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Anyone remember the Star Wars show they had in about 1978? They showed parts of the film in a room done out like a spaceship. There were windows in the room and behind them, some kind of rolling background which gave a sense of movement. It was a wondrous thing for an 8 year old, they really put some thought and attention into it.

My wife Yvonne worked in the hairdressing salon from the day it opened. She was previously at the Co op salon in Gloucester Road and was at Fairfax House until she left at the birth of our first child Erika in 1968!

Gert lush

There is a good write-up in the book "The Fight for Bristol" by Gordon Priest & Pamela Cobb (available 2nd hand). George Ferguson also played a part by buying the last remaining cranes.

Amazing❤

A man walked through the glass going into our swithboard room. Was dereadful .think he was very hurt

I worked in the offices and on the switchboards when the fire broke out. It was lunchtime and luckily we were all outside. The fire stated next to our office. Was scarey

The magical Xmas sleigh ride in Fairfax House was the best Xmas grotto in Bristol by a country mile - well lush.

Why was the driver in the outside overtaking lane with a trailer ?

A VERY BRIEF ESCAPADE !!! The "International connection" from London to New York via Bristol was short lived. Bristol Port was to small & restrictive (on the River Avon) and shipping quickly became to large. So this international connection was quickly replaced by Liverpool via the L&NWR from Euston station. And slightly later by the L&SWR who purchased Southampton harbour from the City council & massively expanded it to take much larger shipping. At which point "Ocean Liner Boat trains" left Waterloo for Southampton Docks to meet the cross Atlantic Liners.

A brilliantly engineered line by a flawed genius.

Really good documentary. So well put together and presented.

So well and comprehensively researched. An ambitious film.

And the building they put up in its place the Galleries looks like it won't be up for much longer, this site seems cursed.

Pity they don't make this a sleeper service ... but I guess there wouldn't be enough passengers to warrant this ever hapening. I remember as a kid taking a sleeper train on thre ECML, from Newcastle to Kings Cross.. a service long gone

I was about 8 or 9 when they started demolishing Fairfax House to build the Galleries, so I would have known it but I simply can't remember it. The Galleries is now as old as Fairfax House was then and they are going to demolish it in the next year. End of an era but I guess the previous generations thought the same about Fairfax House.

Effie gray and rose la touche soul is in me🥺😢💔reancarnation is real.

Is Collin as a surname from the word colleen?

Page 110 bice = n 1 Also called: bice blue. medium blue. 2 Also called: bice green. a yellowish green. [C14: from OF bis dark grey, from ?]

ke-|ba-ik|-an = ke-|ba-jik|-an = Antonym for ke-|mung-kar|-an Page 110 bhaji = n, pl bhaji, bhajis, or bhajia. an Indian savoury made of chopped vegetables mixed in a spiced batter and deep-fried. [Hindi bhaji fried vegetables]

Always got lost in that building

Knew it well. If you went in, you had trouble finding the way out 😂

I was still pretty young when this was demolished but I do remember how easy it was to get lost and that you would go up stairs and still be on the same floor.

I remember going there every year to see Father Christmas and as myself and a friend my age used got a bit older we worked out that the amazing sleigh ride wasn’t really moving and we were always warned not to ruin it for our younger siblings. The Woolworths store used to be very impressive as well and I can remember when it was renamed 21st century shopping. It was sad that it all came down and a waste of money although personally I think the Galleries is a very smart and nicely built replacement with lovely brickwork and it will be criminal and a vast waist of resources if that too gets demolished as there is talk of, Bristol is always changing and often not for the better. Very interesting video though I was very interested to hear how the foundations were originally built to support a cinema. Thank you!

I'm interested to know, where are the archive photos of the interior and construction from please?

My Grandma and her second husband, we called him Uncle Dave, lived in the flat on the top of Fairfax House. Uncle Dave was the security man. My sister and I would stay with our Grandma late 60’s early 70’s and we would be allowed down in to the toy department after hours at weekends or on Sundays and could play with the toys. At Christmas time Uncle Dave would turn on the Santa’s Grotto so we could go in. Fantastic memories. Thanks

How the mighty hath fallen.....now the sleek hath inherited the earth and it too will grow old and fall in it's turn......nothing lasts forever.

