Ah the days when you could still drive freely in Bristol and not forced from one traffic jam to another by unused bike lanes and bus lanes full of barely used buses. Not to mentioning dodging kids on fast electric scooter while trying to park at a reasonable cost. Love Bristol and very much came of age there in the 70's but tend to avoid it now as it's too much hard work.
How right you are. I grew up in Bristol in the 60s and was proud to be a Bristolian and thought what a fantastic city it was. I moved away in the mid 70s and just very occasionally come to Bristol to visit friends and relatives. The city looks so sad and neglected and completely soulless. And what has happened to the once lovely City Centre. Dare I say it, the city has been destroyed by political correctness and wokery and that is also the view of the Bristolians I know who still live in the city or nearby.
Born in the mid-60's..So many great memories growing up in Bristol in the 70's, especially Kingswood and Lockleaze..Great to step back in time for a moment..
Born in easton 1945. Started work 1960, i worked at Colthurst & Harding, Bath Rd Brislington,until my first child was born in 1968.2 buses there and back. When married i moved to Fishponds. Such good photos,bring back memories.😊
Thoroughly enjoyed that stroll down memory lane. Thanks Dave! 👏 I was a young teenager, living in Bristol and I loved everything about Bristol then. My family moved away in the mid-80's, but each one of us has returned to the city we love. Great pictures, thanks Dave. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the memories. I was a student from 1965 t0 1969. Happy days... Rag parades. Corn Exchange 5 bob on a Tuesday night (Uncle Bonny's Chinese R&B jazz club). The new student's union building on a Saturday night. (Beer 1/10d a pint and top bands.) What a time to be alive!
That picture of the lane with the old lamp stand is in gloucester rd at the bottom of staple hill going towards soundwell if one not mistaken at the back of my mum's house of place.unbelievable.thsnks for posting.Mint
I lived and worked there once from 1970 to 1980. for a firm of engineers called Strachan & Henshaw of St Phillps Marsh.....that was a long time ago and far away as I am now in OZ.
Great video so many thanks. I lived in Bristol, Clifton and Cotham, all through the 70s, working for 4 years in Brights/Dingles Department store (Bristol's answer to Harrods) on the Clifton Triangle before joining British Aerospace in Filton. Great times, pubs and clubs. What memories this brings back, what terrific times, and these photos are also a sad reminder of just how nice and attractive central Bristol was back then. Even Broadmead looks fresh here! I was pleased to see a photo of the BristolGuild on Park Street, I loved that shop and still have a treasured watercolour I bought from there! However, I doubt the photos at 3:08 and 3:11 were taken in the 70s; more likely the 50s as the buildings in that street at 3:11 was clean and tidy when I used to go down there. I was expecting a photo of the great and individualistic flyover near Temple Meads, which I am sure everyone fondly remembers! Oh and 12p a pint in pubs and 14p a pint in clubs like Tiffanys (20p entrance fee!). Funnily enough, during the Queen's visit, shown at 3:50, I was working at Brights/Dingles, and everyone went outside to see the queen's procession, including the staff. I popped back inside the store for some forgotten reason, and the entire department store was deserted, with no-one on any of the floors. Everyone was outside; a huge opportunity missed for shop-lifters! I live in Gloucestershire now, but returned a couple of weeks ago to visit the Fleece, walking through Queen Anne's square and visiting the run-down and badly designed centre, and how dispiriting and sad to see what a dump it all is now. Even Blackboy Hill/Whiteladies Rd/Triangle/Park Street are despoiled now and are certainly sign city! Bristol definitely has an image problem. The council have finally got their way and ruined Bristol after 60 years of trying! There is a very interesting video on TH-cam called 'is the heart of Bristol, UK dying?' that shows many of the same areas as they are now and the not particularly feasible or imaginative plans the current mayor/council have for them. Not happy viewing. A link: th-cam.com/video/mbBrx3nQ4Jo/w-d-xo.html
It was a nightmare if you ended up there hitch hiking to London before the M4 was built. I only got lucky once lift from Brittle to the London Royal Mint, but I had to buy the driver an English fry up supper.
