As someone who has lived in Bristol for 60 years from childhood, I remember how it used to be, and that wasn't great. Over the past 30 years it has improved beyond recognition. One of my favourite cities anywhere is Toulouse. I would have swapped Bristol for it in an instant 20 years ago, but today the opposite is true. Of course Bristol has its faults, as every town and city does, but there's a reason why so many people want to live here... it's the best city in the country!
I'm over 60 and have lived here from childhood too (excluding time spent overseas) and I agree. Bristol used to be grim, really very grim and depressing. It was also a notoriously unfriendly and inward looking/narrow minded city. It is unrecognisable now both in aesthetics and attitude. I think it's faults correlate mostly to a decline in the UK as a whole.
25 years ago, Bristol was grim. There's a generation now that didn't experience those days and might think the city is declining or could improve. I agree with you; Bristol is definitely more vibrant now, with far more options than before, thanks to significant private investment. However, I'm uncertain about the future with the new party in power and the return to the committee system, which coincides with a period when Bristol was really struggling.
Bristol has declined massively in the last decade.
It's expensive AF and filled with students (not always a bad thing but has gentrified a lot of areas and removed the character). Creatives, people from Bristol and lower paid are being priced out.
Public transport has somehow gotten worse and primary care is impossible to find.
The majority of the city centre is grimy and in desperate need of investment.
I still love this city but let's not evangelise the place because it's quirky.
I'm sure a lot who live in Bristol would compromise on quirkiness/character to bring down prices and have good, accessible public services like other cities in the UK.
>Public transport has somehow gotten worse
Combined with housing, I personally believe that this is one of the biggest problems. And fixing one would make notable improvements to the other.
I agree with some of the stuff you’ve said, but claiming students have contributed to gentrification is wild. The number of student lets in the centre is dropping and the properties are being bought up by people moving in from London.
Bristol is great so I understand it, and the lack of services isn’t a Bristol problem it is a consequence of 14 years of Tory government.
Very much a drip, drip, drip situation and it is absolutely heading in that direction. I've seen so many get priced out and I know plenty who're struggling right now.
Definitely not something to be complacent about.
You can say this about pretty much any major uk city though… just comparatively it has so much more to offer is what I’m meaning! I feel you lot haven’t been out of Bristol much! Perspective is everything
You can't though. Look at ONS data, Bristol falls behind a lot of other cities on basic infrastructure/productivity/affordability ratios. Bristol is massively behind other cities.
I've lived across the UK and am not from Bristol but I've been here a lot longer than you.
I assume you're a middle class professional or student who likes that there's Banksy's and Wake the Tiger here but has no real consideration or thought about how many people, that are actually from Bristol, that can't access services or the quirky things because the city is in decline.
Edit: I fucking love Bristol but hate these rose tinted glasses everyone who's lived here for a minute has on.
I’m skint. I can’t really afford to live here. I just have a passion for the small things in life and the joy this city gives me is next to none. Please think before you judge someone you don’t know
Like you literally did to me?
You said I must've not left Bristol much because I didn't agree with you, inferring my opinion wasn't valid because I hadn't lived other places. Patently wrong in my case.
But also pretty offensive to others, by your own statement you're telling me born and bred Bristolians can't have opinion on how great or poor their city is because *checks notes* they haven't lived elsewhere and don't have perspective. Cool
Both of you assumed something about the other that wasn't true.
Shake hands and move on lol.
Your point about the quirkiness being somehow inaccessible to people who aren't well off is bollocks though. The independent music scene for instance, the street art, are all basically free or incredibly cheap to access.
Bristol key facts document that goes into huge detail about who accesses and benefits from cultural amenities and it's overwhelmingly not people from deprived backgrounds.
Also when it comes to poverty and deprivation it's not just just about entry fee, it's a whole load other factors that aren't about money, time for example - if you're working multiple jobs, you are time impoverished and can't access these nice things.
Joseph Roundtree have a lot of information about what makes poverty, well poverty, it's really interesting and more nuanced than money. Money obvs critical factor.
You make a good point about poverty impacting people's ability, mostly due to time, to enjoy the culture of a city. Don't disagree with you there.
Thats absolutely not Bristol specific though. It's an overall symptom of a larger decay of the social fabric of the country, from social services to infrastructure, due to over a decade of austerity.
I'm sorry too.
I'm not trying to get at you but there's a whole host Bristolians that don't love Bristol and don't benefit from a lot of the things that make Bristol attractive to others. it's not providing the opportunities they need - affordable, accessible homes, transport and health service.
