("fort on the chasm"), which may have been calqued as the modern English Clifton.[8][9]

The current name "Bristol" derives from the Old English form Brycgstow, which is typically etymologised as place at the bridge.[10] It has also been suggested that Brycgstow means "the place called Bridge by the place called Stow", the Stow in question referring to an early religious meeting place at what is now College Green.[11] However, other derivations have been proposed.[12] It appears that the form Bricstow prevailed until 1204,[13] and the Bristolian ‘L’ (the tendency for the local dialect to add the sound "L" to many words ending in a neutral vowel) is what eventually changed the name to Bristol.[14] The original form of the name survives as the surname Bristow, which is derived from the city.[15]

History
Main articles: History of Bristol and Timeline of Bristol
Archaeological finds, including flint tools believed to be between 300,000 and 126,000 years old made with the Levallois technique, indicate the presence of Neanderthals in the Shirehampton and St Annes areas of Bristol during the Middle Palaeolithic.[16] Iron Age hill forts near the city are at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down, on the side of the Avon Gorge, and on Kings Weston Hill near Henbury.[17] A Roman settlement, Abona,[18] existed at what is now Sea Mills (connected to Bath by a Roman road); another was at the present-day Inns Court. Isolated Roman villas and small forts and settlements were also scattered throughout the area.[19]

Middle Ages
Bristol was founded by 1000; by about 1020, it was a trading centre with a mint producing silver pennies bearing its name.[20] By 1067 Brycgstow was a well-fortified burh, and that year the townsmen beat back a raiding party from Ireland led by three of Harold Godwinson’s sons.[20] Under Norman rule, the town had one of the strongest castles in southern England.[21] Bristol was the place of exile for Diarmait Mac Murchada, the Irish king of Leinster, after being overthrown. The Bristol merchants subsequently played a prominent role in funding Richard Strongbow de Clare and the Norman invasion of Ireland.[22]

Fifteenth-century pictorial map of Bristol, radiating from the town centre
Robert Ricart’s map of Bristol, drawn when he became common clerk of the town in 1478. At the centre, it shows the High Cross.[23]
The port developed in the 11th century around the confluence of the Rivers Frome and Avon, adjacent to Bristol Bridge just outside the town walls.[24] By the 12th century Bristol was an important port, handling much of England’s trade with Ireland.[citation needed] There was also an important Jewish community in Bristol from the late 12th century through to the late 13th century when all Jews were expelled from England.[25] The stone bridge built in 1247 was replaced by the current bridge during the 1760s.[26] The town incorporated neighbouring suburbs and became a county in 1373,[27] the first town in England to be given this status.[28][29][30] During this period, Bristol became a shipbuilding and manufacturing centre.[31] By the 14th century Bristol, York and Norwich were England’s largest medieval towns after London.[32] One-third to one-half of the population died in the Black Death of 1348–49,[33] which checked population growth, and its population remained between 10,000 and 12,000 for most of the 15th and 16th centuries.[34]

15th and 16th centuries
A stone built Victorian Gothic building with two square towers and a central arched entrance underneath a circular ornate window. A Victorian street lamp stands in front of the building and on the right part of a leafless tree, with blue skies behind.
West front of Bristol Cathedral
During the 15th century Bristol was the second most important port in the country, trading with Ireland,[35] Iceland[36] and Gascony.[31] It was the starting point for many voyages, including Robert Sturmy’s (1457–58) unsuccessful attempt to break the Italian monopoly of Eastern Mediterranean trade.[37] New exploration voyages were launched by Venetian John Cabot, who in 1497 made landfall in North America.[38] A 1499 voyage, led by merchant William Weston of Bristol, was the first expedition commanded by an Englishman to North America.[39] During the first decade of the 16th century Bristol’s merchants undertook a series of exploration voyages to North America and even founded a commercial organisation, ‘The Company Adventurers to the New Found Land’, to assist their endeavours.[40] However, they seem to have lost interest in North America after 1509, having incurred great expenses and made little profit.

