Bristol
Bristol (/ˈbrɪstəl/ ⓘ) is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region.[9][10] Built around the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. The county is in the West of England combined authority area, which includes the Greater Bristol area (eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom) and nearby places such as Bath.[7]
This article is about the city in England. For other uses, see Bristol (disambiguation).
Bristol
1155[2]
1373
1542
1996
City, county and unitary authority
Marvin Rees (L)
40 sq mi (110 km2)
36 ft (11 m)
472,500[1] (Ranked 10th district and 43rd ceremonial county)
11,000/sq mi (4,248/km2)
707,412[6]
Bristolian
- 51.4% no religion
- 32.2% Christianity
- 9.7% other
- 6.7% Islam
0117, 01275, 01454
GB-BST
2017
1.6%
£33,700 ($42,800) (4th)
3.1%
Iron Age hillforts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon. 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. A major port, Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. 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.
The city's modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries; the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as cultural and heritage centres. There are 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. The city has two universities; the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). It is connected to the world by Bristol Airport; to the rest of the Great Britain via Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway mainline rail stations; by road by both the south-west to West Midlands M5 and the London to South Wales M4 (which connect to the city centre by the Portway and M32).
Bristol was named the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017; it won the European Green Capital Award in 2015. The city had the largest circulating community currency in the UK, the Bristol Pound, which was pegged to the pound sterling before it ceased operation in August 2020.
Toponymy[edit]
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.[11][12]
The current name "Bristol" derives from the Old English form Brycgstow, typically etymologised as 'place at the bridge';[13]"the place called Bridge by the place called Stow" has also been suggested, the Stow in question referring to an early religious meeting place at what is now College Green.[14] However, other derivations have been proposed.[15] The form Bricstow prevailed until 1204,[16] 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.[17] The original form of the name survives as the surname Bristow, which is derived from the city.[18]
Bars and nightlife[edit]
Bristol has been awarded Purple Flag status[315] on many of its districts, which shows that it meets or surpasses the standards of excellence in managing the evening and night-time economy.
DJ Mag's top 100 club list ranked Motion as the 19th-best club in the world in 2016.[316] This is up 5 spots from 2015.[316] Motion is host to some of the world's top DJs, and leading producers. Motion is a complex made up of different rooms, outdoor space and a terrace that looks over the river Avon.[317] In 2011, Motion was transformed from a skate park into the rave spot it is today.[318] In:Motion is an annual series which takes place each autumn and delivers 12 weeks of music and dancing.[318] The club, on Avon Street, behind Temple Meads train station,[319] does not limit itself to playing one genre of music. Party-goers can hear everything from disco, house, techno, grime, drum and bass or hip hop, depending on the night.[317] In 2020 and 2021, Motion adapted many of its indoor events into outdoor events. Some of these included Bingo Lingdo.[320] Other famous clubs in the city include Lakota and Thekla.
The Attic Bar is a venue located in Stokes Croft.[321] Equipped with a sound system and stage which are used every weekend for gigs of every genre, the bar and the connected Full Moon Pub were rated by The Guardian, a British daily paper, as one of the top ten clubs in the UK.[322] Located by Bristol's harbourside, The Apple is a cider bar which opened in 2004, in a converted Dutch barge, offering a range of 40 different ciders.[323] In 2014, the Great British Pub Awards ranked The Apple as the best cider bar in the UK.[324]
Bristol was among the first cities to adopt town twinning after World War II.[377][378] Twin towns include:
People and military units receiving the Freedom of the City of Bristol include: