By Hannah Corcoran, Features Subeditor
Students at the University of Bristol are expanding their bubble. From Gloucester Road to Bedminster, where will the intrepid, turbo (island) charged student next frequent?
As you meander down Jacob's Wells Road, walk adjacent to the river, and over Ashton Avenue Bridge, or, if at liberty, you cross from further east, over Gaol Ferry Bridge, where red brick factories, some abandoned, others in use, meet the skyline.
Another way of reaching Southville is to take the U2 bus. If you still haven’t found what you're looking for, and get lost where the streets have no name, you can always take the 505 instead. The good news is it isn't a seven-hour flight or a forty-five-minute drive (Epigram’s music section will be shaking their heads), but a mere forty-minute walk from the Clifton campus.
Just south of the River Avon, and to the north of Bedminster, Southville has the atmosphere of a small town with its own unique mix of shops and eateries. However, do not be fooled by its compact appearance. Home to the Tobacco Factory (Bristol247, theatre, Sunday market) and Burra, Peggy's, and Storysmith, North Street is brimming with choice. There are also plenty of charity shops where you can find labels like Zara and Banana Republic.
The ground floor of the Tobacco Factory almost doubles as a tourist information office with leaflets galore to direct the befuddled student who has dared to stray from the straight and wide of Whiteladies Road.
The ratio of push bikes to prams to people in Southville is around 3:2:1. Any Bristol student who wishes to live in this neighbourhood must own one electric bike, to cycle up St Michael’s Hill, one racing bike, to reach that study spot in Senate House, and one unicycle to Cabot Circus, where, as of yet, no tightrope walking or fire eating has been witnessed. For families to live here, they must own one pram for the baby (dachshund), another for the toddler, and take a stroll about Greville Smyth Park.
Isabelle Pethick
Livi Player
When you've had your fill of the flavours of North Street, you can atone for your splurge with a trip to Aldi for a jacket-cheese-and-beans dinner. The number 24 bus stops directly outside the supermarket, where you overhear a local man cursing those Bristol students who 'waste their parents’ inheritance'. Sheepishly, you look at your Doc Martens, bought for ‘just’ 7/8ths of the original price on Vinted.
The only let down for the 'rah-baccy' student is that the Tobacco Factory stopped production in 1986, but their disappointment will soon be vanquished because the building has since been home to D&B exhibitions.
Featured image: Epigram / Hannah Corcoran
When will you visit Southville?