5:06 Was that in Fishponds ? It does look kind of familiar. Unless other suburbs had similar styling. I stayed there in 1972 as a 15 year old on a school exchange program for 4 weeks. On my last day I had spent all my British money on shopping, totally forgetting to reserve some for the bus fare from the city. So, I decided to walk back. Through "****-****-land" (as it was commonly known in those days). Everyone was watching me from their windows, wondering why I was there. Back at the host family, everybody was stunned that I didn't get mugged during that passage and on the next day, at the airport, I was the talking subject among the British, young and old.
@2:14 that's my brother Andrew Raines who owned and ran the flower stall outside Thomas Cook for many years until the Council wouldn't grant him a new licence due to the Galleries development.
0:52 how did that get in there?☺️Ford Mondeo? 90's?😂 Lovely collection of photos, though. I'll be 50 this year. I was a boy in the 70's and I remember the orginal layout in the centre and green buses etc. Too young to remember broadmead before pedestrianisation though👀
Get that TARDIS out and think of the fun we'd all have, and the people we would see. And just before the dream ends we could nip into the betting shops and see what odds we'd get on a Red Rum treble and buy a couple of houses going cheap for laters 😉
Not a fast food shop in sight and that greenery by the hippodrome, can always remember in the summer full of colour with flower beds, not like the concrete jungle there now in 2023.
Sure ? I visited it in 1972, 1973 and 1994. Every time the taste of tea or coffee was absolutely recognisable as "being in Bristol" for the water they were brewed with.
Bristol to me is hardly recognisable anymore , so many beautiful buildings torn down and most cast iron columns removed , replaced with galvanised sticks , some of the loveliest houses in bishopston torn down for 70s junk Berkeley villa and tynesmore being two sad examples, I do what I can to preserve some cast iron lamps buts it gets harder , it was such a lovely city so sad
@@historymandave4739 It's not the same. There had been some town planning by the Luftwaffe, although after that event, it was a lack of heritage protection. Sure, not everything can be saved, although, modern architects are known for "efficiently and cost saving built" designs, at times even reusing plans already realised in other locations, removing unique landmarks from cities.
Born in Kingswood, worked in central Bristol all my life. Started in Natwest Court mid 70's. Definitely the golden years. By the time I was 62 I left for South Wales. I have driven through the centre once since then and I have to say that the place has been wrecked. I can remember when mum used to be able to 'pop into town' and park outside Woolworths?
I'm still yer, golden days when we were young, gone right down hill now as you say but unfortunately it's much the same everywhere a slow decline, just like me 😉
A far cry from the present mish mesh of today!! Progress you can keep it!! Try and find a toilet on the Centre?Much better back then centre island full of flowers and lawns all well tended, The shops to where better, Park street is a disgrace along with Stokes croft, What visitors think when touring the city must think God only knows,Back in the 70's even ordinary people looked smarter than the scruffy lot of today, Seems to me most of the youth's of today buy there clothing from charity shops 😆
A flash back to when I was growing up and taking everything for granted! Ah the good old days! Proud to be a Bristolian!
Hello Louise. Well said. The Seventies was a great decade. Regards Dave.
Ah the days when you could still drive freely in Bristol and not forced from one traffic jam to another by unused bike lanes and bus lanes full of barely used buses. Not to mentioning dodging kids on fast electric scooter while trying to park at a reasonable cost. Love Bristol and very much came of age there in the 70's but tend to avoid it now as it's too much hard work.
When I occasionally go back, I don't recognise it anymore.... its changed a lot!
breaks you're heart to see what it looks like now
How right you are. I grew up in Bristol in the 60s and was proud to be a Bristolian and thought what a fantastic city it was. I moved away in the mid 70s and just very occasionally come to Bristol to visit friends and relatives. The city looks so sad and neglected and completely soulless. And what has happened to the once lovely City Centre. Dare I say it, the city has been destroyed by political correctness and wokery and that is also the view of the Bristolians I know who still live in the city or nearby.
Why are you hiding my comments Dave?
@@MalcolmJohn-rr8bd You prick. Wokeness? It's called development. Just remember you're writing this on the internet, a product of development.
