Bristol: Opening Doors

The Architecture Centre is trying to create a memory bank of Bristol buildings and they need your help. The Bristol: Opening Doors project aims to record not just how many corners buildings have, but their social histories, hoping to hear from people who lived there, studied there or worked there.

If you have a story to share about any of the 10 buildings below and wish to share your story, you should email education@architecturecentre.co.uk.

The project hopes to enable people to interact virtually with these buildings, allowing people to discover the histories behind the buildings we pass by every day without perhaps even a second thought.

For more information, visit www.architecturecentre.co.uk/bristol_opening_doors.

29 Queen Square

All Saints Church, Pembroke Road, Clifton

Bristol Old Vic, King Street

Bristol Temple Meads

Colston’s Almshouses, St Michael’s Hill

The Exchange, Corn Street

Horizon House, Deanery Road

The Old Council House, Corn Street

St James Priory

Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road

Pub of the week: The Victoria (St Werburgh’s)

All I knew about the Victoria in St Werburgh’s before visiting last week a few days after it reopened was that this pub’s sign used to depict Vicky Pollard, the baby-swapping-for-a-Westlife-CD Bristol schoolgirl made famous by Matt Lucas in Little Britain.

That sign is now gone, and the Silent Hobo’s portrait of Vicky has now been placed with Victoria, Queen Victoria, an unsmiling black and white photograph of “the Grandmother of Europe” now a much more subtle option.

Far from modernising this pub, its new owners have refurbished it by simply tarting up what was here before, and this is very much still a drinkers pub.

There is a fresh new red patterned carpet and a dark wood bar curving around the main room, a smaller room off of which has a pool table. The other entertainment on offer here is a juke box, fruit machine and a television which when I visited was playing pop videos from a music channel.

I ordered a Doom Bar, but the barrel had just run out so I was left with no ale option other than Gem, the third tap also out of action. The three ciders on tap fared better: Stowford Press, Blackthorn and Thatcher’s Gold.

On an unfeasibly warm Saturday evening in February, the beer garden out the front was a particularly popular spot. It’s a welcome return for the Victoria, Vicky or no Vicky.

UPDATE, February 29 2012, 9.08am. According to Guriben on Twitter, “The Victoria had a *massive* refurb this time round, not just ‘simply tarted up’.” If that is the case, then apologies. My memory must be failing me. Mine’s a Blackthorn.

The Victoria, 40 James Street, St Werburgh’s, Bristol. 0117 941 3682.

Bristol City Council Budget meeting

The most important meeting of Bristol City Council’s year took place this evening as the new budget was approved by councillors after a mammoth six-hour session in the Council Chamber. Despite protests, £27 million of cuts were still made in this budget, which also saw 350 council posts lost; but on her new blog, council leader Barbara Janke said that she knows that “councillors across the political spectrum all want the best for Bristol”.

As I arrived in the Council House soon after 6pm, two burly security men were escorting two people away from the public  gallery. “Please make sure these two leave the building,” one of the security men said to a colleague, as even more security staff lounged around in a corridor.

They were obviously taking no chances. Without a press pass, I was unable to sit in the press seats with my mate Sam from the Evening Post, the solitary reporter in the chamber.

(The last time I was asked for a press pass and couldn’t produce one, I was thrown out of Asda in Bedminster before an album signing by Peter Andre, but that’s another story).

From the cheap seats at the back of the public gallery, I gazed up at the fresco on the ceiling as the debate continued in the chamber below. I counted 48 sailing ships and two tug boats, but I may have miscalculated.

Meanwhile, the debate was also hotting up, and not just in the real world but in the virtual world too. Around the chamber, notices reminded members to use Twitter with the hashtag #bccbudget, and so they were, including Lib Dem Jon Rogers on an iPad and Green Gus Hoyt on his iPhone, joined by many watching events unfold online.

Conservative deputy leader Mark Weston declared himself “bamboozled” at one point. He had no need for a hashtag, nor a microphone.

His Tory colleague Peter Abraham would also never join the Twiterrati, and spent much of the meeting wandering around his party’s benches, chatting and backslapping, rather like a rugby captain on the field of play, before returning to his seat to vote with one of the newfangled electronic thingamajigs.

The gentleman next to me in the public gallery interrupted a speech about twinning to protest about why the discussion was taking place at all, as it only involved a few thousand pounds. He was told to be quiet. Democracy in action as our councillors made sweeping cuts under a fresco featuring 48 sailing ships and two tug boats.

Your chance to design the Bristol Pound

The deadline for the competition to design Bristol Pound banknotes has been extended until Wednesday, March 14. So get your coloured pens out and your creative juices flowing, as this could be your chance for immortality, or at least the chance to see your scribblings in Bristol for a few days before the notes are purchased by collectors around the world and never actually used.

