Bristol City Centre
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The central area of the city of Bristol, South West England, is the area south of the central ring road and north of the Floating Harbour, bordered north by St Pauls and Easton, east by Temple Meads and Redcliffe, and west by Clifton and Canon's Marsh. It is contained entirely within the Council ward of Cabot.
Broadmead
Bristol does not have a dense or organised Central Business District, with shops and offices spread out from Clifton to Temple Meads. Broadmead, however, is the main "high street" shopping district. The current streets and shops were built in the 1950s after bombing during the Bristol Blitz in World War II had damaged much of medieval Broadmead. To the southeast of Broadmead, beside the harbour, is Castle Park also created after the bombing of the original buildings, while to the northwest is St James' Park.
Like most 1950s buildings in Britain, affordable but architecturally uninteresting utilitarian buildings form the bulk of the Broadmead area. In the 1980s some of these were demolished to make way for the Galleries shopping centre, which runs parallel to the main shopping road on a three level covered street.
Broadmead is undergoing another regeneration, with the shopping area being extended over the central ring road to produce a new shopping centre. This new area had been named Merchants Quarter but in April 2006 this name was abandoned after a campaign claiming the name was offensive because it was the Bristol Merchant Venturers who dealt in the trade of African slaves. After much consultation, the new name will now be Cabot Circus.
A nearby multi-storey car park and utilitarian tower block, Tollgate House have recently been demolished. Work started in late 2005. On 8 June 2006 workers working on the regeneration of the area discovered an unusual object under the building site and fears of a potential unexploded German bomb from World War II resulted in much of Broadmead having to be evacuated and stores temporarily closed[1]. The following day it was discovered to be a piece of reinforced concrete[2].
Harbourside
Just south of Broadmead, the city centre survived the Second World War with much less damage, though post-war planners widened St Augustine's Parade by covering the branch of the harbour that ran through it, making way for the ring road. These planning decisions are beginning to be reversed, for example, the ring road is no longer circular, as the stretch through Queen Square has been closed and returned to its use as a public park. St Augustine's Parade is also becoming less car oriented, as roads have been narrowed, turned into bus lanes or closed altogether. At one point it looked likely that part of St. Augustine's Parade would be dug up to reveal the river below; unfortunately it was decided this would be too expensive and fountains were erected instead.
The harbourside in the city centre has also been regenerated in the 1990s and 2000s, with the refurbishment of warehouses as bars, restaurants, the Watershed Media Centre and the Arnolfini art gallery, as well as the creation of At-Bristol.
Gallery
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St Augustine's Reach from St Augustine's Parade during the 2004 Harbour festival
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St Augustine's Parade -
Looking across Castle Park in Bristol city centre -
The large roundabout at Old Market -
The City Centre water-feature in summer -
City Centre entertainment: the Thekla Social ship is a club and restaurant
