The organisers of this summer’s Unicornfest trail have explained why it has missed out almost all of South Bristol. They said the location choices were chosen by the sponsors of each painted sculpture, but local councillors in South Bristol said it was ‘a shame’.
The Unicornfest trail got under way this week, with 60 individually-painted unicorn sculptures spread around the city and beyond - some as far afield as Weston-super-Mare and Cheddar. Within Bristol, the vast majority are in and around the city centre, and into north and eastern areas of the city.
But south of the river, the sculpture trail only goes as far as North Street in Southville. There are four sculpture locations south of the river - two on North Street, one at Ashton Gate Stadium, and another at the start of East Street in Bedminster. There are no sculptures in the city any further south than North Street, with Totterdown, Brislington, Knowle, Hengrove, Whitchurch, Hartcliffe, Withywood, Bishopsworth, Bedminster Down and Ashton Vale missing out.
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The vast majority of sculptures are in the central area of Bristol, but there are four sculptures in the Cribbs Causeway area alone, others in Staple Hill, Downend, two at Ikea in Eastville, others in St Pauls, St Judes, St Philips, five in the Gloucester Road area and six in Clifton. There are also more sculptures in the narrow strip of land between the Floating Harbour and the River Avon, on Spike Island and in Redcliffe, than there are in the whole of South Bristol.
Local councillors in South Bristol said it was ‘a shame’. Cllr Tim Kent, who represents Hengrove and Whitchurch, said: “I saw the map - it’s such a shame. A few years ago we did see some, at Hengrove Park and Hartcliffe City Farm. It should be an event to engage the whole city, sell the unknown gems hidden on the edges of, as well as the well-trodden paths in, the city centre. I hope they do better next time,” he added.
Previous sculpture trails - most notably the Grand Appeal Wallace and Gromit trails of the mid 2010s - came in for similar criticism, and in response, the organisers of the most recent of those annual events did include areas like Knowle, Knowle West, Hartcliffe, Hengrove and Brislington in their trails.
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Areas south of the ring road like Whitchurch, Hengrove and Hartcliffe were also excluded from initiatives like the YoBikes scheme and more recently the e-scooter trial - it took more than two years before the boundaries of that scheme were extended. So for Cllr Kerry Bailes (Lab, Hartcliffe), it’s the same old story. “The same thing happened with the scooters and just about everything else,” she said. “Hartcliffe is always last on the list. It's like we don't even exist.”
A spokesperson for the Unicornfest trail said there was an ‘inevitable focus’ on touristy areas. “The location choices were chosen by the sponsors who were keen to ensure high footfall so their unicorns could be seen by as many people as possible,” she said. “This inevitably led to a focus around tourism venues associated with Bristol’s heritage and family activity venues such as city farms, We The Curious, Bristol Aquarium, Airhop, M Shed, Bristol Aerospace, Riverside Garden Centre etc.
“Sculpture sponsorship was open to anyone, anywhere in the Bristol region and they were welcome to choose any location for their sculpture. These public art sculpture trails depend on businesses and other organisations sponsoring the sculptures to make the events fiscally viable so only some of the locations are chosen by the organisers.
“Most locations were those already cleared by Bristol Council for previous trails although we do have unicorns in St Pauls, St Philips, Staple Hill, Horfield, Bedminster, Southville and Downend. We also had the challenge that some locations weren’t suitable due to the size of the unicorns, so, we looked at Arnos Vale, but the unicorns were too large to fit in the cafe and access roads to Hartcliffe City Farm were too narrow for the installation truck.
“We hope that Bristolians and visitors to the city of all ages will enjoy following the trail this summer and discovering new places around Bristol and beyond that they may not have visited otherwise,” she added.