Four themes will feature on the Bristol Pound banknotes, with the following simple design brief: ”Your design or illustration for the city’s own currency should reflect the lives and values of the people who live here and make it what it is today.”

Here are the blank banknotes and the themes required for each:

Community & Diversity – 1 Bristol Pound

Art & Culture – 5 Bristol Pounds

Innovation & Technology – 10 Bristol Pounds

Our Environment – 20 Bristol Pounds

For more information about the design competition and the Bristol Pound, visit www.bristolpound.org.

This week in Bristol, February 7 – March 4

Bristol Radical Film Festival   All week, various venues
Showcasing “a radically different kind of cinema”, this festival hosts socially and politically engaged documentary films from around the world, aiming “to bring this kind of cinema out from the shadows and into the community”.
www.bristolradicalfilm.org.uk

Circus of Horrors   Monday, Colston Hall
“Fantastic! That’s what I call entertainment! I wanna party with you guys!” If David Hasselhoff is your barometer of taste, then this show is for you. This show from last year’s Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalists promises to be “sinister and sensational”.
www.colstonhall.org/whatson/Event2636

The Nine Lessons of Caliban   Wednesday-Saturday, Bristol Old Vic
Performance poetry in response to Shakespeare’s The Tempest, written by the Firebird Poets in collaboration with poet Claire Williamson, developed and performed by Firebird Theatre, Bristol Old Vic’s associate theatre company consisting of disabled performers.
www.bristololdvic.org.uk/theninelessonsofcaliban.html

Seth Lakeman   Thursday, Trinity
The virtuoso fiddle player has excelled himself on his new album Tales from the Barrel House, writing, playing, mixing and producing it all himself and recording one of the tracks down a disused copper mine. Hopefully the lights won’t go out this time.
www.3ca.org.uk/events/trinity/2012/seth-lakeman

Grain Barge Spring Beer Festival   Friday & Saturday
Live music and DJs provide the sonic accompaniment to the Grain Barge’s spring beer festival, with ten beers available “from near and far”, although now that Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout is back on tap, why choose anything else? £5 ticket for four half pints.
www.grainbarge.co.uk/events

Laura Marling   Saturday, Colston Hall
Ridiculously young and prodigiously talented, Laura Marling at Bristol Cathedral was our best gig of last year. Nothing will able to compare to that, but hopefully this Colston Hall show will come close, as Marling continues bringing her brand of folk to the mainstream.
www.colstonhall.org/whatson/Event2873

The Rice Box

Small but perfectly formed, The Rice Box on the Christmas Steps is without doubt one of Bristol’s best budget eateries. For £3.10, you can get a generous special which changes every day, piled high on your plate if you choose to eat in, or spilling out of the box if you are taking away.

There really is no need to order anything other than the special, but if you so choose there is a typically large menu of Chinese fare, from bamboo shoots to roast duck.

Steve and Lin moved The Rice Box to Bristol from Weston-Super-Mare. Previously, they traded as Ming’s in both Banwell and Cleeve.

But back to those specials, which you can discover online, or find a photograph of the day’s choice on an A-board outside the restaurant towards the bottom of the Christmas Steps between Fotohaus (with these historic stone carved figures) and Harry Blades.

When I visited for a late lunch on Wednesday, there were only two seats remaining inside. My sweet and sour chicken and fried rice was served on a plate in barely the time it took me to say that day’s special.

The chicken was the size of golf balls, with surprisingly succulent meat in a gloopy sauce. It was just what I needed after foolishly skimping on breakfast that day.

Many places in Bristol describe themselves as “hidden gems” but The Rice Box truly is one. This is no-thrills Chinese food done with some style.

The Rice Box, 4 Christmas Steps, Bristol. 0117 927 3388.

www.thericebox.co.uk

Love Saves The Day festival in Bristol

A new dance music festival is coming to Bristol in June over the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee long weekend. Love Saves The Day, taking place in Castle Park on Sunday, June 3, with tickets costing just £19.50, has already got some big names confirmed including Annie Mac, Mr Scruff, Bonobo, Roots Manuva, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Bristol’s very own DJ Derek.

The new festival is the brainchild of the team behind Glastonbury Dance Village’s Wow! stage, See No Evil and In:Motion.

The partnership promise that they “have come together to put all these years of experience into what will be a celebration of all of it, a celebration of this city and all that makes it so great, but beyond that a celebration of music, parties, and good times”.

“Love Saves The Day is not just a festival,” they ambitiously proclaim, “it is the culmination of many years spent in fields and clubs, in tents, on dance floors and stages across the UK and beyond. From the late nights to the early mornings, from lugging sound systems through muddy fields to booking amazing acts and watching them grow, everything has been moving towards this event.”

