Jennifer Bell, choir director
The stone slide near the Clifton Suspension Bridge
“If friends from out of town came visiting, this is one of the places I would take them. It’s a brilliant natural stone slide that has been polished smooth by hundreds of years of bottoms sliding down it. So much fun. I’d follow it with a walk to Ashton Court or a swim in the Lido.”
Eugene Byrne, author and journalist
The streets in the sky
“Central Bristol is full of fascinating little backstreets, none more so than the aerial walkways, “pedestrian decks” and upper level plazas over Rupert Street, Nelson Street and Lewins Mead. This is an amazing bit of 1960s futurism, part of a network of upper level pavements to separate pedestrians and traffic which was never built.”
Charlotte Crofts, UWE lecturer
Castle Park
“I’ve come to love this park more and more as I researched the Lost Cinemas app. It’s wonderful to have a green space so close to Bristol city centre, but it’s the park’s hidden history which attracts me – from the ruins of the original castle which gives the park its name, to the shell of St Peter’s church, the only evidence that this was once Bristol’s busiest shopping area which was sadly destroyed in the Blitz. The church would have been dwarfed by the surrounding shops and businesses, including a huge super-cinema called the Regent which was obliterated in 1940, along with most of Castle Street. I’m also rather fond of the castle-themed children’s play area (below), which when bereft of children looks rather like a post-apocalyptic film set.”
Vinny Green, author
Soundwell Baths
“Long before Tom Daley made diving fashionable the kids of East Bristol were already throwing themselves off the high diving boards at this Kingswood institution (albeit, with the skill and grace of a falling boulder). With a deep end depth of 12″ 6′, and a top board so high planes passed underneath (well it felt like that at the age of nine) this really was the best pool in Bristol, if not the world. Forget a swan breaking your arm with a peck – a belly flop off top board could split your stomach open and immediately close the pool as the life guards attempted to recover your vital organs from the deep end. The pool is still going strong and is hopefully fostering the next generation of Olympic divers or Frenchay casualty patients.”
Daniel Humphry, comic publisher
The Mardyke pub
“You can’t beat the Mardyke on Hotwell Road for sheer wealth of characters. I once saw a man drag a cat to the bar while asking if anyone had lost a stray, only to be reminded that it was dogs who stray and cats who roam free. He hurled the cat out the door and ordered a Natch in the same breath. You don’t get that in Start the Bus.”