Up to 1964 I was a choirboy at a central Bristol church. Our choirmaster and organist lived in a house on the main Bath road, some 100 yards east of three lamps. I also passed this way every day to and from school. Even as a generally optimistic teenager I was astonished and horrified at what THEY did to Totterdown. You are right to bring this sort of atrocity back into focus.
Just want to say I love your work, one of my favourite channels. The devastation Bristol's town planners have done over the years is just extraordinary. A city built elegantly around the harbour then totally fucked by an obession with cars.
I lived there at the time,luckily just above the destruction in Arnos St. The destruction and disruption was horrendous, I lost friends who had to move, residents had to drive to shops they used to walk to and the heart was taken out of a community.
My father and aunt were both born in a now demolished section of bath road. It broke my great and great great grandparents hearts when their houses were CPO'd and they ended their lives out in the "sticks" at Hartcliffe.
Yeah the road splitting the park is madness on any level, but when you think of the topography you'd have to assume another giant cutting so the disfigurement would be enormous! could've ranted on about that for a while but thought I'd try and stay focussed on Totterdown!
The road would have ran under Victoria Park in a tunnel and instead of both carriageways being side by side it would have been one above the other in separate bores. I have no idea why this was the case but it seems quite extravagant to me but maybe the topography would have made it simpler.
Well this was an incredibly interesting watch. I've always wondered what the hell is going on with Totterdown, especially the strange placement of the Tescos and the car park. I also very much appreciated the way this was edited and scripted - it's far more interesting than the topic might have you think! Can't wait to watch more!
In 1971, my grandfather and father gave up their Opticians practice in the old YMCA building because of the indecision of the road plans and demolition. This was shortly after it featured in a national Optical publication as a model of a stylish and modern practice. Thanks for your video which filled in a few gaps in for me.
Had to laugh at your description of the ‘arse end of a grotty shop’ facing the main road. I have often driven this road and thought what an eyesore it is. I noticed the contrast in building styles but assumed it was just normal redevelopment. PD does it again!
Reminds me of Wisbech, where they built a new main road through the town on top of a filled in canal. So the road is actually fronted by the grotty arse ends of the shops!
my family grew up on county street , and hillside terrace, it was a fantastic family focused area where everybody looked out for one another , i miss it greatly .xx
Many memories in this film. My mother worked at the poodle parlour mentioned early in the film. I would walk or cycle through there to and from school, often with my nose pressed to the window of the model railway shop on opposite side of the junction of St. Johns lane. All of Totterdown still existed when I went away to the RAF in 1967 and when I returned from my posting to the far side of the country it was all gone. I was appalled, because near my home, the same thing had happened to all the old familiar shops at Broadwalk. Torn down and a monstrous charmless shopping centre built in their place. Nw that shopping centre is to be torn down and hideous 12 storey blocks of flats built. I can only think that Bristol planners are insane.
I'm always particularly impressed with how artist's impressions and other "Ladybird book" style sunny illustrations always lie to us about the future, in the same way that Railway posters lied about the beauty of various holiday resorts around the UK. You can't fault the optimism but the risk of loss with a day trip to Weston or Skegness is more easily absorbed than the losses we suffer from believing the lies that these visions enabled. I say this as an ex-illustrator of architectural developments, the illustrators knew what they were doing because it was in the brief. At 7:19 just count the vehicles and witness the pleasant strolling people to the right enjoying what must be a lovely sunny day. No litter, no diesel marks, beautifully maintained and free of graffiti.
Thanks again P D for a very revealing docu-film (video sounds too weak a description for your work) Two reasons to add my comment.... My family were active members of Wycliffe Church (as we called it in the 50s & 60s) I was baptised there and indeed used to sing solos or duets if the other singer turned up at harvest festival and other special services. Also,interestingly? a current TV advertisement for UK government financial help for families features several aerial housing shots including the very distinctive Totterdown. Second reason, you deserve more than just thanks for bringing so many eye opening facts and stories to our attention....even Time Team gained from using Patreon !?! and then there's the new T shirt deal..... My only complaint is the publicity you gave to Kate Pollard's book, Totterdown Rising, which I hadn't previously heard of (having not lived in Bristol for over 40 years) it has sky rocketed in price from 55p +p&p to circa £10 - which happens to be the original cover price....... but what a gem 8¬) I hope she also benefitted from her work. Massive Thank You once again!