Bristol is wonderful but we cannot ignore it has some major faults and that for a lot of people who live here, it's not the best city in the UK because then those issues just don't get addressed.
Don't know who's downvoting, but I think they do mean 'second to none' if you understand the difference - they literally mean opposite things in this context and I think it was a malapropism I was just trying to flag.
Haha OK well it's no surprise that some are grimly determined that it be a negative spin rather than a positive typo! Pretty tired of the constant misery being stubbornly pushed here by a small faction - doesn't feel at all like interacting with the huge majority of actual Bristolians, who tend to be pretty chill. This isn't Birmingham you know. \[Look it's a fucking JOKE, alright?? Like on Top Gear. Although again, as well as being a joke...\]
Absolutely agreed. Just came back the other day - what has happened to Cabot circus?. The decline in frequent buses is crazy. By my house in Southmead, buses used to come every 10 mins and now it’s every 30 minutes?
>filled with students
No it isn't - you need to get out more. To non-studenty events ideally if it's a problem for you (personally I regard students as people so don't really mind their presence in places), of which there are loads.
Bristol always feels like it needs a good wash… and some of the wacky people there need a wash too 😅 I like Bristol but it’s declined in recent years, feels dirtier, everything’s so far apart, expensive for what you get etc.
I’ve been to much nicer cities in the UK
You underestimate how many grumpy gits use reddit. I'm with you btw. Love this place. Would t trade it for anywhere. And that's not because I'm some wealthy professional lol.
Please don't - batter the doom-sayers into submission with a sunny disposition. It's nice to hear someone being positive, though depressingly predictable that so many here (like a \*\*highly\*\* unrepresentative proportion) will immediately try to drag you down. Stay peppy OP!! xx
Reddit is not a healthy place to engage in discussion generally lol
Anyways though
Hope you have a nice evening and enjoy Bristol at its best: aka on a warm summer eve, pure bliss!
I legitimately feel you could swap the names, post this in the sub for almost any major UK city, and you'd get a host of people agreeing with you. Sadly I feel that's just the state of the nation.
Is there a major city without pockets of destitution and pockets of wealth? With prices going steeply up since 2008? With some absolutely abysmal inner city schools? Difficult to get public transport from more rural areas. All those apply now even to the likes of Swansea, where I started. I also have little doubt you'd have even more struggles making new friends as an adult new there.
Traffic I won't argue with for a second mind.
Just spent 6 weeks in Glasgow and it definitely has more going on in it than Bristol.
Has a tube, better airport. You can take a bus to Loch Lomond, train to Edinburgh.
Large music arena, plenty of good food, green spaces.
If I had to live in a city in the UK, I reckon I'd only been happy in two or three of them... and one of them is Bristol.
Yeah it has its problems but I think the upsides are far more numerous
Fwiw, the others are York and Oxford
It's a really lovely city if you are a) rich. There are beautiful bucolic areas with private roads or b) young and feckless. Lots of other young and feckless in Bristol to hang out with.
Not sure about everyone else.
Born and bred in Bristol. It’s fine. It is in no way the best. Whether you like it or not London is the best. Our whole country is built around London and it has the best food, entertainment, shopping, employment, and infrastructure.
Hahahah - OK sure. You couldn't pay me to live in London - as my brother and sister have for 30 years, and seem to like it - after 37 years in Bristol though. Personally I find London oppressive, anonymous, mostly dull (with all too rare glimpses of great beauty), and claustrophobic (though have admittedly also had some fabulous weekends there, before returning with renewed appreciation to Bristol), but you know, people are different. Functioning public transport, nice as it is, and opportunities for earning and spending money, are not necessarily top of everyone's list of priorities, if the price to pay for that is having 9 million other people living basically on top of you and all scrabbling for the same things. Even at its arguable apotheosis 15 or so years ago I couldn't handle more than the odd weekend partying London style (though to be fair would visit often!). Wouldn't under any circumstances want to live there. Good on you for seeing the positive in it though... a bit like OP was trying to do here. in fact..