During the 16th century, Bristol merchants concentrated on developing trade with Spain and its American colonies.[41] This included the smuggling of prohibited goods, such as food and guns, to Iberia[42] during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).[43] Bristol’s illicit trade grew enormously after 1558, becoming integral to its economy.[44]

The original Diocese of Bristol was founded in 1542,[45] when the former Abbey of St. Augustine (founded by Robert Fitzharding four hundred years earlier)[46] became Bristol Cathedral. Bristol also gained city status that year.[47] During the English Civil War in the 1640s the city was occupied by Royalists, who built the Royal Fort House on the site of an earlier Parliamentarian stronghold.[48]

17th and 18th centuries
Fishermen from Bristol, who had fished the Grand Banks of Newfoundland since the 16th century,[49] began settling Newfoundland permanently in larger numbers during the 17th century, establishing colonies at Bristol’s Hope and Cuper’s Cove. Growth of the city and trade came with the rise of England’s American colonies in the 17th century. Bristol’s location on the west side of Great Britain gave its ships an advantage in sailing to and from the New World, and the city’s merchants made the most of it. Bristol was a major supplier of slaves to South Carolina before 1750.[50]

An engraving showing at the top a sailing ship and paddle steamer in a harbour, with sheds and a church spire. On either side arched gateways, all above a scroll with the word "Bristol". Below a street scene showing pedestrians and a horse-drawn carriage outside a large ornate building with a colonnade and arched windows above. A grand staircase with two figures ascending and other figures on a balcony. A caption reading "Exterior, Colston Hall" and Staircase, Colston Hall". Below, two street scenes and a view of a large stone building with flying buttresses and a square tower, with the caption "Bristol cathedral". At the bottom views of a church interior, a cloister with a man mowing grass and archways with two men in conversation.
An 1873 engraving showing Colston Hall, the port and cathedral of Bristol
The 18th century saw an expansion of Bristol’s role in the Atlantic trade in Africans taken for slavery to the Americas. Bristol and later Liverpool became centres of the Triangular Trade.[51] Manufactured goods were shipped to West Africa and exchanged for Africans; the enslaved captives were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas in the Middle Passage under brutal conditions.[52] Plantation goods such as sugar, tobacco, rum, rice, cotton and a few slaves (sold to the aristocracy as house servants) returned across the Atlantic to England.[52] Some household slaves were baptised in the hope this would lead them to be freed. The Somersett Case of 1772 clarified that slavery was illegal in England.[53] At the height of the Bristol slave trade from 1700 to 1807, more than 2,000 slave ships carried a conservatively estimated 500,000 people from Africa to slavery in the Americas.[54]

In 1739 John Wesley founded the first Methodist chapel, the New Room, in Bristol.[55] Wesley, along with his brother Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, preached to large congregations in Bristol and the neighbouring village of Kingswood, often in the open air.[56][57]

Wesley published a pamphlet on slavery, titled Thoughts Upon Slavery, in 1774[58] and the Society of Friends began lobbying against slavery in Bristol in 1783. The city’s scions remained nonetheless strongly anti-abolitionist. Thomas Clarkson came to Bristol to study the slave trade and gained access to the Society of Merchant Venturers records.[59] One of his contacts was the owner of the Seven Stars public house, who boarded sailors Clarkson sought to meet. Through these sailors he was able to observe how slaver captains and first mates "plied and stupefied seamen with drink" to sign them up.[59][60] Other informants included ship surgeons and seamen seeking redress. When William Wilberforce began his parliamentary abolition campaign on 12 May 1788, he recalled the history of the Irish slave trade from Bristol, which he provocatively claimed continued into the reign of Henry VII.[59] Hannah More, originally from Bristol, and a good friend of both Wilberforce and Clarkson, published "Slavery, A Poem" in 1788, just as Wilberforce began his parliamentary campaign.[61] His major speech on 2 April 1792 likewise described the Bristol slave trade specifically, and led to the arrest, trial and subsequent acquittal of a local slaver captain named Kimber.[59]

19th century
The city was associated with Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who designed the Great Western Railway between Bristol and London Paddington, two pioneering Bristol-built oceangoing steamships (SS Great Britain and SS Great Western), and the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The new railway replaced the Kennet and Avon Canal, which had fully opened in 1810 as the main route for the transport of goods between Bristol and London.[62] Competition from Liverpool (beginning around 1760), disruptions of maritime commerce due to war with France (1793) and the abolition of the slave trade (1807) contributed to Bristol’s failure to keep pace with the newer manufacturing centres of Northern England and the West Midlands. The tidal Avon Gorge, which had secured the port during the Middle Ages, had become a liability. An 1804–09 plan to improve the city’s port with a floating harbour designed by William Jessop was a costly error, requiring high harbour fees.[63]

Black and white etching showing the towers of St Stephen’s Church, St Augustine the Less Church and Bristol Cathedral, published c.1850
During the 19th century, Samuel Plimsoll, known as "the sailor’s friend," campaigned to make the seas safer; shocked by overloaded vessels, he successfully fought for a compulsory load line on ships.[64]

