The Changing Face of Bristol & its People
Two photographs depicting the same view, one taken a period of time after the other, give us an instantaneous impression of ' then ' and 'now '. Some comparisons show old views that are instantly recognisable, where the natural passage of time and technology has made only slight changes. Other views illustrate major change and it can be difficult to comprehend that an area has altered so much. Unless you have lived through a change and can remember what was there before, there is often no reason to question what building was replaced or how the area functioned in the past.
OLD MARKET THEN & NOW - JULY 1923 - JULY 2004
Younger Bristol people may be forgiven for thinking that this 1920s photo of the old trains and trams in action could have been taken anywhere in the pre-war city. For the sharp sighted there are quite a few clues as to its origins.
One clue is the tower-like structure with a dome on the top in the centre left of the picture. This belongs to Old Markets Central Hall once well known its Methodist services and use as a meeting hall. but now converted into flats and apartments.
The other clue is the tall building to the right of the picture jutting out across the pavement this pictured with the Ushers Trowbridge Ales sign on its side is the Stag and Hounds public house where the ancient Pie Poudre Court was once held but which, since the Temple Way underpass was built in the 1960s has sat in virtual isolation on the corner of Old Market and Temple Way.
The Empire Theatre, to the left of our picture which could seat 2.530 people and was a Mecca for top acts closed in 1954 and became a BBC TV studio It was demolished in 1953, along many other buildings to make way for the motorcar.
The electric trains the busy Old Market route were the last to operate in the city they trundled on until 1941 when war-time bomb damage cut off their electricity supply.
BRISTOL THEN & NOW - BROADMEAD - OCT 1970 - OCT 2004
I BET many people would be surprised to hear that 16 years have gone by since the Co-op’s Fairfax House was demollshed and replaced by The Galleries car park. When it opened. as the Bristol Co-ops flagship department store, at 11am on Thursday. March 29. 1962.
The general manager Mr Cavender said optimistically: Fairfax House can become Bristol's Picadilly Circus. Needless to say it didn’t. At the slap-up lunch in the stores own restaurant he concluded Fairfax House has been designed ‘with the desire that it should be a credit to the city of Bristol and particularly to our own membership and it can truly be described as the only store that has been built for from the savings of ordinary people.
Lord Alexander of Hillsborough. the Bristol-born VIP who had been a Labour and Co-op MP in Sheffield until 1950 cut the whte ribbon tape at the Union Street entrance and said — as much to the stores detractors as to the 1,000 strong crowd. “It’s not owned my a couple of capitalists it’s yours' - It was a devil of a building to construct,500 feet long and squeezed between Farfax Street and what was then Narrow Wine Street straddling the river Frome and with the marshy ground sloping away in two directions it didn't help that the foundations had actually been constructed for a million-pound shop, cinema and restaurant development which never came to fruiton.
It was a difficult buildlng to get around with three levels of entry, four main elevations and a narrow strip in the middle. You'd go in at the ground floor Union Street entrance only to discover that you were on the Fairfax Street second floor. Despite this, the building did include many innovations. It was six stories high and had its own multi-storey car park and was the first Brstol building to be clad in glass modaic. It was also an early example of a mantenance-free exterior the best shopfitters were called in and did an excellent job. But plans for miniature railway and a Japanese tea garden came to nought.
But with everything from its baby clothes department to its funeral service under one roof, the Co-op was said to provide everything you might need from the cradle to the grave. In 1985 Fairfax House was sold for £6 million to Ladbroke City, and County Land, the company behind the Galleries development at that time. It was demolished in 1988.
BRISTOL THEN AND NOW - BROADMEAD - 1955 - 2001
THEN - Broadmead from the corner of Union Street - Before the Second World War Broadmead was on the edge of the city's main shopping area and was made up of a ramshackle mix of buildings - This view shows some 17th century buildings in a poor state of repair - After the loss of the Castle Street and Wine Street areas it was decided to develop Broadmead as a retail centre.
NOW - The whole street was transformed and dedicated to the retail trade in the 50s & 60s - Now post-war planning is being criticised and plans are being developed to improve Broadmead for today's demanding shoppers.
BRISTOL THEN & NOW - BRISTOL BRIDGE - 1920s - 2004
This evocative picture of Bristol Bridge was taken in 1920s,although it has a pre-First World War feel to it. But it must have been after 1921 as that is when Liberal MR Samuel Morley's statue — a traffic hazard of the time — was carted off to its new position in the Horsefair and was replaced by a road sign.
Although traffic in the picture seems light,the Bridge was renowned as a notorious bottleneck and a rush hour blackspot. Before its present modernisation” the bridge was widened twice in Victorian times,in 1861 and again in 1873. All the shops to the right of the picture,which in those days made up part of the city’s retail centre, were lost in the Blitz of November 1940.
A sole survivor is the tower of St Mary-Le-Port church which you can just see poking out above the buildings on the right. St Nicholas church, just across the bridge and facing us to the left was gutted but later re-roofed. Electric trains,introduced by Sir George White's company clatter over the bridge carrying advertisements for locally-made products and of the few cars in evidence most appear to be taxis. The trains continued to do Sterling service until finally being phased out in the 30s in favour of motor buses.
BRISTOL THEN AND NOW - BRISLINGTON - 1910 - 2001
THEN - Brislington once had all the features of a quiet rural village that had been allowed to grow gradually - Just off the main road the parish church was at the centre of a mixture of buildings including the village blacksmith's and the local public-house the Kings Arms the large house behind was called Wistaria Cottage.
NOW - Road widening has changed the village the Kings Arms remains as a clue to the old village but the loss of many of its former neighbours has destroyed this once picturesque backwater of old Somerset.
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