The Bristol Magazine January 2012

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£3.00 where sold

THE

ISSUE 91

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JANUARY 2012

BRISTOL MAGAZINE

THE MAGAZINE FOR THE CITY OF BRISTOL www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

FACE THE MUSIC With Cold Feet writer Mike Bullen

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ZEITGEIST Five things to capture the mood for January

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ROLLING UP THE BARD Shakespeare season at the Tobacco Factory

MADE IN BRISTOL The weird and wonderful inventiveness of Bristolians

A WEEKEND AWAY Great getaways for grown ups

The very best in local writing, what’s on, the arts, lifestyle, property and so much more in your guide to life and living in Bristol

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contents

2012

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ZEITGEIST

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Five things you’ll want do to in January

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TALK OF THE TOWN News and views Bristol-fashion

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BARTLEBY Our columnist has an Olympian tussle with sponsorship and the Games

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FACE THE MUSIC

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ART & EXHIBITIONS From pop-up galleries to major events

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INVENTIVE CITY

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FOOD & DRINK

Inspiration for getting fit, feeling and looking your best for the new year

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THE WALK Andrew Swift offers a city route that takes in the abandoned gardens of a long demolished mansion

RESTAURANT REVIEW TAKE A BREAK

LEAP INTO 2012

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PROPERTY A round-up of some of Bristol’s finest homes, to sell or to rent

Our January travel section is designed to tempt you away for a few days

THE

MOTORING

BRISTOL

TBM test drives the new Audi Quattro 3

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BRISTOL BUSINESS Awards, news & achievements from the city’s workplaces

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FAMILY FUN Ideas to keep your youngsters entertained in January

WHAT’S ON From singing nuns to silent comedy, don’t miss a thing with our city-wide guide

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48

SHAKESPEARE FEST We preview Tobacco Factory’s new season

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We try a taste of the UK’s biggest eaterie

AN EYE FOR FASHION The new exhibition at the M Shed will delight photographers and style queens

26 The latest from Bristol’s café culture

MR BRISTOW A moral tale about bargain hunting

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Boats, bikes and balloons: a celebration of all kinds of things made in Bristol

The writer who brought us TV series Cold Feet talks about music and what’s next

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EDUCATION Offering you the information to help you make the right choice for your child

MAGAZINE

TBM can be viewed with the online edition on our website:

www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk ON THE COVER Photograph by Norman Parkinson, courtesy of the Angela Williams Archive Designers of British Fashion portfolio © Norman Parkinson Ltd

January 2012

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Knight Frank

SOLD Westbury on Trym Guide Price £995,000

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Knight Frank

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Knight Frank has produced some exceptional results in 2011. We firmly believe that successful sales stem from forward planning. We would like to offer you a free market appraisal of your property and the opportunity to share in our success in 2012.

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EDITOR’Sletter

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n this very first issue of 2012 we’re like the Roman god Janus, who had two faces – one looking backward into the past, the other forward. Bristol’s newest museum, the M Shed, which opened last year and has enjoyed fantastic visitor numbers, is this month launching an exhibition of photographs by the late great Norman Parkinson. The show, An Eye for Fashion, will be of interest to anyone interested in fashion, photography and the social history of the late 1950s and early 60s.

Lindsey Harrad previews the exhibition, and picks out some of the most iconic images, Page 20.

Last year saw a plethora of pop-up restaurants, art galleries and even theatres springing up all over Bristol and that trend looks as if it’s going to continue this year. Bethany Wivell reports on the rise of the pop-up gallery (Page 32), a movement encouraged by the city council keen not to see shops lie empty. Shopping guru Mary Portas would surely approve of this enterprising retail spirit.

Ever keen to make life easier for our readers, we’ve introduced a new feature (see Page 10) which will each month highlight five things in the city that we think you’ll be interested in doing, seeing, visiting or trying.

Looking ahead to February, James Russell has been along to the Tobacco Factory to preview its 2012 Shakespeare season. The theatre space is so intimate and close to the actors that watching a drama has been described as being ‘like an embarrassed bystander in a riveting domestic quarrel.’