By 1867, ships were getting larger and the meanders in the river Avon prevented boats over 300 feet (90 m) from reaching the harbour, resulting in falling trade.[65] The port facilities were migrating downstream to Avonmouth and new industrial complexes were founded there.[66] Some of the traditional industries including copper and brass manufacture went into decline,[67] but the import and processing of tobacco flourished with the expansion of the W.D. & H.O. Wills business.[68]

Supported by new industry and growing commerce, Bristol’s population (66,000 in 1801), quintupled during the 19th century,[69] resulting in the creation of new suburbs such as Clifton and Cotham. These provide architectural examples from the Georgian to the Regency style, with many fine terraces and villas facing the road, and at right angles to it. In the early 19th century, the romantic medieval gothic style appeared, partially as a reaction against the symmetry of Palladianism, and can be seen in buildings such as the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery,[70] the Royal West of England Academy,[71] and The Victoria Rooms.[72] Riots broke out in 1793[73] and 1831; the first over the renewal of tolls on Bristol Bridge, and the second against the rejection of the second Reform Bill by the House of Lords.[74] The population by 1841 had reached 140,158.[75]

The Diocese of Bristol had undergone several boundary changes by 1897 when it was "reconstituted" into the configuration which has lasted into the 21st century.[76]

20th century
An old ordnance survey map of Bristol, showing roads, railways, rivers and contours.
A 1946 map of Bristol
From a population of about 330,000 in 1901, Bristol grew steadily during the 20th century, peaking at 428,089 in 1971.[77] Its Avonmouth docklands were enlarged during the early 1900s by the Royal Edward Dock.[78] Another new dock, the Royal Portbury Dock, opened across the river from Avonmouth during the 1970s.[79] As air travel grew in the first half of the century, aircraft manufacturers built factories.[80] The unsuccessful Bristol International Exhibition was held on Ashton Meadows in the Bower Ashton area in 1914.[81] After the premature closure of the exhibition the site was used, until 1919, as barracks for the Gloucestershire Regiment during World War I.[82][83]

St Mary le Port Church, destroyed on 24 November 1940
Bristol was heavily damaged by Luftwaffe raids during World War II; about 1,300 people living or working in the city were killed and nearly 100,000 buildings were damaged, at least 3,000 beyond repair.[84][85] The original central shopping area, near the bridge and castle, is now a park containing two bombed churches and fragments of the castle. A third bomb-damaged church nearby, St Nicholas was restored and after a period as a museum has now re-opened as a church.[86] It houses a 1756 William Hogarth triptych painted for the high altar of St Mary Redcliffe. The church also has statues of King Edward I (moved from Arno’s Court Triumphal Arch) and King Edward III (taken from Lawfords’ Gate in the city walls when they were demolished about 1760), and 13th-century statues of Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester (builder of Bristol Castle) [87] and Geoffrey de Montbray (who built the city’s walls) from Bristol’s Newgate.[88]

Ambrose Road, in the Cliftonwood neighbourhood
The rebuilding of Bristol city centre was characterised by 1960s and 1970s skyscrapers, mid-century modern architecture and road building. Beginning in the 1980s some main roads were closed, the Georgian-era Queen Square and Portland Square were restored, the Broadmead shopping area regenerated, and one of the city centre’s tallest mid-century towers was demolished.[89] Bristol’s road infrastructure changed dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s with the development of the M4 and M5 motorways, which meet at the Almondsbury Interchange just north of the city and link Bristol with London (M4 eastbound), Swansea (M4 westbound across the Severn Estuary), Exeter (M5 southbound) and Birmingham (M5 northbound).[90] Bristol was bombed twice by the IRA, in 1974 and again in 1978.[91]

The 20th-century relocation of the docks to Avonmouth Docks and Royal Portbury Dock, 7 miles (11 km) downstream from the city centre, has allowed the redevelopment of the old dock area (the Floating Harbour).[92] Although the docks’ existence was once in jeopardy (since the area was seen as a derelict industrial site), the inaugural 1996 International Festival of the Sea held in and around the docks affirmed the area as a leisure asset of the city.[93]

21st century
From 2018, there were lively discussions about a new explicative plaque under a commemorative statue of one of the city’s major benefactors in the 17th and 18th centuries. The plaque was meant to replace an original which made no reference to Edward Colston’s past with the Royal Africa Company and the Bristol Slave Trade.[94] On 7 June 2020 a statue of Colston was pulled down from its plinth by protestors and pushed into Bristol Harbour.[95] The statue was recovered on 11 June and will become a museum exhibit.[96]

Government
A large brick building, built in a shallow curve, with a central porch. In front of that a pool and a water fountain.
City Hall, the seat of local government
A tall church spire over a quayside with wooden sheds and boats covered with tarpaulins. In front of these on the water a twin masted sailing boat and a narrowboat
St Mary Redcliffe church and the Floating Harbour, Bristol
Main article: Politics of Bristol
Bristol City council consists of 70 councillors representing 35 wards,[97] with between one and three per ward serving four-year terms. Councillors are elected in thirds, with elections held in three years out of every four-year period. Thus, since wards do not have both councillors up for election at the same time, two-thirds of the wards participate in each election.[98] Although the council was long dominated by the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats have grown strong in the city and (as the largest party) took minority control of the council after the 2005 United Kingdom general election. In 2007, Labour and the Conservatives united to defeat the Liberal Democrat administration; Labour ruled the council as a minority administration, with Helen Holland as council leader.[99]

In February 2009, the Labour group resigned and the Liberal Democrats re-entered office with a minority administration.[100] In the June 2009 council elections the Liberal Democrats gained four seats and, for the first time, overall control of the city council.[101] In 2010 they increased their representation to 38 seats, giving them a majority of 6.[102] In 2011, they lost their majority; leading to a hung council. In the 2013 local elections, in which a third of the city’s wards were up for election, Labour gained 7 seats and the Green Party doubled their seats from 2 to 4. The Liberal Democrats lost 10 seats.[103]

These trends were continued into the next election in May 2014, in which Labour gained three seats to take their total to 31, the Green Party won two more seats, the Conservative party gained one seat, and UKIP won their first-ever seat on the council. The Liberal Democrats lost a further seven seats.[104]

On 3 May 2012, Bristol held a referendum on the question of a directly elected mayor replacing one elected by the council. There were 41,032 votes in favour of a directly elected mayor and 35,880 votes against, with a 24% turnout. An election for the new post was held on 15 November 2012, and Independent candidate George Ferguson became Mayor of Bristol.[105]

The Lord Mayor of Bristol, not to be confused with the Mayor of Bristol, is a figurehead elected each May by the city council. Councillor Faruk Choudhury was selected by his fellow councillors for the position in 2013. At 38, he was the youngest person to serve as Lord Mayor of Bristol and the first Muslim elected to the office.[106] The current Lord Mayor is Councillor Steve Smith.

Bristol constituencies in the House of Commons also included parts of other local authority areas until the 2010 general election, when their boundaries were aligned with the county boundary. The city is divided into Bristol West, East, South and North West.[107] At the 2017 general election, Labour won all four of the Bristol constituencies, gaining the Bristol North West seat, seven years after losing it to the Conservatives.[108]

The city has a tradition of political activism. Edmund Burke, MP for the Bristol constituency for six years beginning in 1774, insisted that he was a Member of Parliament first and a representative of his constituents’ interests second.[109][110] Women’s-rights advocate Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence (1867–1954) was born in Bristol,[111] and the left-winger Tony Benn served as MP for Bristol South East in 1950–1960 and again from 1963 to 1983.[112] In 1963 the Bristol Bus Boycott, following the Bristol Omnibus Company’s refusal to hire Black drivers and conductors, drove the passage of the UK’s 1965 Race Relations Act.[113] The 1980 St. Pauls riot protested against racism and police harassment and showed mounting dissatisfaction with the socioeconomic circumstances of the city’s Afro-Caribbean residents. Local support of fair trade was recognised in 2005, when Bristol became a fairtrade zone.[114]

Bristol is both a city and a county, since King Edward III granted it a county charter in 1373.[27] The county was expanded in 1835 to include suburbs such as Clifton, and it was named a county borough in 1889 when that designation was introduced.[29]

Former county of Avon
Main article: Avon (county)
On 1 April 1974, Bristol became a local government district of the county of Avon.[115] On 1 April 1996, Avon was abolished and Bristol became a unitary authority.[116]

The former Avon area, called Greater Bristol by the Government Office of the South West (now abolished) and others,[117] refers to the city and the three neighbouring local authorities‍—‌Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire previously in Avon.

The North Fringe of Bristol, a developed area between the Bristol city boundary and the M4, M5 and M32 motorways (now in South Gloucestershire) was so named as part of a 1987 plan prepared by the Northavon District Council of Avon county.[118]

West of England Combined Authority
Main article: West of England Combined Authority
The West of England Combined Authority was created on 9 February 2017.[119] Covering Bristol and the rest of the old Avon county with the exception of North Somerset, the new combined authority has responsibility for regional planning, roads, and local transport, and to a lesser extent, education and business investment. The authority’s first mayor, Tim Bowles, was elected in May 2017.[120] One of the first actions of the new authority was the announcement of a new train station to be built at Portway.[121]

Geography and environment
Boundaries
See also: Subdivisions of Bristol
Suspension bridge between two brick built towers, over a wooded gorge, showing mud and water at the bottom. In the distance are hills.
Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge
Bristol’s boundaries can be defined in several ways, including those of the city itself, the developed area, or Greater Bristol.