The arrival of Love Saves The Day looks set to scupper a possible second appearance in Bristol of the We, The People festival, whose first incarnation last year was criticised for high ticket prices and poor organisation.

Various tents will host the Love Saves The Day acts in Castle Park from 11am until 11pm, with a chill-out area for those weary if the bass and the pace get too much.

Tickets are on sale here now for £19.50 + booking fee, with the price rising to £25 with the second and £29.50 with the third release of tickets. You can buy tickets in person from Bristol Ticket Shop, Cooshti, Donuts and the White Bear pub.

When it is launched in May, you might even be able to purchase your festival ticket with the Bristol Pound, as they are one of the sponsors of the event.

For more information, visit www.lovesavestheday.org.

Cycling safely in Bristol

It is something so typically and so brilliantly Bristol that in a city with a lactic acid-inducing hill around every corner, the fixed gear community here is so strong. Bristol Dropouts, a shop dedicated to fixed gear bicycles, recently opened on Stokes Croft. And last year a short film, Boikzmoind, was released, documenting Bristol’s fixed gear scene.

It is of course not just about fixed gear bicycles in Bristol. Last weekend’s Red Bull Hill Chasers event up Park Street was testament to that, as bikes of all sizes raced to the top of the hill cheered on by a crowd of hundreds.

Cycling is part of the fabric of Bristol life for a very large number of people, of all ages, of all shapes and sizes.

When I lived in Watford, there were so few bicycles on the road that I used to nod at every passing cyclist. If I did that in Bristol, with the incessant nodding of the head I would soon look like Big Jeff at a gig.

Bristol received more than £10 million in central Government funding in 2008 as it became the UK’s first Cycling City. We don’t need the capital letters though, because Bristol is a cycling city.

Sadly, in a city of cyclists, there will always be conflict with other road users. You only need to look at the letters pages of the Evening Post on an almost daily basis to gauge the strength of feeling on this matter.

I am a cyclist. But I am also a car driver, pedestrian and bus user. It is by being one that you can especially see the problem with the other. As a bus passenger, it terrifies me how close buses get to cyclists. This now infamous video from a court case in Bristol last week shows just what a bus driven badly can do to a hapless cyclist.

I get equally enraged, whatever mode of transport I am using, when I see a cyclist jump a red light. We have to put this down to a minority, and we should condemn these ignorant cyclists as equally as the minority of car drivers who break the speed limit or turn corners without checking their mirrors.

Yesterday, there was a debate in Parliament prompted by a campaign by The Times to make cycling in Britain safer, a campaign which was begun after one of their young reporters, Mary Bowers, was hit by a lorry and seriously injured while cycling in London.

In 2010, 17 cyclists were killed on the roads of the South West. I don’t have the figures specifically for Bristol, but it was something that Chris Hutt’s informative and well-researched Green Bristol Blog used to document before Chris sadly died in 2010.

The forward to a special supplement in yesterday’s Times said: “The casualty toll for cyclists on British streets is unacceptable and we are calling for a commitment from government, at both a central and local level, to put cycling at the heart of how our roads and junctions are designed.

“Leading city councils around the country – from Glasgow and Liverpool to Bristol and Birmingham – have told this newspaper that they support its cycle safety campaign. They must now take tangible steps to improve cycling in their cities for the benefit of all those who want the roads to be safer, more pleasant places to share.”

Here is The Times’ eight-point plan:

1. Lorries entering the city centre should be required to fit sensors, audible turning alarms, extra mirrors and safety bars to stop cyclists being thrown under the wheels.

2. The 500 most dangerous road junctions must be identified, redesigned or fitted with priority traffic lights for cyclists and Trixi mirrors that allow lorry drivers to see cyclists on their near side.

3. A national audit of cycling to find out how many people cycle and how they are killed or injured should be held to underpin effective cycle safety.

4. The Highways Agency should earmark 2 per cent of its budget for next-generation cycle routes, providing £100 million a year towards world-class cycling infrastructure. Cities should be graded on the quality of cycling provision.

5. The training of cyclists and drivers must improve and cycle safety should become a core part of the driving test.

6. The default speed limit in residential areas where there are no cycle lanes should be 20mph.

7. Businesses should be invited to sponsor cycleways and cycling super-highways, mirroring the Barclays-backed bicycle hire scheme in London.

8. Every city, even those without an elected mayor, should appoint a cycling commissioner to push home reforms.

You can help The Times campaign in three ways. One, pledge your support by signing the online petition. Two, spread the word; tweet using the #cyclesafe hashtag. And three, write to your MP.

For more information, visit www.thetimes.co.uk/citiesfitforcycling.