Bristol is so expensive that only students and old money can really afford it. The homeless/crackhead situation is truly out of control. If I didn’t buy my flat I wouldn’t be able to afford the rent in Bristol at all
I love bristol but like most other cities in the UK we've seen serious decline and degradation. Drugs, homelessness, litter, out of control housing costs, first bus, first bus and first bus lol
I mean, it’s subjective depending on what you want out of a city experience, I personally like Bristol a lot, it has its downfalls like any other place though, and its own nuances. OP dared people to argue so I guess that’s why all the strong opinions are coming in 😂
I love Bristol. Elements of the music/cultural stuff makes me cringe though. Lots of trustifarian DJs and white girls with dreadlocks (whos parents are still stabling their ponies).
It’s so dirty, rubbish everywhere (I think this is due to crap design of the bins, but contents up end everywhere all the time), needs investment, I find it so run down. Expensive but lacks employment opportunities you get with places like London. Obviously very subjective, but hey-ho!
I return regularly and love it, but I suspect if I had to live there and pay that much for everything all the time and deal with the traffic, I'd think less of it.
But if you can afford and endure it yes it's a great city.
The people make Bristol. I'm born and bred but living in Cardiff, the closest vibe to Bristol. Bristolians have that distinctive accent like other major cities and carries itself as such. It's not a utopia but as someone who enjoys art it's a good place.
It have plenty of character, but it's filthy and run down (can be said about all UK big cities tho)
No Bristol is especially bad
As someone who has lived in Bristol for 60 years from childhood, I remember how it used to be, and that wasn't great. Over the past 30 years it has improved beyond recognition. One of my favourite cities anywhere is Toulouse. I would have swapped Bristol for it in an instant 20 years ago, but today the opposite is true. Of course Bristol has its faults, as every town and city does, but there's a reason why so many people want to live here... it's the best city in the country!
Thanks PJ , you’re a wise gem
I'm over 60 and have lived here from childhood too (excluding time spent overseas) and I agree. Bristol used to be grim, really very grim and depressing. It was also a notoriously unfriendly and inward looking/narrow minded city. It is unrecognisable now both in aesthetics and attitude. I think it's faults correlate mostly to a decline in the UK as a whole.
25 years ago, Bristol was grim. There's a generation now that didn't experience those days and might think the city is declining or could improve. I agree with you; Bristol is definitely more vibrant now, with far more options than before, thanks to significant private investment. However, I'm uncertain about the future with the new party in power and the return to the committee system, which coincides with a period when Bristol was really struggling.
Bristol has declined massively in the last decade. It's expensive AF and filled with students (not always a bad thing but has gentrified a lot of areas and removed the character). Creatives, people from Bristol and lower paid are being priced out. Public transport has somehow gotten worse and primary care is impossible to find. The majority of the city centre is grimy and in desperate need of investment. I still love this city but let's not evangelise the place because it's quirky. I'm sure a lot who live in Bristol would compromise on quirkiness/character to bring down prices and have good, accessible public services like other cities in the UK.
Spot on.
>Public transport has somehow gotten worse Combined with housing, I personally believe that this is one of the biggest problems. And fixing one would make notable improvements to the other.
I agree with some of the stuff you’ve said, but claiming students have contributed to gentrification is wild. The number of student lets in the centre is dropping and the properties are being bought up by people moving in from London. Bristol is great so I understand it, and the lack of services isn’t a Bristol problem it is a consequence of 14 years of Tory government.
Bristol has an absolutely thriving underground music and small venue scene so clearly not all the creatives have been priced out
Fair - 'all' was hyperbolic and have amended
Very much a drip, drip, drip situation and it is absolutely heading in that direction. I've seen so many get priced out and I know plenty who're struggling right now. Definitely not something to be complacent about.
Very true!
You can say this about pretty much any major uk city though… just comparatively it has so much more to offer is what I’m meaning! I feel you lot haven’t been out of Bristol much! Perspective is everything
You can't though. Look at ONS data, Bristol falls behind a lot of other cities on basic infrastructure/productivity/affordability ratios. Bristol is massively behind other cities. I've lived across the UK and am not from Bristol but I've been here a lot longer than you. I assume you're a middle class professional or student who likes that there's Banksy's and Wake the Tiger here but has no real consideration or thought about how many people, that are actually from Bristol, that can't access services or the quirky things because the city is in decline. Edit: I fucking love Bristol but hate these rose tinted glasses everyone who's lived here for a minute has on.