Nationally acclaimed each year for productions that are both classically timeless and resounding with contemporary themes, I’d urge you to make a new year resolution to get tickets this year.

Our resolution for 2012 is to endeavour to continue to bring you as wide a cultural offering as possible of what’s going on in this characterful, quirky and lively city, so you don’t miss out on the artistic action.

GEORGETTE McCREADY All paper used to make this magazine is taken from good sustainable sources and we encourage our suppliers to join an accredited green scheme. Magazines are now fully recyclable. By recycling magazines, you can help to reduce waste and contribute to the six million tonnes of paper already recycled by the UK paper industry each year.

Please recycle this magazine, but if you are not able to participate in a recycling scheme, then why not pass your magazine on to a friend or colleague.

CONTACT THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE: Editor Tel: Email:

Georgette McCready 01225 424592 georgette@thebristolmagazine.co.uk

Deputy Editor Email:

Samantha Ewart sam@thebristolmagazine.co.uk

Contributors

Mick Ringham, Bethany Wivell, James Russell, Andrew Swift, Lindsey Harrad, Catriona Stirling

Production Manager Jeff Osborne Email: production@thebristolmagazine.co.uk Publisher Tel: Email:

Steve Miklos 0117 974 2800 stevem@thebristolmagazine.co.uk

Contact the Advertising Sales team on tel: 0117 974 2800 Advertising Sales Email:

Kathy Williams kathy@thebristolmagazine.co.uk

Advertising Sales Email:

Jodi Monelle jodi@thebristolmagazine.co.uk

Advertising Sales Email:

Sue Parker sue@thebristolmagazine.co.uk

The Bristol Magazine and The Bath Magazine are published by MC Publishing Ltd and are completely independent of all other local publications.

www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

January 2012

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ZEITGEIST

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things to do in January

Watch If as a child you remember being totally absorbed by a story – with the twin pleasures of being enchanted by the magic and deliciously scared – you’ll love the Tobacco Factory’s production of Cinderella. Yes, there’s a prince and a wicked stepmother, but Cinderella is no soppy put-upon housemaid. She’s a feisty heroine who woos her prince with birdsong. Director Sally Cookson, who brought Treasure Island spectacularly to life outside the Old Vic last summer, has taken the Grimms’ version of the fairy tale and breathed new life into it. Enjoyed in the round, this Travelling Light Theatre Company production has music, laughter, audience participation and a couple of really dark moments that had a small boy behind me holding his hands over his eyes. Cinderella runs until January 15. Visit: www.tobaccofactorytheatre.com GMc

Sing

Laugh

Bristol’s diverse festival calendar kicks off 2012 with the Slapstick Festival this month, celebrating silent comedy. It runs from 26-29 January in various venues. See Page 27 for more details of events and guest speakers.

Vote Who would you like to see as the next names on Bristol Zoo Gardens’ Bristol Walk of Fame? Last year, as part of its 175th birthday celebrations, the zoo opened the walk, which features 49 of the city’s most renowned people, places and icons. The public has until January 16 to vote for the next ten names we would like to see added to the walk in the spring. The new inductees will join current icons such as Banksy, Massive Attack and The Wurzels, to Cary Grant, Ian Holloway and Bill Bailey. To vote, visit: www.bristolzoo.org.uk/walk-of-fame-2012.

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If the recent success of the Military Wives choir has inspired you to do more than just sing in the shower then now could be the time to take the plunge and develop your voice. A seven-week harmony singing course for women is being launched by local choir, the Bristol Fashion Chorus. Over seven weeks a scratch choir will work together to create beautiful harmonies. No experience is necessary, not even the ability to read music. Just turn up on Thursday 26 January at 7.30pm at Four Acres Primary School, Withywood with £5 registration fee. Tel Marion Brooks: 01275 848 577.

Book Avon Wildlife Trust has pulled off quite a coup, with the producers of Frozen Planet giving a talk in aid of the Trust, next month in the city.

Alistair Fothergill and Vanessa Berlowitz will reveal how some of the most memorable sequences were filmed. The talk is on 13 February at St George’s Bristol.

Tickets are £10 (£8 concessions) Trust-member Alastair Fothergill, Executive Produce of Frozen Planet said: “Frozen Planet is special – I fell in love with Antarctica in the early 90s when I was working on Life in the Freezer. It is an extraordinary, wonderful wilderness.”

For tickets for the talk by Alistair Fothergill and Vanessa Berlowitz

Out of town...

Bath is going all-out to beat the winter darkness, with a free art light show. The festival of light, Illuminate Bath, runs from Wednesday 25 to Saturday 28 January and will banish the gloom in public spaces around the city. Artists’ collective, Clockwork City, is creating an installation in which large keys are attached to street furniture, and when turned, will trigger lights, images and sounds.

PICTURE: Jeff Wilson

at St George’s, Bristol, tel: 0845 40 24 001 or visit: www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

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TALKofthe TOWN

My cultural life

BOOK OF THE MONTH Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.

Review: Angela Everitt of Clevedon Community Bookshop One of Dickens’ later novels, Great Expectations, is a treasure trove for readers, creative writers and social analysts and worth revisiting in this, the 200th anniversary of his birth. It displays aesthetic qualities and, as expected by readers at the time, conveys strong moral messages still relevant today.

Clearly influenced by his contemporaries, for example, Mary Shelley’s gothic writing and Jane Austen’s romantic, Dickens presents us with style, storytelling, social concerns and satire, writing quite experimentally. The speaking voice of the first person adult narrator reflecting on the words and perspectives of the boy Pip, provide opportunities for playing with time, specific moments and generalised experiences. Thus, aesthetically, the novel is cleverly crafted with the attention to detail that we expect from Dickens, with metaphor, rhythm and rich dialect. Instrumentally, Dickens addresses social class and status showing that, for Pip, the route to respect is through dutiful, decent behaviour rather than through wealth and riches. Middle-class hardworking integrity wins over sponging snobbery.

T’would be a crime to miss it

NEWS IN BRIEF

This month we ask Janette Kerr, the new president of the Royal West of England Academy

T

Light a loyal beacon

Which book are you reading?

he legions of enthusiasts who have enjoyed the dark Scandanavian TV drama, The Killing, will be delighted to hear that a new novel based on the Danish series, written by British crime writer David Hewson, is to be launched in Bristol this spring.

Yorkshireman and bestselling writer Hewson won the right to bring Detective Sarah Lund from screen to page and publisher Pan Macmillan will be holding a launch event at CrimeFest in Bristol in May. The festival is already talking about other big names and treats in store for crime afficionados, including Lee Childs, Sue Grafton and veteran Queen of Crime PD James. The convention runs from May 24 – 27. To find out more visit: www.crimefest.com. Among the highlights will be the launch of the shortlist for the annual Dagger writing awards and the Pitch An Agent event. This is the crime writers’ equivalent of Dragons’ Den, which gives unpublished writers the chance to pitch their manuscripts to literary agents who represent some of the biggest names in the business. If you are an aspiring crime writer, the next few months can be put to good use, honing that debut novel and preparing to move in for the kill.

The Bristol Magazine The Bristol Magazine 2 Princes Buildings George Street Bath BA1 2ED Telephone: 0117 974 2800 Fax: 01225 426677 editor@thebristolmagazine.co.uk sales@thebristolmagazine.co.uk © MC Publishing Ltd 2012 The Bristol Magazine is distributed free every month to over 24,000 homes and businesses throughout Bristol.

Published by MC Publishing Limited Disclaimer: Whilst every reasonable care is taken with all material submitted to The Bristol Magazine, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to such material. Opinions expressed in articles are strictly those of the authors. This publication is copyright and may not be reproduced in any form either in part or whole without written permission from the publishers.