The city council boundary is the narrowest definition of the city itself. However, it unusually includes a large, roughly rectangular section of the western Severn Estuary ending at (but not including) the islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm.[122] This "seaward extension" can be traced back to the original boundary of the County of Bristol laid out in the charter granted to the city by Edward III in 1373.[123]

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has defined a Bristol Urban Area, which includes developed areas adjoining Bristol but outside the city-council boundary, such as Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Stoke Gifford, Winterbourne, Almondsbury, Easton in Gordano, Whitchurch village, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, but excludes undeveloped areas within that boundary.[124]

Rocky side to a gorge with a platform in front of a cave halfway up. To the right are a road and river. In the distance are a suspension bridge and buildings.
Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge, looking towards the city of Bristol.
Geography
Bristol lies within a limestone area running from the Mendip Hills in the south to the Cotswolds in the northeast.[125] The rivers Avon and Frome cut through the limestone to the underlying clay, creating Bristol’s characteristically hilly landscape. The Avon flows from Bath in the east, through flood plains and areas which were marshes before the city’s growth. To the west the Avon cuts through the limestone to form the Avon Gorge, formed largely by glacial meltwater after the last ice age.[126]

The gorge, which helped protect Bristol Harbour, has been quarried for stone to build the city, and its surrounding land has been protected from development as The Downs and Leigh Woods. The Avon estuary and the gorge form the county boundary with North Somerset, and the river flows into the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth. A smaller gorge, cut by the Hazel Brook which flows into the River Trym, crosses the Blaise Castle estate in northern Bristol.[126]

Bristol is sometimes described, by its inhabitants, as being built on seven hills. From 18th century guidebooks, these 7 hills were known as simply Bristol (the Old Town), Castle Hill, College Green, Kingsdown, St Michaels Hill, Brandon Hill and Redcliffe Hill.[127] Other local hills include Red Lion Hill, Barton Hill, Lawrence Hill, St. Michaels Hill, Black Boy Hill, Constitution Hill, Staple Hill, Brandon Hill, Windmill Hill, Malborough Hill, Nine Tree Hill, Talbot, Brook Hill and Granby Hill.

Bristol is 106 miles (171 km) west of London, 77 miles (124 km) south-southwest of Birmingham and 26 miles (42 km) east of the Welsh capital Cardiff. Areas adjoining the city fall within a loosely defined area known as Greater Bristol. Bath is located 11 miles (18 km) south east of the city centre, Weston-super-Mare is 18 miles (29 km) to the south west, and the Welsh city of Newport is 19 miles (31 km) to the north west.

Climate
The climate is oceanic (Köppen: Cfb), milder than most places in England and United Kingdom.[128][129] Located in southern England, Bristol is one of the warmest cities in the UK with a mean annual temperature of approximately 10.5 °C (50.9 °F).[130][131] It is among the sunniest, with 1,541–1,885 hours of sunshine per year.[132] Although the city is partially sheltered by the Mendip Hills, it is exposed to the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel. Annual rainfall increases from north to south, with totals north of the Avon in the 600–900 mm (24–35 in) range and 900–1,200 mm (35–47 in) south of the river.[133] Rain is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, with autumn and winter the wetter seasons. The Atlantic Ocean influences Bristol’s weather, keeping its average temperature above freezing throughout the year, but winter frosts are frequent and snow occasionally falls from early November to late April. Summers are warm and drier, with variable sunshine, rain and clouds, and spring weather is unsettled.[134]

The weather stations nearest Bristol for which long-term climate data are available are Long Ashton (about 5 miles (8 km) south west of the city centre) and Bristol Weather Station, in the city centre. Data collection at these locations ended in 2002 and 2001, respectively, and Filton Airfield is currently the nearest weather station to the city.[135] Temperatures at Long Ashton from 1959 to 2002 ranged from 33.5 °C (92.3 °F) in July 1976[136] to −14.4 °C (6.1 °F) in January 1982.[137] Monthly high temperatures since 2002 at Filton exceeding those recorded at Long Ashton include 25.7 °C (78.3 °F) in April 2003,[138] 34.5 °C (94.1 °F) in July 2006[139] and 26.8 °C (80.2 °F) in October 2011.[140] The lowest recent temperature at Filton was −10.1 °C (13.8 °F) in December 2010.[141] Although large cities in general experience an urban heat island effect, with warmer temperatures than their surrounding rural areas, this phenomenon is minimal in Bristol.[142]