I remember Fairfax House well in the '70's and '80's when I was growing up. Such a waste of energy pulling it down in 1988 after only 26 years! In hindsight here in 2023 I truly believe it was one of the finest examples of post war modernist architecture in Bristol and would today probably be awarded listed status. As mentioned it was built and designed on an extremely challenging site being so long and narrow with several different ground floor entrances. It was certainly an interesting building and far superior to the brick monstrous lump of The Galleries which has aged very badly.

I remember going there as a kid.....Broadmead is now a dying area....So sad....

I loved Fairfax House, although until I watched this video, I had no idea just how large it was. Sacrilege to tear down all that workmanship for the travesty that is now The Galleries, lying half-empty and now they want to demolish that too. Only a small child when Fairfax House was open, I have fond memories of playing on the Paternoster lifts when my parents were shopping there, and I used to get all my school supplies from The Midland Educational that used to be on the lower road (now the tunnel under the Galleries). Great memories, but sad times too seeing it all pulled down. Thank you for the video & info.

Remember it so well,my wife and I bought our furniture there after our marriage in 1970.Bristol was a lovely city then,before madness invaded the city politics.

Just watched this again. So much I had forgotten!

Just rewatched it. good innit?

Excellent documentary, guys. Really well written, produced, edited (and presented, Tim!)

Great work, never knew that about Chris Bonnington. The definitive documentary on the gorge.

Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for producing this incredible documentary!

I loved this! If only this quality of film making was still available on local television. Thank you so much!

I came to Bristol in 1992 to study Town Planning of all things and was shocked at what had already been done such as the Temple Way underpass, Newfoundland Way and St.James Barton roundabout, let alone what had been planned 25 years earlier in Totterdown and as this video eludes. At least by this point people had woken up. The road had been closed passing the cathedral and Queen Square had been closed but the dual carriageway still remained. Then there was still the flyover at Temple Meads!

Slightly before I moved to Bristol in 1992 when The Galleries had just been completed but struggled to find tenants owing to the recession, and is now itself scheduled for closure and demolition!

Thank you.

Wonderful!

Now, even the Galleries is destined to be bulldozed. 2024. They are in the early stages of planning it. i believe.

Bithplace of america, gates of the atlantic, city of spires and city of ships! For a thousand years Bristol has stood proudly on the Avon's banks, and may it stand for a thousand more!

Even the police dogs got lost in Fairfax House...

Thanks for sharing this video Gordon. I am so proud of my ancestors and how they helped build this great City of Bristol. She is still beautiful and I'm still proud of her 🙋‍♀️

Thank you for sharing this Gordon. I'd quite forgotten just how both interesting AND beautiful my home and my City actually is. I thoroughly enjoyed the reminder 🙋‍♀️

Hello Gordon! This is Arthur from hong kong, we met at the Clifton bridge center the other day. Very nice video indeed. May I ask if this is also made and edited by you?

Interesting to think that the Galleries that replaced Fairfax House has been open longer than Fairfax House ever was.

Oh what glorious memories. I started work in Fairfax Hse in Nov '62 as a 16 yr old. Started in the furniture dept, and after a few months moved to Radio & TV. Some of my best life's memories are from that time. We we all young, mostly teenagers except management, and yes, we had floorwalkers. It was a pleasure to go to work in those days, because it was such fun, the banter, the jokes, taking the Mickey out of some of the customers, and the lovely girls from the offices on the top floor, that used to come and see us on a Saturday. Lunchtime drinks and darts across the road at the "Cat & Wheel", and the Christmas "do's", you couldn't do it today, too much PC and "wokery", besides, not one seems to have a sense of humour any more.

I was terrified by those lifts when I was a child. My brother and his friend rode right up over the top and back down again. For years I thought there were two lifts and each one went down or up at the back upside down (not one set of lifts going sideways at the top and bottom and always the same way up) and wondered how they hadn't fallen out at the bottom. !!! Also the shop was really confusing because you could only go from one end to the other on a few floors.