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January 2012

In all the excitement of this summer’s Olympic Games in London, let’s not forget the country has another reason to celebrate this year when HRH Queen Elizabeth II becomes only the second monarch in British history to celebrate 60 years on the throne. The nation is to light a series of beacons to celebrate the occasion. On the evening of Monday 4 June, over 2,000 beacons are expected to be lit simultaneously across the British Isles and the Commonwealth. Individuals and groups interested in holding a beacon celebratory event are asked to register their interest. Beacon lighting will offer a great way to raise money for a local or national charity of choice, or simply to celebrate with family and friends. All official beacon events will be listed in a special commemorative book that will be given to the Queen. To get involved visit: www.diamondjubileebeacons.co.uk.

Create poster art Portishead might seem an unlikely holiday destination, but to mark the forthcoming re-opening of the Portishead railway line, a competition has been launched to find the best new poster to draw visitors by train. The railway posters of bygone ages have become collectable works of art, and this competition Picture by Richard Furness provides the of JDF & Associates opportunity for contemporary artists to stamp their mark on this genre. A poster exhibition is being staged in March by the Pure offices at Kestrel Court, Portishead. The deadline for entries is 10 April. To find out more visit: www.postertoposter.co.uk

The Frozen Ship by Sarah Moss which describes early polar explorations of the frozen landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic, places to which I dream of journeying to paint and draw.

Which museum or gallery will you be visiting?

The John Martin exhibition Apocalypse at Tate Britain and Gerhard Richter’s retrospective exhibition Panorama at Tate Modern.

What’s on your MP3 player?

Contemporary jazz, often Scandinavian, such as Esbjorn Svensson and Tord Gustavsen. Female singers feature heavily, from the Norwegian Sami musician Mari Boine to PJ Harvey. Sigur Rós is a favourite, as is Enrico Caruso. A lot of my music references the sea, from Martha Tilson’s Till I Reach the Sea, to Ketil Bjornstad and David Darling’s The Sea. Of course I also listen to my son’s band Reism – a melodic meld of gothic, rock, metal and industrial.

Film or play? What will you be going to see this month?

I’ve just seen Sergei Paradjanov’s classic film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, a strange, sometimes psychedelic, film based on a Ukranian folk tale.

What local outdoor activity/location will you be going to do or visit this month?

I am planning on visiting the Dorset coast. I need my fix of those breaking waves to remind me what my paintings are about.

You passions? What regular hobbies or interests will you be pursuing this month?

Zumba features regularly, as does Salsa aerobics. In terms of my passions, my partner says I have to mention him – so, Steve Poole.

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WHO ARE THE REAL WINNERS?

W

hen I woke up on New Year’s Day the awful truth dawned on me.

It’s 2012, and for the next eight months everyone and his dog will be banging on about the Olympics. Everything you buy already has ‘Official London 2012 Something-or-Other’ plastered all over it, and this situation is only going to deteriorate between now and July. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for people from different countries competing to see who’s the best runner or jumper or swimmer. Sport is on the whole a force for good. It’s all the accompanying nonsense I have trouble with.

The absurdity of the whole thing was brought home to me the other day when I walked past a billboard advertising a well-known chocolate-based bar-type goodie. Glancing up, I noticed the words ‘Official England Olympic Team Treat’ or something similar. Now, forgive me if I’m wrong, but I thought the modern sportsperson was a highly tuned machine. I thought that sportspeople nowadays ate nothing but specially calibrated power foods and bionic drinks. Are you going to tell me that our superfit, astonishingly toned athletes pause from their training every so often to munch a Wiffle Bar (name changed to avoid litigation)?

It’s rather touching that the Flame will ❝ visit these rural communities ❞ This scenario seems, you must agree, highly unlikely. By the same token, our fine sportspeople probably have little use for the thousands of other products that claim some sort of official connection with this great sporting spectacle. OK, so perhaps the manufacturers of said Wiffle Bar have sponsored the team in some way, or perhaps Wiffle Bars are the only chocolate-based bar-type goodie that you can buy in The Village, but the advertising suggests otherwise. The advertising suggests that our sporting heroes guzzle chocolate bars which means that you and I, ordinary mortals who are perhaps less athletic, can do likewise and be in good company.

The Olympics have often been put to a political use out of keeping with their spirit, a case in point being 1936, which Hitler used to promote National Socialism. I’m not suggesting that anything so sinister will happen in London, but I can’t help feeling that, in the long run, the net result of these games will be to make the rich a bit richer, and the rest of us less so.