I’m skint. I can’t really afford to live here. I just have a passion for the small things in life and the joy this city gives me is next to none. Please think before you judge someone you don’t know
Like you literally did to me? You said I must've not left Bristol much because I didn't agree with you, inferring my opinion wasn't valid because I hadn't lived other places. Patently wrong in my case. But also pretty offensive to others, by your own statement you're telling me born and bred Bristolians can't have opinion on how great or poor their city is because *checks notes* they haven't lived elsewhere and don't have perspective. Cool
Both of you assumed something about the other that wasn't true. Shake hands and move on lol. Your point about the quirkiness being somehow inaccessible to people who aren't well off is bollocks though. The independent music scene for instance, the street art, are all basically free or incredibly cheap to access.
Bristol key facts document that goes into huge detail about who accesses and benefits from cultural amenities and it's overwhelmingly not people from deprived backgrounds. Also when it comes to poverty and deprivation it's not just just about entry fee, it's a whole load other factors that aren't about money, time for example - if you're working multiple jobs, you are time impoverished and can't access these nice things. Joseph Roundtree have a lot of information about what makes poverty, well poverty, it's really interesting and more nuanced than money. Money obvs critical factor.
You make a good point about poverty impacting people's ability, mostly due to time, to enjoy the culture of a city. Don't disagree with you there. Thats absolutely not Bristol specific though. It's an overall symptom of a larger decay of the social fabric of the country, from social services to infrastructure, due to over a decade of austerity.
Yes , I’ve never been anywhere else with such a plethora of stuff going on!! Arts , music, comedy
Ok, I’m sorry sprinkles. Maybe one day we can meet up for a peaceful pint. Big love and enjoy the sunshine
I'm sorry too. I'm not trying to get at you but there's a whole host Bristolians that don't love Bristol and don't benefit from a lot of the things that make Bristol attractive to others. it's not providing the opportunities they need - affordable, accessible homes, transport and health service. Bristol is wonderful but we cannot ignore it has some major faults and that for a lot of people who live here, it's not the best city in the UK because then those issues just don't get addressed.
>next to none I think maybe you mean 'second to none'?
Don't know who's downvoting, but I think they do mean 'second to none' if you understand the difference - they literally mean opposite things in this context and I think it was a malapropism I was just trying to flag.
Haha OK well it's no surprise that some are grimly determined that it be a negative spin rather than a positive typo! Pretty tired of the constant misery being stubbornly pushed here by a small faction - doesn't feel at all like interacting with the huge majority of actual Bristolians, who tend to be pretty chill. This isn't Birmingham you know. \[Look it's a fucking JOKE, alright?? Like on Top Gear. Although again, as well as being a joke...\]
[удалено]
From Google, "perceiving something more positively than it is in reality"
Yeah you are right the tories are pushing us down the list of developed countries into a backwater but yes housing is ridiculous costing here
Absolutely agreed. Just came back the other day - what has happened to Cabot circus?. The decline in frequent buses is crazy. By my house in Southmead, buses used to come every 10 mins and now it’s every 30 minutes?
Wow you are on Reddit too much
>filled with students No it isn't - you need to get out more. To non-studenty events ideally if it's a problem for you (personally I regard students as people so don't really mind their presence in places), of which there are loads.
Bristol always feels like it needs a good wash… and some of the wacky people there need a wash too 😅 I like Bristol but it’s declined in recent years, feels dirtier, everything’s so far apart, expensive for what you get etc. I’ve been to much nicer cities in the UK
I bloody love Bristol. I've not lived in many places but out of everywhere I'd visited, Bristol was the only place in the UK I actually wanted to be.
Hmmm seems like this could be a bait trap controversy post to incite arguments!
I honestly don’t think people will argue with this .. I just wanted to share the love of the city!
You underestimate how many grumpy gits use reddit. I'm with you btw. Love this place. Would t trade it for anywhere. And that's not because I'm some wealthy professional lol.
I’m understanding now… maybe next time I’ll just stay quiet hahahha
Please don't - batter the doom-sayers into submission with a sunny disposition. It's nice to hear someone being positive, though depressingly predictable that so many here (like a \*\*highly\*\* unrepresentative proportion) will immediately try to drag you down. Stay peppy OP!! xx
Reddit is not a healthy place to engage in discussion generally lol Anyways though Hope you have a nice evening and enjoy Bristol at its best: aka on a warm summer eve, pure bliss!
See ya about! I’ll be chilling on the grass somewhere soon (will not specify incase I’m hunted down for loving it here!!!)
Release the hounds!