I lived up the hill on Bayham road and my mum used the shops in Totterdown. There was a Bata shoe shop, a gents outfitter, David Greg the grocer, an open market stall opposite the YMCA hall and three pubs. There was a Barbershop and nice houses on either side of the main Wells road. I had three friends that lived in houses that were subsequently demolished. Houses and a pub on Bath road were also demolished. The planners also made a right mess of Cumberland Basin, and even now the idiots are ignoring the route of the Parson Street to Portishead railway which was recently re laid and added to for imported coal traffic. It could have formed a rail route into the city from the big residential development at Portishead.
Portishead re-opening is planned as a key part (Phase 1B) of West of England Mayoral Combined Authority's MetroWest project. As of April 2024, the scheme is fully funded, a Development Consent Order has been obtained (this was a major milestone) and planning consent is awaited regarding revised plans for a single platform station at Quays Road, Portishead. Progress has been slow but the reopening will certainly happen, with an intermediate station at Pill, and possibly later at Ashton Gate once the route is a proven success. It will be another Okehampton, for sure. P.S: "Should the Full Business Case be approved by the DfT, Portishead line will be brought back to Full Council in summer 2024 to agree the release of funding set aside for the scheme by North Somerset Council. This would be in addition to funding approved by the DfT, as set out in the Full Business Case." Source: RailBusinessDaily, 8 Jan 2024. Full Business Case is the third and final stage in the three-stage business case process: 1) Strategic Outline Business Case. 2) Outline Business Case. 3) Full Business Case.
Sir, you are to be congratulated for your excellent verbal demolition job wreaked upon a bunch of clowns hiding under the title of Town Planners. My time in Bristol was spent many, many years ago, and, as an Engineer Officer in the then Merchant Navy, I had other things on my mind rather than architectural and traffic deficiencies. However, there is one point which I feel should be stated as missing in your otherwise excellent narration: and that is simply that there is no anger, no ferocity, no calls for a massed march to fire up an insurrection; to find and wipe out these smug bastards who destroyed an entire community, without any consultation, and, seemingly, without anyone getting punished at all.
Many past residents of South Bristol will remember Henry Bradbeer's little house (and the two either side of it) standing like a lonely, defiant island in a desolated Totterdown wasteland. It was an iconic image of the time, and remained so into the 1980's.
Loving your videos. I'm a 40 year old Bristolian and although familiar with the places you talk about, didn't know the history. Great sense of humour injected into videos, keep it up :)
We lived on Wells Rd just up from the three lamps. We had everything within walking distance. We had a lovely childhood living in Totterdown. A 5 bedroom house with a garage at the back, this would have been where the horses were housed, it was 2 stories the hay etc would have been stored upstairs. I miss living in Totterdown I feel our history has been wiped out. So sad.
Greetings from New York. I think in most American cities in the 1960s, they would have built the horrible spaghetti ramps and all. I like your dry humor and barely contained anger. I hope you can make some videos in the US one day.
I live far from Bristol, but at least twice a year I drive passed Temple Meads and up the Wells Road to Whitchurch to visit in-laws, and always find Totterdown an interesting place. Thank you.
I'm the person who drew the plans of the Three Lamps Interchange shown in your video. Ironically the archive building where the original plans are held is right next to the Ashton Gate interchange complex. Although I am still a very strong supporter of urban motorways I do feel what happened in Totterdown was the worst of all evils. To destroy such classic architecture and then not build the road must be one of the biggest blunders of its time. It is however not unique. Several other cities also had road schemes that reached the compulsory purchase stage and properties were demolished only for the road to be scrapped at the eleventh hour. It is ten years since I did my research at Bristol Archives and although I intended to return and view other documents relating to the road schemes I have never got round to doing it. I also enjoyed watching your other videos, especially the one concerning the location of Temple Meads Station and why Bristol doesn't have a station more centrally located. Although we clearly have opposing views on massive urban roads I do hope you'll keep posting more videos of Bristol as you've shown stuff I was not previously aware of.
nice to hear from you, I was originally going to try messaging you on Sabre to ask if I could use your drawing, but I couldn't get it to line up perfectly with OSM (maybe you used OS or something else as a base? curious) so I ended up redoing it. But I couldn't have done it without your research and Sabre posts. I hope you don't feel "ripped off"!
All the original road plans at Bristol Archives are on aperture cards. These look like 35mm film negatives. There are machines which are able to print them out on A3 paper. I then photographed them using a distortion free 50mm lens and then orientated them northwards according to Google Earth. I have a freeling OSM and Google Earth use the same north. OS uses grid north which differs from true north and the further west and east in the UK you go the more it differs. I certainly don't feel ripped off and anything which promotes my work on Sabre is to be congratulated.
