Bristol City Centre Was Up Again. Now It’s Down Again.
Work has been taking place to remove Tarmac from the centre for its new iteration.
In true Fawlty Towers moose style, the centre was up – and then it was down again. It’s a theme that occurs regularly in Bristol City Centre, which seems not to be able to sort itself out. It’s been a Festival of Construction for the past 25 years.
Consultations took place for central area changes as far back as 2010, after the former Shipless Sail was removed and Weak Fountains were all that was left to brighten up the area.
An old photograph from 2003, shows the bottom of what was once the ‘Shipless Sail’ in central Bristol, with plans for ‘greening the Centre promenade’.
At some point in the interim years, ‘greening’ meant popping some London Planes in planters. In an unsurprising twist of nature, the trees grew far too big and had to be cut down in 2025. New trees have been planted this year, showing the due care required.
The twenty-tens consultations and changes eventually led to major changes to the centre during 2018. One of the big changes was the installation of a cycle path. A fantastic idea blighted by a lack of commonsense around a space heavily used by pedestrians.
Work being carried out during 2018
As well as the cycle route and changes to pedestrian areas, major work took place on central crossing areas from Anchor Road to College Green.
Old paving stones were removed and replaced with a tarmac surface. At the time, a segregated cycle way to lead up Park Street was also extended.
Cabinet Member for Transport and Connectivity, Cllr Mhairi Threlfall said in a statement: “The completed crossing will make a significant improvement to journeys through this city centre route and completes walking and cycling upgrades we have been making in the central area as part of MetroBus.”
But, the ‘segregated’ cycle lanes caused needless friction between cyclists and pedestrians due to a lack of high visibility contrast between pedestrianised areas and the cycle lanes.
Pedestrian areas behind crossings also added an element of danger to Disabled people because the cycle lane turned them into islands.
Come the summer of 2025, work was finally carried out to improve the visibility of the cycle lane in the centre, giving pedestrians and cyclists a sporting chance at making it across safely. Once again the Centre was up. But, when the cycle lane when completed, it was a 100 per cent improvement.
Tarmac was also laid in the areas formerly inhabited by the Weak Fountains this summer. The work included some questionable arrangements around the location of benches. The photograph below also shows the cycle lane prior to work to improve its visibility.
The Temporary Tarmac arrangement that was down is up again once again. Work began early on 05 September 2025 to remove it for forthcoming Centre Surprises.
It’s a new exciting Autumn Twist, that could take Bristol City Centre literally anywhere.
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