How did the centre of Bristol end up next to a lake in Wiltshire? 

WAKE UP BABE NEW PEDESTRIAN DIVERSIONS VIDEO

A lot of us 'Not in Bristol Bristolians' (Kingswood, etc) often agree to meet 'by the statue of Neptune' when heading into the centre of Bristol. Just a convenient place to walk from to get anywhere else in the city centre, and part of 'The Centre (by the fountains)'.

Well researched, well presented and definitely not rambling. Bristol's answer to London's Jago Hazzard (but better!). Good stuff !

Having lived in various places in Bristol for a decade, I always felt that the centre was the centre, where the Frome was filled in. With the Hippodrome and Colston Hall to one side with the hospital and university behind, the Old City and Bristol Bridge to the other, the offices of Greyfriars/Lewins Mead to the north and the harbour to the south it feels like the coming together of all the different bits that make Bristol what it is today. I think you're probably right that the centre moved with the destruction of what is now Castle Park, and that the job was finished off by the Norwich Union building.

Great details in this one. That transition from the painting to modern day Frome really highlighted the changes there. Love the photo credit to Dad.

As soon as Hoare's name came up, I, who had been walking past the cross at Stourhead regularly over 20 years of visits with elderly relatives without paying it any more historical attention than any of the other follies, pantheons and bridges, sat up and said "you're shitting me," out loud into an empty room

Your videos have led to changing my itinerary for this coming March to include three nights in Bristol. I was there in October and missed a great deal of what you covered. I did manage to walk from the Moxy Hotel to the Clifton Observatory - a seemingly interminable uphill slog which will not be repeated. I subsequently discovered the #8 bus.

I'm so glad you've uploaded more content! Do keep going, I'm loving the subject matter and your dry commentary.

I really enjoyed this video. I grew up in Bristol (40 years or so ago) and found this a fantastic journey into the city. I will be checking out your other videos. Great stuff!

I'm currently playing a game that involves a world map, and it's preferred location for the centre of Bristol is the statue of Neptune. Google Maps, however, prefers the middle of the river a little upstream of Castle Park. One solution is to just go around asking people to direct you to what they consider the centre of town, and whichever point they most often keep directing you to is clearly the modern centre of town. Or, you could run that centroid program again using all the reasonable answers for the centre, and go with wherever it puts the centre of that at.

I live just beyond the 'South Gloustershire' sign of Kingswood highstreet shown in this video and it's so bizarre that my neighbours are 'officially Bristolian' and yet I am not. I'd definately count a lot of the suburban areas as Bristol

I love the story of the ups, downs and peregrinations of the city cross. Personally I think of the centre as the old tram centre, unless it is the Nail on Corn street.

Well asking on the bus for a "single to the centre" meant by the fountains so I'm saying there 😅

If the old Bristolian's catch a bus to the city centre and you drop them off in town at the bus station they get really pissed off.. As far as they are concerned Bristol City Centre is by the Bristol Hippodrome...

As someone who lives in Cotham, I can attest that it is indeed in the centre of the city. Although it's not down by the harbour, or near Redcliffe or College Green, it is ten minutes walk from everywhere that you would find useful. Gloucester Road is down the hill, White Ladies Road is ten minutes walk *over* the hill and the Harbour-side is down the other side of the hill in the opposite direction. I'd also add the three H's in here too; that's The Hillgrove, The Hare, and The Highbury Vaults. The only place that seems far away (apart from Temple Meads - but you've covered that in another video) is Bedminster. Which is a shame, because I like Bedminster. One last thing: If you stand at the top of the Trenchard Street NCP and look 'up' towards St Micheal's Hill, you start to realise that almost every building in front of you for a square half-kilometer is owned by either the University or the Hospital. This, for me, feels like the heart, if not the soul of Bristol. Thank you for the video. Subbed.

Somewhere equidistant from St Mary's, the Cathedral, and the Bear Pit? That was my initial thought, but eyeballing it would put it somewhere around St Nick's, and that is pretty close to the historic cross roads. Thanks for another cracking video!

Not quite sure how RU-vid ended up recommending this channel to me, but I'm glad it did. I've visited Bristol quite a few times over the decades (though have never lived there) and have always liked the place. No opinion on where the centre is - having an opinion on something I know little about is exactly the sort of thing the internet is for, though I try to refrain from that. However, I found this video (and others of yours) quite fascinating.

Another great video from my new favourite channel! I can't believe all the ups and downs of that cross.... I've sat under the top bit of the 1800s remake of it in Berkeley square and wondered to myself why on earth it's there.

I've lived in Bristol since 1952, and enjoyed this well researched and very humorous account, well done.

Great video! Love stuff like this and happy to find another channel for it ^^ keep them up mate!

Bring back promenading eight abreast!