Bristol was ranked as Britain’s most sustainable city (based on its environmental performance, quality of life, future-proofing and approaches to climate change, recycling and biodiversity), topping environmental charity Forum for the Future’s 2008 Sustainable Cities Index.[145][146] Local initiatives include Sustrans (creators of the National Cycle Network, founded as Cyclebag in 1977)[147] and Resourcesaver, a non-profit business established in 1988 by Avon Friends of the Earth.[148] In 2014 The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live.[149] The city received the 2015 European Green Capital Award, becoming the first UK city to receive this award.[150]

In 2019 Bristol City Council voted in favour of banning all privately owned Diesel cars from the city centre.[151] Since then, the plans have been revised in favour of a ‘Clean Air Zone’ whereby older and more polluting vehicles will be charged to drive through the city centre. The Clean Air Zone is currently due to come into effect in Summer 2022.[152]

Green belt
Main article: Avon Green Belt
The city has green belt mainly along its southern fringes, taking in small areas within the Ashton Court Estate, South Bristol crematorium and cemetery, High Ridge common and Whitchurch, with a further area around Frenchay Farm. The belt extends outside the city boundaries into surrounding counties and districts, for several miles in places, to afford a protection from urban sprawl to surrounding villages and towns.

Demographics
Main article: Demography of Bristol
Bristol population data
Year Population Year Population
1377 9,518[153] 1901 323,698[77]
1607 10,549[154] 1911 352,178[77]
1700 20,000[77] 1921 367,831[77]
1801 68,944[77] 1931 384,204[77]
1811 83,922[77] 1941 402,839[77]
1821 99,151[77] 1951 422,399[77]
1831 120,789[77] 1961 425,214[77]
1841 144,803[77] 1971 428,089[77]
1851 159,945[77] 1981 384,883[77]
1861 194,229[77] 1991 396,559[77]
1871 228,513[77] 2001 380,615[77]
1881 262,797[77] 2012 432,500[155]
1891 297,525[77] 2017 459,300[156]
In 2014, the Office for National Statistics estimated the Bristol unitary authority’s population at 442,474,[157][158] making it the 43rd-largest ceremonial county in England.[158] The ONS, using Census 2001 data, estimated the city’s population at 441,556.[159]

According to the 2011 census, 84% of the population was White (77.9% White British, 0.9% White Irish, 0.1% Gypsy or Irish Travellers and 5.1% Other White); 3.6% mixed-race (1.7% white-and-black Caribbean, 0.4% white-and-black African, 0.8% white and Asian and 0.7% other mixed); 5.5% Asian (1.6% Pakistani, 1.5% Indian, 0.9% Chinese, 0.5% Bangladeshi, and 1% other Asian); 6% Black (2.8% African, 1.6% Caribbean, 1.6% Other Black), 0.3% Arab and 0.6% with other heritage. Bristol is unusual among major British towns and cities in its larger black than Asian population.[160] These statistics apply to the Bristol Unitary Authority area, excluding areas of the urban area (2006 estimated population 587,400) in South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) and North Somerset—such as Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Filton and Warmley.[77] 56.2% of the 209,995 Bristol residents who are employed commute to work using either a car, van, motorbike or taxi, 2.2% commute by rail and 9.8% by bus, while 19.6% walk.[161]

Inequality
The Runnymede Trust found in 2017 that Bristol "ranked 7th out of the 348 districts of England & Wales (1=worst) on the Index of Multiple Inequality."[162] In terms of employment, the report found that "ethnic minorities are disadvantaged compared to White British people nationally, but this is to a greater extent in Bristol, particularly for Black groups." Black people in Bristol experience the 3rd highest level of educational inequality in England and Wales.[162]

Bristol conurbation
The population of Bristol’s contiguous urban area was put at 551,066 by the ONS based on Census 2001 data.[163] In 2006 the ONS estimated Bristol’s urban-area population at 587,400,[164] making it England’s sixth-most populous city and tenth-most populous urban area.[163] At 3,599 inhabitants per square kilometre (9,321/sq mi) it has the seventh-highest population density of any English district.[165] According to data from 2019, the urban area has the 11th-largest population in the UK with a population of 670,000.[166]

In 2007 the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) defined Bristol’s functional urban area as including Weston-super-Mare, Bath and Clevedon with a total population of 1.04 million, the twelfth largest of the UK.[167]