I grew up in that area and witnessed the devastation you and your colleagues created ..... I can't believe anyone would actually own up to being involved in that total disaster - personally, I would have kept quiet about it as it is nothing to be proud of
You got the wrong end of the stick. I only take interest in unbuilt road schemes as a hobby and have never had a part in planning this or anything else that resulted in urban destruction.
Great stuff, as usual. I knew a lot of this, but not put together, so I found it really interesting. Please do something on Marvin's plans to move the Central Library into Debenhams.
My initial thoughts on closing central library could be summarised as: NO. Hadn't heard of Debenhams as an option. That's actually...not terrible, compared to BCC's usual policy of siting city amenities in South Gloucestershire
@@PedestrianDiversions there's a petition going round about it. Oh yes, while I'm here, as a Cliftonwoodite, I'd really like to see you do a piece on the development of the area. Not that i'm demanding or anything ...
Excellent Video, I’m not a local but know Bristol very well and have a keen interest in all things Transport and town planning but was completely unaware of this story. I’ve just purchased “Totterdown Rising” from Tangent books (a bargain at £7) which is looking to be an excellent read.
I'm moving to Totterdown soon and you videos and this one specifically is really helpful for understanding the history of the area. I also showed this to a friend and he suggested that the destruction of the shop promenade could have coincided with a local shopping mall being built. So I checked when the broadwalk centre was built and it was also in the seventies, but I'm not sure if the timings coincide? But an interesting thought that they may be related, even if it's a bit conspiratorial.
Fantastic videos. My parents grew up in Totterdown and attended Totterdown Methodist Church, which only survived because it was on the right side of Bushy Park! Anyway, I remember the pub on the Bath Road was the Turnpike Inn, not Thunderbolt.
There is nothing wrong with the 80s estate in isolation, the houses are attractive enough. Build it on the urban fringes and it would be fine. However it completely jars with the surviving residential areas, and of course what was needlessly demolished for them to even be there in the first place.
This kind of planning nightmare would apply to many very old towns or cities. The planners of the 1800s would never have conceived ofthe need to reserve road corridors for future private car use 100 years later
To an American, Bristol reminds me of San Francisco with its hills and rainbow-painted houses. It's also interesting that the Malvina Reynolds song about the houses all made out of ticky tacky was inspired by a prominent hillside development in the San Francisco suburbs.
Great piece of Bristol history and urban planning clusterfuckery. The road interchange design makes you wonder what they were smoking...but hey it would have probably won awards when built.
Those red and yellow houses remind me of the halls of residence I stayed in while at university in Aberystwyth. Rosser Hall consisted of these red brick blocks with little windows that looked like they were designed for a prison, and the college magazine said of it, "even newer than Trefloyne (its slightly older neighbour) but not nice at all unless you have recently been released on parole".
My theory is that the interchange road plan was so badly thought-out that when the designer revealed it, a co-worker said 'No way', grabbed the designers pen, and scribbled all over it. Unfortunately, nobody could tell the difference.
A point in favour of this video is that I would never have known about Kate Pollard's book if you hadn't made this; therefore I didn't 'waste my time' watching it. Also, I would have missed out on your acerbic commentary.
There is no appeal when a road is proposed. I was evicted to make way for the South Circular Motorway through South London. This was stopped but I was told 'Only shelved not scrapped' so I was evicted all the same. The DoT sold the building at a profit.
Really informative! Lots of interesting stuff I didn't know. But as one minor bit of feedback, the mouse clicks of you clicking through your notes or what have you are a little distracting. Maybe swap to a keyboard button press or something that has less of a sound to advance your notes or move your mic away in such a way that it doesnt pick up the clicks
Thank you for an interesting, informative and overall excellent channel. I lived on Stanley Hill, Totterdown, in early 1980 and seem to remember a lone house, still inhabited, out in the 'wasteland'. Is it possible that this was Henry Bradbeer's place or am I misremembering?
I live in Bath but work in Bristol. I used to work in Knowle for 5 years. Would love to know the history behind the construction of Broadwalk Shopping Centre.