Personally as someone who lives in Gloucester and visits Bristol regularly I would say that the centre is Castle Park as it's not too far of a walk from temple meeds, has a decent amount of shops on the streets around the park and is in an area that is quite iconic and recognisable. That being said I can understand the arguments that collage Green or "the centre" is a better candidate for being the centre of Bristol so my instinct is telling me to go with somewhere between Castle Park and Collage Green.

Bristol has got 3 "centres". The ancient historic centre was where Broad St and Corn St etc form the crossroads up by Castle Park. I think the old Cross is safer at Stourhead,it wouldnt last 5 minutes back in Bristol. What we now call The Centre only dates from c.1890s it was the terminus for all the tram routes. Lastly the Stag and Hounds PH at Old Market is the point where all the measurements are taken from ie 10 miles to Bristol etc. I don't know why that particular spot.

Loving your videos Pedestrian Diversions. So refreshing to see someone who understands the concept of urban or metropolitan areas and not obsessed that borders can only be political. LGA's after all are little more than borders which defines who collects the bins, not how cities exist today. Back on the topic of what is the centre of town (as in town centre), having grown up in Australia and New Zealand, we used to always measure the centre of any city by the GPO (General Post Office) in Australia or CPO (Central Post Office) in NZ (both being the same thing). These were generally in the centre of town. All book maps for a city would have an arrow on every page that pointed in the direction of the GPO or CPO. In Australia or NZ, we used both CBD and Downtown to describe the city centre, but they actually meant different things. Downtown was the generic term for the city centre. This differs to the US, which was often a specific area and different to 'uptown', NY being the best example. But in Australia & NZ, people would just say we're going to 'town' in the 1970s or earlier, and later than that, 'downtown'. But if it were a specific part of the city centre, it might be more the retail part. The CBD on the other hand was always the financial district (hence, CBD - central business district). In Sydney, the CBD wasn't just the city centre, or even the area with the skyscrapers as much of 'downtown' had skyscrapers, but it was the bit north of Martin Place up to Circular Quay. This area was mostly offices and had little retail. All that said, it's probably also interchangeable these days with city centre and downtown as the term has lost it's specific meaning for the financial by some area over time - I bring this up because of your interesting point about skyscrapers in some cities not being the city centre (Paris, Canary Wharf etc).

Bloody fantastic video, loved it!

enjoyed that, I like the way you use film and not photographs to show locations..Bristol looks a very interesting place, I have never been there though...I am retired and living in Thailand now, I have visited most of England but with great regret I somehow missed Bristol....anyhow, for whatever reason if I do need to return to Blighty, hopefully for a short time....I would get on a train and book a cheap but cheerful hotel and explore the Pubs and History of your fine City.

Some sort of offspring of Jago Hazard and Chris Broad, talking about engineering-y, history-y stuff about Bristol? Sign me up

I really enjoyed that video!

Anyone who's lived in Bristol for a while knows where the centre is because it is called the centre!

This is amazing, thank you!

Can you cover the camera obscura? I never did work out exactly how that works, although I am reliably informed one can occasionally catch interesting goings-on the other sides of hedges in the park.

Hi enjoying watching your videos, I was wondering if there is a point where all main roads meet, or intersect. Would that give us something to campare with your VG ideas. Sorry I’m late for a comment, only just found video. Anton

Fantastic videos thankyou

No idea about Bristol, but distances to Bath are (or, at least, were) calculated to the Guildhall on the High Street. There is still a Milestone marker on the North side of the Upper Bristol Road just west of Victoria Park that specifies that the distance displayed is measured to that point.

Well, that was excellent, as ever. Did you know that Bristol Cathedral had the reputation of selling everything that wasn't screwed down, in the 18th century.

Fascinating and well researched video. I am particularly interested in the redevelopment proposals at St. Mary Le Port. I studied Town and Country Planning at UWE several moons ago. When I first came to Bristol there was still a dual carriageway going through the middle of Queen Square! (Another centre candidate?)

...... You know, I *know* logically speaking that you're running a channel talking primarily about Bristol. I *know* rationally that this will involve pictures of places I know. And yet, it never ceases to catch me off-guard when pictures of places I grew up near like, say, Two Mile Hill road pop up in videos. My instinctive gut reaction is always somewhere along the lines of "But... that's (for example) Kingswood, that's local and mundane and doesn't go on the _internet_, I did driving lessons along that road" :P

Brilliant video!

Manchester has an official centre point to which distance signs are measured. There is a plaque marking this on St Ann's church

Geographically speaking, Bristol is a weirdly lop sided city. With far more suburban area to the east of the centre, as opposed to the west, and similarly to the north rather than the south. This would make a simple geographic centre being meaningless. Unlike a more centred city like Glasgow or London. Glasgow, similar to Greater London, has grown broadly equally north and south of the river and also east and west along it. However, similar to Bristol, it has odd gerrymandered boundaries. For example, some suburbs, such as Rutherglen or Cambuslang, that most would consider Glasgow, are actually in South Lanarkshire. This is noticeable if you drive along the new M74 section, as you actually pass into and out of Glasgow twice before reaching the city centre. But, if all those outlying areas that most consider to be Glasgow were drawn around, then I feel that it’s geographic centre would come fairly close to the actual defined centre of Glasgow Cross - which coincidentally is no longer considered to be the City Centre as the commercial/political centre has moved west towards George Square.

