It’s been a long time coming, but Valentine Bridge, linking Avon Street with Temple Meads, has now reopened. Cycling to Temple Meads this afternoon, I was able to snap this EXCLUSIVE photograph of the barriers in place for almost two years being taken away.

It was an exciting moment as the men in yellow jackets took the barriers down, granting access to the curvy bridge and a new area of Bristol, which according to the publicity photos will soon be full of trendy young things sipping lattes and shopping for high-end fashion as rowers glide past on the Floating Harbour below.

It wasn’t quite like that this afternoon, with just me exploring the new waterside location with grey skies overhead, cycling between the wooden benches still with their ‘treat me kindly’ laminated signs attached.

I’m sure that when the sun shines, however, this area will become a mecca for the surrounding office workers. It will be the same as just over the water, where it’s often standing room only on the steps leading down to the ferry stop on sunny days as the suits are let out of their air-conditioned offices.

It’s good to see the latest phase of the Temple Quarter development nearing its conclusion. There’s just one thing that displeases me. That is the Eye, the new tower. I wish I could be writing that it was a new skyscraper, but it is so obviously not. It looks stunted and dwarf-like when it could have become a modern Bristol landmark.

For now, enjoy what feels like a new bridge – so much better than the cheese grater downstream – and take a closer look at the latest bit of Temple Quay.