What a great video with a touching end. Is there any evidence that Bristol town planning has improved? What horrors can we expect when they starting remodelling/hacking up Cumberland Basin when the concrete gives up?
there's a petition for a lack of confidence in the planning dept, and one of its officers recently resigned describing the committee as "misleading and dishonourable", so I guess that answers your first question... google knowle broadwalk for gory details
I remember the poodle grooming parlour, doesn't seem so odd these days. I would have been in my first 10 years on weekend trips from Midsomer Norton to Bristol in my dads Zodiac mk 3. Poodle a grooming parlour was an important land mark from that perspective.
it was an obsession with cars combined with ideas to separate working class communities and keep them in check. I can’t imagine how awful the city would look if the outer circuit road ever got finished, thank god those rich Clifton boys got their backs up, because the poor never got heard. Also, TRAMS FOR FUCKS SAKE TRAMS. HOW HARD CAN IT BE.
That apology is absolutely unnecessarily. I thought you were trolling but turns out not. Also gotta love the choice of exclusively adding punctuation only in the very middle of the paragraph. Unique.
Typical of 1960s planning everywhere. The vogue was to demolish Victorian terraced houses purely because of their age, irrespective of the solid community which had grown up in them over generations. I grew up in Leicester and the long-term council leader Peter Soulsby cut his teeth in community campaigns to stop the council from wantonly destroying thriving communities. Both Leicester and Bristol, however, desperately need a fit-for-purpose public transport system, and are the largest cities in the UK with no light urban railway network. Bristol has the odd hill, but is nowhere near as hilly as Sheffield, where trams manage absolutely fine.
I think Leeds is up there too. But yes, absolutely. I don't really understand how there is still any debate about it to be honest. One the one hand, we have vague suggestions that trams and light rail somehow "won't work" in Bristol (or Leicester or Leeds or wherever) because they're too old/dense/narrow/hilly. As counter-evidence, we have... um... basically every Bristol-sized city in Europe?
amazing video! the use of compulsory purchase orders in the past make me laugh, considering that a shoein CPO of e.g. the abandoned pub on the bottom of gainsborough square hasn't happened yet even though it should've happened literal decades ago (most argue before i was even born!)
this is off my head not researched or owt, but southville is victorian expansion, eastville looks similar vintage on streetview, northville looks C20th. the only logical place to put a westville that i can see is clifton and by the victorian era they couldnt do that because clifton had already been put there. so i suppose the fact clifton was an 'ancient' place name (cliff+ton is anglosaxon for settlement IIRC) already established for that area by the time the georgians suburb-ised it, could be 'why' the victorians didnt contrive a westville. not the most solid reasoning admittedly
All the members of Bristol City Council and planning departments from over the years need to of given answers to nearly every area of Bristol the mess of the now southern section of the ring road from the A370 to the A38 and through higridge Common and Bishopsworth these people are a disgrace to ripe up Common land and ripe through where people have lived for most of there lives, and the buildings they have allowed to be built to replace the devastation these planners that have allowed to be built disgraceful this is the reson I now live in Devon.
I wonder if "enjoy" is the right word for this video? It's an excellent video, but who could enjoy such a sad story? I also wonder whether that well-known driver of urban planning, corruption, played a part in this sorry tale?
it's at this point I particularly regret cutting the part about "I can't even blame the designers because you simply can't fit a conflict-free interchange for three major and umpteen local roads in this amount of space"...
@@PedestrianDiversions It was very difficult to fit everything into the space. There was to be a transportation interchange in the centre which would allow people to park and transfer to public transport into the city. By the way, I also worked on the design and construction of the M32.
@@jeffkibby1678 can you provide some insight into the thinking behind what appears to have a truly awful design? Surely if it was really difficult to fit everything in that in itself was a red flag.
Very sad. This stupid development destroyed shops and family homes - and yet no one was brought to task over this total mess (yet I did notice someone in the comments proudly announcing that he drew up the plans for it - personally I would have kept quiet about being involved in anything to do with it)
that person drew *A* plan of it, forty years after the fact, which I copied in making this because it saved me a trip to the archives, but they didn't draw up THE plans. although, confusingly, someone else who *did* work on the actual plans for it also commented! in fairness to them, they're not deciding what road to build or what to knock down to build it, just designing the engineering specifics to the brief of the politicians and planners who did decide that, I think the blame lies with the latter
@@PedestrianDiversions ".... lies with the latter" Totally agree. The problem I have is that I actually witnessed what this mess did to REAL people and businesses. Like I said in reply to that person - it's absolutely nothing to be proud of The sort of arrogance shown by local government and their so-called "experts" in this project has always existed in Bristol City Council, and still exists today .... 15 minute cities anyone! Great video BTW (and the one on Temple Meads)
epicentre ( ˈɛpɪˌsɛntə) or epicenter n 1. (Geological Science) Also called: epicentrum the point on the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake or underground nuclear explosion.