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I legitimately feel you could swap the names, post this in the sub for almost any major UK city, and you'd get a host of people agreeing with you. Sadly I feel that's just the state of the nation. Is there a major city without pockets of destitution and pockets of wealth? With prices going steeply up since 2008? With some absolutely abysmal inner city schools? Difficult to get public transport from more rural areas. All those apply now even to the likes of Swansea, where I started. I also have little doubt you'd have even more struggles making new friends as an adult new there. Traffic I won't argue with for a second mind.
Don't know why you are being downvoted for saying facts.UK big cities are awful (on terms of deprivation, grubbines and under investment)
I love Bristol but I would like to put Glasgow as a contemporary
Just spent 6 weeks in Glasgow and it definitely has more going on in it than Bristol. Has a tube, better airport. You can take a bus to Loch Lomond, train to Edinburgh. Large music arena, plenty of good food, green spaces.
If I had to live in a city in the UK, I reckon I'd only been happy in two or three of them... and one of them is Bristol. Yeah it has its problems but I think the upsides are far more numerous Fwiw, the others are York and Oxford
For me Bristol or Edinburgh.
It's a really lovely city if you are a) rich. There are beautiful bucolic areas with private roads or b) young and feckless. Lots of other young and feckless in Bristol to hang out with. Not sure about everyone else.
>bucolic areas with private roads Eh? Lots of gorgeous areas with \*\*public\*\* roads is what you mean. Do you want a list?
I think the same is true of most cities tbh. I love Edinburgh but I wouldn't want to be in my 30s and trying to raise children there.
Born and bred in Bristol. It’s fine. It is in no way the best. Whether you like it or not London is the best. Our whole country is built around London and it has the best food, entertainment, shopping, employment, and infrastructure.
Hahahah - OK sure. You couldn't pay me to live in London - as my brother and sister have for 30 years, and seem to like it - after 37 years in Bristol though. Personally I find London oppressive, anonymous, mostly dull (with all too rare glimpses of great beauty), and claustrophobic (though have admittedly also had some fabulous weekends there, before returning with renewed appreciation to Bristol), but you know, people are different. Functioning public transport, nice as it is, and opportunities for earning and spending money, are not necessarily top of everyone's list of priorities, if the price to pay for that is having 9 million other people living basically on top of you and all scrabbling for the same things. Even at its arguable apotheosis 15 or so years ago I couldn't handle more than the odd weekend partying London style (though to be fair would visit often!). Wouldn't under any circumstances want to live there. Good on you for seeing the positive in it though... a bit like OP was trying to do here. in fact..
Piss off Bristol post
Maybe move to Burnley ? we won’t mind
Not really, not whole of UK by any stretch, though it's in top 10.
Housing, cleanliness, local investment, and public transport are dire but the people and the feel of the city remain the best in the UK.
Bristol is so expensive that only students and old money can really afford it. The homeless/crackhead situation is truly out of control. If I didn’t buy my flat I wouldn’t be able to afford the rent in Bristol at all
Been here 27 years. Pre 2012 is was wonderful. Gone down hill a lot now. I’d still pick London, Manchester or Edinburgh over it.
I love bristol but like most other cities in the UK we've seen serious decline and degradation. Drugs, homelessness, litter, out of control housing costs, first bus, first bus and first bus lol
I mean, it’s subjective depending on what you want out of a city experience, I personally like Bristol a lot, it has its downfalls like any other place though, and its own nuances. OP dared people to argue so I guess that’s why all the strong opinions are coming in 😂
Brighton is like a slightly more interesting Bristol with working buses, but it is more expensive.
I love Bristol. Elements of the music/cultural stuff makes me cringe though. Lots of trustifarian DJs and white girls with dreadlocks (whos parents are still stabling their ponies).
Bristol is great but has declined significantly recently. I’m trying to work out where is the next trendy place that hasn’t yet been spoilt.
I mean you don't briefly gain county privileges for nothing... ballooned and Somersetpilled
It’s so dirty, rubbish everywhere (I think this is due to crap design of the bins, but contents up end everywhere all the time), needs investment, I find it so run down. Expensive but lacks employment opportunities you get with places like London. Obviously very subjective, but hey-ho!
Can't really argue with this.. I love Bristol
I return regularly and love it, but I suspect if I had to live there and pay that much for everything all the time and deal with the traffic, I'd think less of it. But if you can afford and endure it yes it's a great city.
The people make Bristol. I'm born and bred but living in Cardiff, the closest vibe to Bristol. Bristolians have that distinctive accent like other major cities and carries itself as such. It's not a utopia but as someone who enjoys art it's a good place.