 

Bristol elected mayor debate

Roger Cordewaner, 1216, Bristol’s first Mayor and the first name engraved into the walls at the Conference Room at the Council House, where every one of Bristol’s subsequent Mayors, and since 1899, Lord Mayors, are displayed for time immemorial. There is plenty of space left on the wall where Christopher Davies, 2008 and 2009, is the last name engraved.

It may be that the names that follow Davies and the current incumbent Geoff Gollop, will not solely be ceremonial Lord Mayors, but directly-elected mayors with real powers other than brandishing a sword, being able to drive sheep over the Suspension Bridge and welcoming royal visitors.

It was in the Conference Room last night where a debate about a potential future elected mayor for Bristol took place. It is a debate that is sure to hot up as we approach May 3, the day the people of Bristol will be asked in a referendum whether we would like to see an elected mayor for the city.

Judging by the audience last night at the debate organised by the Festival of Ideas and Bristol University’s Centre for Public Engagement, 47% are in favour of a directly elected mayor, 36% against the idea, with 17% undecided.

In favour of this new position last night were red-trousered architect George Ferguson and deputy leader of the Conservative group in Bristol, Mark Weston, not to be confused with Bristol comedian Mark Watson. Speaking against were Lib Dem council leader Barbara Janke, who admitted that her being in favour of an elected mayor would be like a turkey voting for Christmas; and strategy consultant Deborah Hallett.

Janke’s lack of charisma was a clear indication why Bristol needs an elected mayor. One of these candidates may well be Ferguson, who was the most engaging speaker regardless of the suspicion that this was the ideal opportunity to unofficially throw his hat into the ring.

Having a directly elected could be “a disaster”, we were told by Professor Alex Marsh from Bristol University’s School for Policy Studies. This was a fear shared by Janke, who told of her worry that having such a figure would bring “a great many risks”.

“I do not believe that a single person is adequate to represent all the people in this city,” Clifton councillor Janke said, adding that our current system of councillors representing their local communities works perfectly fine.

Watson called the idea of an elected mayor a “no-brainer”. He said: “An elected mayor would be able to have the gravitas and vision. They will be elected on a mandate for the strategic vision of our city. The ability to have a strong leader and a strong and clear mandate will be vital for the future success of our city.”

Ferguson used an anology: “We are an escalator that is going up quite fast but we can run up it a bit faster.”

“Change is a very hard thing to do,” said the soft-spoken Hallett, a recent adviser to the London Development Agency. She added: “Why would you narrow down your perspective from the impact you have already got?”

Campaigning for and against a directly elected mayor will be a non-partisan issue. The yes group have been up and running for a while, with named supporters including chairman of Bristol Media Paul Appleby and former Labour prospective MP Paul Smith. The no group announced their formation yesterday and are led by Lib Dem councillor Tim Kent.

There will be many more names engraved into the walls of the Conference Room at the Council House. For the first time ever, it could soon be up to the people of Bristol to decide who those names should be.

With thanks to Trevor Haddrell for the engravings. See and buy more of his work here.

Review: Blood Brothers, Hippodrome

Judging by the standing ovation received, it was clear that we were privileged to have seen an excellent production of Willy Russell’s much-loved musical, based loosely on the 1844 novella The Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas, often described as “the musical for people who hate musicals”.

From the very beginning of this gritty tale of twins separated at birth and brought up in different social worlds, the lively and powerful performances of the cast kept the tale moving briskly along to its tragic conclusion.

Two actors in particular stood out, Sean Jones as Mickey and Maureen Nolan as Mrs Johnstone, both of who convincingly portrayed the passing of time and the grind of daily life with just the right amount of humour to balance the bitter sweet themes of friendship, love and loss.

In fact, the humour itself – especially the excellent scene where the two male leads so convincingly portray their characters at seven-years-old – is much needed to offset the sense of foreboding present from the start.

This foreboding is accentuated by the narrator whose presence is a little sinister as he loiters on the edge of the action hinting at the inevitable conclusion of the show.

Despite the fact that the play begins at this tragic end before recounting how this moment came to pass, the performances were so good that by the time we reached that point the shock of the brothers final scene was so great that the narrator was forced to wait until the audience had calmed down before continuing.

The music itself was flawless, with the songs themselves interspersed with the spoken word sections in such a way as to feel a natural part of the action.

Mrs Johnstone’s haunting Marilyn Monroe refrain, for example, provided a coherent narrative thread running throughout the show rather than an abrupt musical interjection.

Perhaps this is why people who hate musicals warm to Blood Brothers so easily.

Review by Emma Rawlins and Alison Teyhan

Blood Brothers is at the Bristol Hippodrome until March 3 Click here for more info.