North Bristol and south Bristol are the two divisions which make up our glorious city, yet they are different in so many ways. City or Rovers, Gloucester Road or North Street - you could argue for days as to which is better.
That's exactly what we, BristolLive reporters Beth Cruse and Oscar Dayus, have done. We live on opposite sides of the city, and hold strong views as to which is better. Of course, we are both entirely biased having grown up and lived in them for years.
Here is our take on why we love our neighbourhoods, and a few admissions about what could be improved. Which side do you take in this age-old argument? Log in and let us know in the comments below.
Also read: The Bristol area with the greatest density of HMO properties but residents do not mind
North Bristol
I (Beth Cruse) have lived in north Bristol all of my life. Of course, like south Bristol, there has been change - be it new developments, the London exodus pushing house prices up, and the inevitable gentrification of some areas. But the changes north Bristol has seen have only made it a more attractive place to live. North Bristol is becoming a property hotspot thanks to what it has on offer, but has, and will never, lose its sense of community.
We’ll begin with Gloucester Road. It is easily the most happening street in Bristol right now - with cafes, bars and restaurants galore (not to mention it is the longest stretch of independent shops in the UK.) From oriental markets to Korean soul food kitchens and vegan brunch spots, it is the place to go for a taste of what Brizzle has on offer.
You can enjoy a whole night out on Gloucester Road starting at the Galli, The Blue Lagoon or The Bristol Flyer, before finishing the night at the Grecian kebab house. As well as charity shops, retro stores, art galleries and, of course, the street art, there is a shop dedicated to house plants. If that doesn’t scream ‘Bristol’ I don’t know what does.
Most of north Bristol is well served by public transport, too. The metrobus, which launched in 2018, serves Emersons Green, UWE, Filton, Cribbs and Patchway regularly. We also have a good road network with easy access into the city centre, which I found out when I tested buses from the north and south of the city.
Not to mention north Bristol will soon be home to the biggest arena in the South West. YTL Arena Bristol is currently being built in Filton and will be open in 2024. Developers have shared plans for the huge venue whilst houses and a train station are also being built there.
Meanwhile Cribbs Causeway is fast becoming one of the most popular outlets for shopping and leisure activities. Not only is there The Mall which has Bristol’s only John Lewis, there is a retail complex, cinema, restaurants and now an ice rink too. Bristol Zoo is also relocating to the Wild Place Project, just a few minutes away. We've got Bristol's only IKEA too, need I say more?
North Bristol and South Gloucestershire boast some of the best walks. We have Oldbury Court and Snuff Mills, Blaise Castle, Willsbridge Mill and we’re not far from Westonbirt Arboretum. The Bristol Bath railway path is also easily accessed from north Bristol and offers great views of the countryside. What’s so great about north Bristol is that you’re as close to the city centre as you are to acres of green space perfect for dog walks and picnics.
Perhaps what I love most about north Bristol is its diversity - not only in the people and communities which make up the area - but that no part of north Bristol is the same.
South Bristol
South Bristol has something for everyone. In my corner of the city, Bedminster, where I (Oscar Dayus) grew up long before it became the yuppie capital of the south west and where I still live now, things have changed dramatically around me, and it would be easy for it to feel alien as a result, but I still feel like I belong.
I think that's why I love it so much here. It doesn't try to be picture-perfect, like Clifton. It's not uniformly fancy, like Redland, and we don't have the idyllic villages of Westbury or Almondsbury. South Bristol is a place with flaws, and wrinkles, and folds, and nooks and crannies and new bits and old bits and good bits and bad bits - and it's all the more interesting for it.
There are vegan junk food shops and book shop-cum-cafes - and then there are the old-man boozers and the roundabout baptisms. There are the posh new flats and then there is East Street, steadfastly refusing to budge as the world changes around it. And yet it belongs; and yet it persists.
There is Ashton Gate, a revamped stadium fit for the Premier League; and then there is Bristol City, still as lovingly crap as ever. (Never change, City, never change).
There are the people discovering Bristol for the first time, moving here from wherever, bringing fresh energy. And then there's your granddad, still going to the same corner shop at the same time, every day.
There's the new hospital and leisure centre, and then there's Hengrove Cineworld, which I will always be 'the pictures', even when it eventually gets lost in the sands of time.
There are the arts-and-crafts cafes, and then there is Asda Bemmy, which I'm convinced will be Earth's last building standing after the apocalypse.
Wherever else I've lived - whether that's north of the river (sacrilege, I know) or when I worked in London - everything has felt… transient. Like the people were always rushing somewhere else, like the very essence of the place itself had somewhere to be.
South Bristol doesn't have that. South Bristol feels like a place at peace with itself. Change can come here, if it wants, but we'll not go to it. We're too busy enjoying what we already have.
South Bristol is a monument to the modern world: always evolving, ever the same; always amazing, for ever ours.
Which do you think is better? Leave your comments below
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