Economy
Main article: Economy of Bristol
Two ornate metal pillars with large dishes on top in a paved street, with an eighteenth-century stone building behind, upon which can be seen the words "Tea Blenders Estabklishec 177-". People sitting at café-style tables outside. On the right are iron railings.
Two of the four Nails (bronze tables used for conducting business) in Corn Street
Bristol has a long history of trade, originally exporting wool cloth and importing fish, wine, grain and dairy products;[168] later imports were tobacco, tropical fruits and plantation goods. Major imports are motor vehicles, grain, timber, produce and petroleum products.[169] Since the 13th century, the rivers have been modified for docks; during the 1240s, the Frome was diverted into a deep, man-made channel (known as Saint Augustine’s Reach) which flowed into the River Avon.[170][171]

Ships occasionally departed Bristol for Iceland as early as 1420, and speculation exists that sailors (fishermen who landed on the Canadian coast to salt/ smoke their catch) from Bristol made landfall in the Americas before Christopher Columbus or John Cabot.[24] Beginning in the early 1480s, the Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers sponsored exploration of the North Atlantic in search of trading opportunities.[24] In 1552, Edward VI granted a royal charter to the Merchant Venturers to manage the port. Among explorers to depart from the port after Cabot were Martin Frobisher, Thomas James, after whom James Bay, on southern coast of Hudson Bay is named, and Martin Pring, who discovered Cape Cod and the southern New England coast in 1603.[172]

By 1670 the city had 6,000 tons of shipping (of which half was imported tobacco), and by the late 17th and early 18th centuries shipping played a significant role in the slave trade.[24] During the 18th century, Bristol was Britain’s second-busiest port;[173] business was conducted in the trading area around The Exchange in Corn Street over bronze tables known as Nails. Although the Nails are cited as originating the phrase "cash on the nail" (immediate payment), the phrase was probably in use before their installation.[174]

The city’s economy also relies on the aerospace, defence, media, information technology, financial services and tourism industries.[175][176] The Ministry of Defence (MoD)’s Procurement Executive, later known as the Defence Procurement Agency and Defence Equipment and Support, moved to its headquarters to Abbey Wood, Filton, in 1995. This organisation, with a staff of 12,000 to 13,000, procures and supports MoD equipment.[177] One of the UK’s most popular tourist destinations, Bristol was selected in 2009 as one of the world’s top-ten cities by international travel publishers Dorling Kindersley in their Eyewitness guides for young adults.[178]

Bristol is one of the eight-largest regional English cities that make up the Core Cities Group, and is ranked as a Gamma level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, the fourth-highest-ranked English city.[179] In 2017 Bristol’s gross domestic product was £88.448 billion.[180][181] Its per capita GDP was £46,000 ($65,106, €57,794), which was some 65% above the national average, the third-highest of any English city (after London and Nottingham) and the sixth-highest of any city in the United Kingdom (behind London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Nottingham).[180] According to the 2011 census, Bristol’s unemployment rate (claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance) was three per cent, compared with two per cent for South West England and the national average of four per cent.[182]

Although Bristol’s economy no longer relies upon its port, which was moved to docks at Avonmouth during the 1870s[183] and to the Royal Portbury Dock in 1977 as ship size increased, it is the largest importer of cars to the UK. Until 1991, the port was publicly owned; it is leased, with £330 million invested and its annual tonnage increasing from 3.9 million long tons (4 million tonnes) to 11.8 million (12 million).[184] Tobacco importing and cigarette manufacturing have ceased, but the importation of wine and spirits continues.[185]

The financial services sector employs 59,000 in the city,[186] and 50 micro-electronics and silicon design companies employ about 5,000. In 1983 Hewlett-Packard opened its national research laboratory in Bristol.[187][188] In 2014 the city was ranked seventh in the "top 10 UK destinations" by TripAdvisor.[189]

During the 20th century, Bristol’s manufacturing activities expanded to include aircraft production at Filton by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and aircraft-engine manufacturing by Bristol Aero Engines (later Rolls-Royce) at Patchway. Bristol Aeroplane was known for their World War I Bristol Fighter[190] and World War II Blenheim and Beaufighter planes.[190] During the 1950s they were a major English manufacturer of civilian aircraft, known for the Freighter, Britannia and Brabazon. The company diversified into automobile manufacturing during the 1940s, producing hand-built, luxury Bristol Cars at their factory in Filton, and the Bristol Cars company was spun off in 1960.[191] The city also gave its name to Bristol buses, which were manufactured in the city from 1908 to 1983: by Bristol Tramways until 1955, and from 1955 to 1983 by Bristol Commercial Vehicles.[192]