Born in the mid-60's..So many great memories growing up in Bristol in the 70's, especially Kingswood and Lockleaze..Great to step back in time for a moment..
Hello Billy. Glad you enjoyed the video. Regards Dave.
Born in easton 1945. Started work 1960, i worked at Colthurst & Harding, Bath Rd Brislington,until my first child was born in 1968.2 buses there and back. When married i moved to Fishponds. Such good photos,bring back memories.😊
Thoroughly enjoyed that stroll down memory lane. Thanks Dave! 👏
I was a young teenager, living in Bristol and I loved everything about Bristol then.
My family moved away in the mid-80's, but each one of us has returned to the city we love.
Great pictures, thanks Dave.
Keep up the good work.
Glad you enjoyed it. Lots more coming in the future. Regards Dave.
Wasn't amazing but it was good days. As a Bristolian I appreciated what we did and didn't have. Look at it now, I know which era I'd rarher be in!
Fabulous memories xx left Bristol in 1997 after growing up there x still miss it x
Hello Claire. Glad you are enjoying the videos. Regards Dave.
genuinely interesting seeing what things were like in the 1970s, I wasnt around til mid 80s so this is all new to me, thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it. Regards Dave.
My goodness me, some memories there, how things change. Thank you ❤
Glad you enjoyed it. Regards Dave.
Much greener back then. Concrete is cheaper to maintain. Sad. Thanks for the video.
The Brilliantly Sunlit City Center, at 0.42. looks like 1976 summer weather, what a year that was, '75 was great two.
Hello Philip. I loved the Seventies. Regards Dave.
think you'll find summer 75 was a wet one... 76 boiling but not 75..
Thanks for sharing! Brilliant collection of photos :)
Hello Elliot. Glad you enjoyed it. Regards Dave.
Brilliant pictures!
I moved to Bristol in 1976, and so much of this is how I remember my early years there.
Hello Philip. Happy Days. Regards Dave.
i remember bristol my home city, i left 10 years ago, im from fishponds and the days of wrestling at the colston hall
Thoroughly nostalgic for me, thank you!
Hello Graham. Glad you enjoyed it! Regards Dave.
From being a kid in the 1980s and 1990s Bristol has declined so much it’s very sad
Another set of great photos ! Love the old cars, old buildings and the people. Speedway - at Eastville Stadium ? Well done Dave.
Hello Nigel. Glad you enjoyed it. Regards Dave.
Thanks for the memories. I was a student from 1965 t0 1969. Happy days... Rag parades. Corn Exchange 5 bob on a Tuesday night (Uncle Bonny's Chinese R&B jazz club). The new student's union building on a Saturday night. (Beer 1/10d a pint and top bands.) What a time to be alive!
I worked in the Corn Exchange for 28 years from 1969. Happy Days. Regards Dave.
That picture of the lane with the old lamp stand is in gloucester rd at the bottom of staple hill going towards soundwell if one not mistaken at the back of my mum's house of place.unbelievable.thsnks for posting.Mint
Hello Steve. I have looked on google maps and i think you are right. There is still a lamp post there. Regards, Dave
And quite a few images of stores that are no longer trading; a list as long as your arm.
Hello John. It started with Woolworth's, then C & A, Littlewoods, British Home Stores, John Lewis, Debenhams and now Marks and Spencers. Regards Dave.
Lots of memories. I Used to walk from Queens Square bus stops to the top of Park Street to school every day.
Glad you enjoyed it. Regards Dave.
can you do that now? me neither
It brings back the view of the old centre near Eagle Star and the 2 way traffic near Lewise as was now Primark
Hello Brian. They seem to change the road system around that area and the centre every couple of years and it never improves. Regards Dave.
I lived and worked there once from 1970 to 1980. for a firm of engineers called Strachan & Henshaw of St Phillps Marsh.....that was a long time ago and far away as I am now in OZ.
18 years old, just moved to Bristol as a student. Great city!
Most students who come to Bristol never leave. Regards Dave.
I lived there from 1974 till 1977 working at BAC in Filton. Its just the way I remembered it to be.
Hello Paul. Glad you enjoyed the trip down memory lane. Regard Dave.