As the business centre I'd have always said the Nails having worked at 2 Barclays branches in Corn Street.

That Bristol/South Glos border in Kingswood was the bane of my existence during the tiered lockdown system.

very good-many thanks

Really enjoyed this wild goose chase. For what it’s worth Hoare was Colston’s lawyer and like the rest of them was doing extremely well from the slave trade benefitting from the wealth produced by the labour of the surviving captured and enslaved Africans. It all connects, thanks again for adding a bit more to the story.

I think distances to London are to Hyde Park Corner. Apsley House, which stands there, is officially 1, London.

Excellent gripping narrative of Bristol de-centred!

The dead centre of Bristol is Arno's Vale.

Superb PD, great stuff. Can I politely ask that on similiar posts you dial up the dry, sarcastic & sardonic tones and start naming the bastards that make decisions that leave the rest of us pulling out our hair in absolute frustration. On the plus side - IMHO - Bristol is the craft beer capital of the world. Any chance of a 45 minute special as to how this began and endures???

Riding my bike as a youngster I was told that mileage between cities was measured General Post Office to General Post Office, which would, if true, put the centre at 19 Easton Road. Another candidate, perhaps?

In my mind the top of corn street is the the centre, but that is probably based heavily on my sister living there at one point

I live by the Street shown at 4m 30s and like to think of myself living in Bristol even though it says south Glos. I think of Warmley as the cut off for Bristol.

'Cartographical pedantry'.....I subscribed....:-)

I've only visited Bristol a couple of times and, coincidentally, both times, I've had a few hours to kill just by wandering around. Unaware of all this controversy, "The Centre" felt like the centre of the city, even though I didn't know what it was called. Maybe extending all the way from the Cabot Statue up to the Nelson Street end of Broadmead. Maybe the Burke statue is where I'd measure everything from, if I had to for a map, or something.

Btw id like to say that coming from Bristol scottbury road is not by the mound it’s actually by purdown, the mound is another name for narrow ways which is in bs2

I grew up in Cardiff which feels very much like a cousin of Bristol and it seems to have suffered from almost identically, corrupt or incompetent local planners & politicians and I have come to the conclusion that the one senior role missing in councils is that of a creative director. A creative director is someone who can balance the explicit and the abstract, leading to a thoughtful progression of development that deals with all points of view and can manage the disappointments of those who disagree but always articulate the reasoning. It is this lack of articulation that is most infuriating and has led us to the hodge-podge of developments that we live with today. Bristol is not alone, Stratford on Avon comes to mind, Reading, Luton, Birmingham, Manchester thinks its done a good job but its awful.

Very Good

I'd go for the nails outside St Nicholas Market.

the centre of bristol to me hasd always been college green . im from Bedminster

Defining the boundaries of cities in the UK is so difficult, there's so many different ways to divide them

Gosh you poms make an enthralling video

I thought distances were measured to a post office in the centre of a town?

Someone running down the (non-mixed use) cycle path and a deliveroo rider on a Voi!

very cool

In my mind the centre feels directly opposite the Hippodrome

In Australia we measure from the Post Office. !

It's level 5 of Trenchard street car park

The centre is by the fountains and docks Broadmead is the rest

A distributed conurbation is much more livable and should have fewer traffic jams. I'm sure hoomans can stuff it up tho ;)

Surely the true centre of Bristol is Turbo Island?!

cool

Interesting that you showed Sheffield because you'd be very hard put to decide on the centre of Sheffield with it having a mile long sinuous shopping area from the historic Castlegate area to the blitzed post war modernism of The Moor. It did have an old market place which in the 1960's became the iconic and infamous "hole in the road" a unique subterranean shopping experience which many considered the centre until it was filled in for the Supertram network in 1994. Or there was the Goodwin Fountain outside the town hall made famous in the Pulp song Disco 2000. Currently because of the loss of so much retail the city centre is being centralized around the Pinstone Street/Barkers Pool area. Its a bit like your recent video on the downfall of shopping areas in Bristol. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-p4Aji7CFdOY.html

I’m a Bristolian and it looks like you left out avonmouth as part of Bristol

14:33

As a Bristolian - I say Cogswallop! Bristol is Bristol. And sits where it lies. The boundary and areas of it. Is where it is! I consider it as irrelevant!

For me, the centre is the centre

Bristol should be the centre for a new parliament for the people. Id vote for that.

Hartcliffe

Just saw someone had the same task locating the centre of Wiltshire- ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OFL5kRxyf5E.html

the planetarium should be the centre just because it's class

Weight by population.

So Much Ugly in One City..Reminds me of manchester