A view from below of an aeroplane in flight, with a slender fuselage and swept back wings.
Final Concorde flight on 26 November 2003, shortly before landing on the Filton runway.
Filton played a key role in the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner project during the 1960s. The British Concorde prototype made its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969, five weeks after the French test flight.[193] In 2003 British Airways and Air France decided to discontinue Concorde flights, retiring the aircraft to locations (primarily museums) worldwide. On 26 November 2003 Concorde 216 made the final Concorde flight, returning to Bristol Filton Airport as the centrepiece of a proposed air museum which is planned to include the existing Bristol Aero collection (including a Bristol Britannia).[194]

The aerospace industry remains a major sector of the local economy.[195] Major aerospace companies in Bristol include BAE Systems, a merger of Marconi Electronic Systems and BAe (the latter a merger of BAC, Hawker Siddeley and Scottish Aviation). Airbus[196] and Rolls-Royce are also based at Filton, and aerospace engineering is an area of research at the University of the West of England. Another aviation company in the city is Cameron Balloons, who manufacture hot air balloons;[197] each August the city hosts the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, one of Europe’s largest hot-air balloon festivals.[198]

In 2005 Bristol was named by the UK government one of England’s six science cities.[199][200] A £500 million shopping centre, Cabot Circus, opened in 2008 amidst predictions by developers and politicians that the city would become one of England’s top ten retail destinations.[201] The Bristol Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone, focused on creative, high-tech and low-carbon industries around Bristol Temple Meads railway station,[202] was announced in 2011[203] and launched the following year.[202] The 70-hectare (170-acre) Urban Enterprise Zone has streamlined planning procedures and reduced business rates. Rates generated by the zone are channelled to five other designated enterprise areas in the region:[204] Avonmouth, Bath, Bristol and Bath Science Park in Emersons Green, Filton, and Weston-super-Mare. Bristol is the only big city whose wealth per capita is higher than that of Britain as a whole. With a highly skilled workforce drawn from its universities, Bristol claims to have the largest cluster of computer chip designers and manufacturers outside Silicon Valley. The wider region has one of the biggest aerospace hubs in the UK, centred on Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN at Filton airfield.[205]

A panoramic view looking over a cityscape of office blocks, old buildings, church spires and a multi-story car park. In the distance are hills.
Panorama of Bristol in 2004
Culture
Main article: Culture of Bristol
Arts
An imposing eighteenth-century building with three entrance archways, large first-floor windows and an ornate peaked gable end above.
The Coopers Hall, entrance to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Royal complex
A long two-storey building with 4 cranes in front on the quayside. Two tugboats are moored at the quay.
Site of the former Bristol Industrial Museum, now the M Shed
A painting on a building showing a naked man hanging by one hand from a window sill. A man in a suit looks out of the window, shading his eyes with his right hand, behind him stands a woman in her underwear.
Well Hung Lover, one of many Banksy artworks in the city, which has since been vandalised with blue paint (partially cleaned by the city council)
Bristol has a thriving current and historical arts scene. Some of the modern venues and modern digital production companies have merged with legacy production companies based in old buildings around the city. In 2008 the city was a finalist for the 2008 European Capital of Culture, although the title was awarded to Liverpool.[206] The city was designated "City of Film" by UNESCO in 2017 and has been a member of the Creative Cities Network since then.[207]

The Bristol Old Vic, founded in 1946 as an offshoot of The Old Vic in London, occupies the 1766 Theatre Royal (607 seats) on King Street; the 150-seat New Vic (a studio-type theatre), and a foyer and bar in the adjacent Coopers’ Hall (built in 1743). The Theatre Royal, a grade I listed building,[208][209] is the oldest continuously operating theatre in England.[210] The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (which originated in King Street) is a separate company, and the Bristol Hippodrome is a 1,951-seat theatre for national touring productions. Other smaller theatres include the Tobacco Factory, QEH, the Redgrave Theatre at Clifton College and the Alma Tavern. Bristol’s theatre scene features several companies as well as the Old Vic, including Show of Strength, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Travelling Light. Theatre Bristol is a partnership between the city council, Arts Council England and local residents to develop the city’s theatre industry.[211] Several organisations support Bristol theatre; the Residence (an artist-led community) provides office, social and rehearsal space for theatre and performance companies,[212] and Equity has a branch in the city.[213]

The city has many venues for live music, its largest the 2,000-seat Bristol Beacon, previously Colston Hall, named after Edward Colston. Others include the Bristol Academy, The Fleece, The Croft, the Exchange, Fiddlers, the Victoria Rooms, Rough Trade, Trinity Centre, St George’s Bristol and several pubs, from the jazz-oriented The Old Duke to rock at the Fleece and indie bands at the Louisiana.[214

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