2:44 I like the punks photo, that's great.
Hello Michael. Thanks Dave.
Amazing! That was my childhood :-)
2.45 think that photo is early 80s. My friend is in the photo.
You may be right. If you can find the exact date please let me know. Regards Dave.
Thank you
You're welcome. Regards Dave.
Great video so many thanks. I lived in Bristol, Clifton and Cotham, all through the 70s, working for 4 years in Brights/Dingles Department store (Bristol's answer to Harrods) on the Clifton Triangle before joining British Aerospace in Filton. Great times, pubs and clubs. What memories this brings back, what terrific times, and these photos are also a sad reminder of just how nice and attractive central Bristol was back then. Even Broadmead looks fresh here! I was pleased to see a photo of the BristolGuild on Park Street, I loved that shop and still have a treasured watercolour I bought from there! However, I doubt the photos at 3:08 and 3:11 were taken in the 70s; more likely the 50s as the buildings in that street at 3:11 was clean and tidy when I used to go down there. I was expecting a photo of the great and individualistic flyover near Temple Meads, which I am sure everyone fondly remembers! Oh and 12p a pint in pubs and 14p a pint in clubs like Tiffanys (20p entrance fee!).
Funnily enough, during the Queen's visit, shown at 3:50, I was working at Brights/Dingles, and everyone went outside to see the queen's procession, including the staff. I popped back inside the store for some forgotten reason, and the entire department store was deserted, with no-one on any of the floors. Everyone was outside; a huge opportunity missed for shop-lifters!
I live in Gloucestershire now, but returned a couple of weeks ago to visit the Fleece, walking through Queen Anne's square and visiting the run-down and badly designed centre, and how dispiriting and sad to see what a dump it all is now. Even Blackboy Hill/Whiteladies Rd/Triangle/Park Street are despoiled now and are certainly sign city! Bristol definitely has an image problem. The council have finally got their way and ruined Bristol after 60 years of trying!
There is a very interesting video on TH-cam called 'is the heart of Bristol, UK dying?' that shows many of the same areas as they are now and the not particularly feasible or imaginative plans the current mayor/council have for them. Not happy viewing. A link:
th-cam.com/video/mbBrx3nQ4Jo/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for your comments and memories. Glad you enjoyed the photos. Regards Dave.
So many memories. Just not the same anymore 😢
The photo at 2:48 was taken in February 1982. My husband is in the photo!!
Hello Kelly. Thanks for the information. Regards Dave.
Fab video! But isn't that a Mk2 Mondeo on the right in the picture at 0:51?
Hello Piers. If that is the case then this would date this photo about 1996 and yet the other vehicles in the picture look a lot older. Regards Dave.
Traffic still.a nightmare
Hello Mel. Certainly is. Regards Dave
The guy who owned that bookstore on Christmas Steps actually appeared as himself, in the Kenneth More film set in Bristol, Some People! (1962).
Just looked at this on youtube - never heard of it, and very much of its time, but very interesting, so thanks for the reference.
Lovely! ❤
It was a nightmare if you ended up there hitch hiking to London before the M4 was built. I only got lucky once lift from Brittle to the London Royal Mint, but I had to buy the driver an English fry up supper.
Thanks for sharing.
5:06 Was that in Fishponds ? It does look kind of familiar. Unless other suburbs had similar styling. I stayed there in 1972 as a 15 year old on a school exchange program for 4 weeks. On my last day I had spent all my British money on shopping, totally forgetting to reserve some for the bus fare from the city. So, I decided to walk back. Through "****-****-land" (as it was commonly known in those days). Everyone was watching me from their windows, wondering why I was there. Back at the host family, everybody was stunned that I didn't get mugged during that passage and on the next day, at the airport, I was the talking subject among the British, young and old.
Never see any pics of the mini steam loco’s that chuffed around behind the dock sheds. This was in the late 60’s early 70’s.
@2:14 that's my brother Andrew Raines who owned and ran the flower stall outside Thomas Cook for many years until the Council wouldn't grant him a new licence due to the Galleries development.
3:56 Granville Street, Barton Hill. I had a couple of friends who lived there.
