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Did You Know?

Bristol is a city with the the River Avon in the southwest of England with a prosperous maritime history. Its former city-centre port is now a cultural hub area, the Harbour side, where the M Shed museum explores local social and industrial heritage. The harbour's 19th-century warehouses now contain restaurants, shops and cultural institutions such as contemporary art gallery

Bristol began life as a town called Brigg stow, which means the meeting place at the bridge in the old Saxon language. The original town was listed in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 1051.

With a population of over 615,000, Bristol is the largest city in the South West of England, and the 11th most populated urban area in all of the United Kingdom.

Legendary pirate Blackbeard,(otherwise known as Edward Teach), called Bristol his home. He had a hideout in Redcliffe caves and the home of his birth still stands on the harbourside.

Bristol has so much to offer and do, you have Clifton Downes where the Zoo is located, the Museum and the University. Its worth having a walk over Clifton Suspension Bridge just for the view. Not to far away is Brunel's Ship the SS Great Britain and if you get the chance to see old Bristol you have to see Christmas Steps.

The chocolate easter egg was invented in Bristol.

Forget Defoe and Stevenson – the Llandoger Trow pub in the city centre has a much more interesting story to tell. It was built on wheels to accommodate the then-floating harbour.

There are over 35 different places around the world, which are also called Bristol. And as many as 29 of them are in America!

Bristol has been a trading port since the Roman era. Trading in tobacco, wine, cotton and more, Bristol is a port city known as the 'Birthplace of America' - John Cabot sailed from Bristol docks on The Matthew to help 'discover' North America in 1497.

The World’s first bungee jump took place in Bristol on 1 April 1979 and was undertaken by members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club.

One of history’s most groundbreaking engineers, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, found his home in this forward-thinking city and created some of his most memorable masterpieces here, including Brunel’s ss Great Britain and the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Hollywood legend Cary Grant (Archibald Leach) was born in Horfield. Grant's first role in theatre was working at The Bristol Hippodrome.

Legend has it that Bristolian wool merchant Edward Blanket invented the humble blanket. The trader is buried alongside his wife in St Stephen’s Church on Colston Avenue.

In 1827 Mr Martin, the landlord of the Bull on North St purchased a live tiger from a ship docked in the harbour to drum up new trade at the pub. As the interest in the tiger dwindled, Martin paid a man, Joseph Kiddle, to enter the cage with the tiger. Guess how that ended.

1980s TV magic was made in the cityl, when the anarchic comedy series The Young Ones chose Horfield as the setting for their fictional student house. The old swimming baths on Gloucester Road doubled as a bank in a scene from the final episode.

A Bristol-based firm was the first company in the world to produce solid chocolate bars. This was Fry’s Chocolate led by Joseph Fry. Their chocolate bar: Fry’s Chocolate Cream was first created in 1847 and then mass produced in 1866. Before then, chocolate was only taken as a drink.

Bristol is “twinned” with seven different towns, cities and principalities around the world: Porto in Portugal, Tbilisi in Georgia, Bordeaux in France, Puerto Morazàn in Nicaragua, Beira in Mozambique, Hanover in Germany and Guangzhou in China.

Darth Vader came from Kingswood.

Highbury Vaults was the pub where prisoners went for their last meal, before they were hung at the Gallows at the top of St. Michael’s Hill. It is now claimed to be a haunted building.

25% of the world’s nature documentaries are produced in Bristol, many of which star the infamous David Attenborough.

World-renowned guerilla street artist, Banksy, was born in Bristol in the 1970s. Many of his earliest works can still be found throughout the city

IMDb was created by a man called Colin Needham, who ran the site from his home in Stoke Gifford. He sold the site to Amazon in 1998 but he's still heading it up

Billy Butlins’ first ever business venture was a hoopla stall in Bedminster during the 1920s. He went on to start his hugely successful holiday camp businesses.

Cary Grant (Archibald Leach)was born in Horfield and grew up in Bristol. One of his first jobs was working at the Bristol Hippodrome.

At St Mary Redcliffe Chuch there is a small stone plaque with a dedication to “Tom The Church Cat”. Tom was a tabby cat who was found scratching at the door to the church during a rainstorm in 1912 and soon became a resident of the church, chasing down mice and occasionally sitting near the altar during services. Tom was such a beloved member of the congregation that upon his death in 1927, he was given a full funeral service and buried in the ground close to where he had once been found. 

Concorde was builting in Bristol in 1969.