Hello Michael. Thankfully this street still exists. Regards Dave.
I used to go out with Karen gray who used live there. My dad called her LiL from Barton hill
Good times ❤
0:52 how did that get in there?☺️Ford Mondeo? 90's?😂
Lovely collection of photos, though. I'll be 50 this year. I was a boy in the 70's and I remember the orginal layout in the centre and green buses etc. Too young to remember broadmead before pedestrianisation though👀
Some of the photos are later. The punk photo is for sure, that's like 1983 ish!
Thats my home
Glad you enjoyed it. Regards Dave.
Wonderful Pictures
Recognised 90%
Titles of some of the residential street scenes would be useful
Hello Norman. Many thanks. Regards Dave.
Not everything changes for the better, pics from when Bristol was for the Bristolians
Yaay! I totally agree!
If only we had a time machine. Regards Dave.
So agree with you, use to love Bristol, not now though,
@@historymandave4739 wild horses won't stop me going back in a time machine.
Get that TARDIS out and think of the fun we'd all have, and the people we would see. And just before the dream ends we could nip into the betting shops and see what odds we'd get on a Red Rum treble and buy a couple of houses going cheap for laters 😉
Not a fast food shop in sight and that greenery by the hippodrome, can always remember in the summer full of colour with flower beds, not like the concrete jungle there now in 2023.
I think everyone loved the old City Centre Gardens. Regards Dave.
I Love this Cyty
It is the best. Regards Dave.
Last era Bristol was a proud city, all down hill from the 70s onwards.
Terrible council decisions one after another has made our city a bloody ruin!
The council must have been voted in democratically ...
The picture of the punks aoutside Virgin Records at 2.45 was taken in 1982 so,not 70s.
Bristol is unrecognisable now. 😢
Entirely untrue
Sure ? I visited it in 1972, 1973 and 1994. Every time the taste of tea or coffee was absolutely recognisable as "being in Bristol" for the water they were brewed with.
And 80s.
Yes a couple of 80s pictures slipped in. Regards Dave.
have these photo's been doctored where is the litter
Bristol to me is hardly recognisable anymore , so many beautiful buildings torn down and most cast iron columns removed , replaced with galvanised sticks , some of the loveliest houses in bishopston torn down for 70s junk Berkeley villa and tynesmore being two sad examples, I do what I can to preserve some cast iron lamps buts it gets harder , it was such a lovely city so sad
Hello David. Gone but not forgotten. Regards Dave.
@@historymandave4739 It's not the same. There had been some town planning by the Luftwaffe, although after that event, it was a lack of heritage protection. Sure, not everything can be saved, although, modern architects are known for "efficiently and cost saving built" designs, at times even reusing plans already realised in other locations, removing unique landmarks from cities.
Not sure the Ford Mondeo came out in the seventies......
Born in Kingswood, worked in central Bristol all my life. Started in Natwest Court mid 70's. Definitely the golden years. By the time I was 62 I left for South Wales. I have driven through the centre once since then and I have to say that the place has been wrecked. I can remember when mum used to be able to 'pop into town' and park outside Woolworths?
Thanks for sharing. Regards Dave.
I'm still yer, golden days when we were young, gone right down hill now as you say but unfortunately it's much the same everywhere a slow decline, just like me 😉
A far cry from the present mish mesh of today!! Progress you can keep it!! Try and find a toilet on the Centre?Much better back then centre island full of flowers and lawns all well tended, The shops to where better, Park street is a disgrace along with Stokes croft, What visitors think when touring the city must think God only knows,Back in the 70's even ordinary people looked smarter than the scruffy lot of today, Seems to me most of the youth's of today buy there clothing from charity shops 😆
Hello Keith. I totally agree with you. Regards Dave.
They HAVE TO buy them there pressured by the cost of living. It is more sustainable too, "riding the horse until it is dead".
@0:53, that was well into the 80s.
Hello Rob. You are right. Unfortunately I did not spot this until I had published the video. Regards Dave.
It were gert lush.
wtf happened?
And now it’s just sad to see what successive councils had done to, completely changed its identity.. rip bristol
Who voted for those councils in a democratic way (hopefully ...) ?