At times like these it’s quite nice to live in an out of the way sort of place like Bristol. No doubt we’ll host the opening stages of the Left-handed Darts competition or even French Cricket, but in the main we’ll be able to offer sanctuary to the millions of Londoners who have rented out their homes for the duration – how happy they will be, and how generous! However, we are not entirely out of the Olympic loop. Far from it.

On 22 May the good people of Longwell Green and Hanham will have the pleasure of watching the Olympic Flame pass by en route to Bristol where, if our good fortune can be believed, it will Spend the Night as Queen Elizabeth did in 1574. The city was still paying for that privilege decades later, so let’s hope the Flame’s needs are more modest. I’m not sure how many people the Flame has in its retinue, but no doubt they will all be expecting a bed for the night, a good dinner and a Wiffle Bar. The following day will see the Flame take an odd little detour through Backwell, Nailsea and Failand before returning to Bristol. It’s rather touching that the Flame will visit these rural communities, bringing a little Olympic glamour to quiet lives – although it should be warned that residents are not used to excitement and may become agitated. Perhaps I need to stop worrying about chocolate and corporate greed and focus instead on the Flame – the pure, unsullied spirit of the Olympics. ■ www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

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CITY FACEgardens theMUSIC

THE WRITE STUFF Kathy Williams talks to west country writer Mike Bullen about the award-winning television series Cold Feet, why he came back to the UK after moving to Australia and his favourite music

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January 2012

OLD FRIENDS: the cast of Cold Feet; Robert Bathurst, Hermione Norris, James Nesbit, Helen Baxendale, John Thomson and Fay Ripley in the drama written by Mike Bullen and which made the actors household names

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FACEtheMUSIC

MIKE’S MUSICAL HEROES: left to right, Leonard Cohen’s Chelsea Hotel #2, Thom Yorke lead singer of Radiohead and Creep, and Steve Harley of Cockney Rebel, Death Trip

MAIN PICTURE: portrait of writer Mike Bullen by Benjamin Shelmerdine

Y

ou probably wouldn’t recognise Mike Bullen if you passed him in the street, but there’s a fair chance you’ll know his work. He’s the creator of the award-winning TV comedy drama, Cold Feet, which followed the trials and tribulations of three Manchester-based couples in their early thirties as they struggled with life, love, and parenthood.

The show was phenomenally successful, running for five series on ITV and twice being nominated for the BAFTA for Best Drama Series (winning once); the programme was sold to more than 30 countries worldwide and was remade in the United States, Italy, the Czech Republic and Poland.

In 2002 Mike emigrated with his family to Australia, but now they’re back, relocating to Bath in April 2011. But why leave their comfortable home on Sydney’s northern beaches?

“The weather. You have no idea how monotonous one sunny day after another can become. No, I’m joking. It was work. We moved to Australia as Cold Feet was ending. I continued to work for British TV, writing three series of a show called Life Begins, starring Caroline Quentin, but after that it became increasingly difficult to overcome the tyranny of distance. I’m not getting any younger but TV execs are and I decided that if I was going to make another go of this writing lark, I’d have to be UK-based.”

It’s a move that has paid off. Mike currently has three TV series in development, one or more of which he hopes will make it on to our screens later this year. Mike, his wife and two daughters, previously lived in Bristol but on their return to these shores opted instead for Bath.

“After eight years in Australian suburbia, Bristol felt like this teeming metropolis. Bath is much more manageable. We live in Widcombe; I love the fact that we’re within walking distance of the centre and all it has to offer.”

So the monotonous sunny days aside, what does he miss most about Australia? “Rugby league. It’s so exciting – a perfect blend of athleticism and controlled violence. I’ve tried watching Bath rugby, but it sends me to sleep, though I like the way they get the crowd involved, kicking the ball into the stands every few minutes.”

Mike’s active participation in sport is limited to running, another habit he formed in Sydney, where he was a member of a mixed-ability running club that met once a week to pound the beaches and coastline near where he lived. And now he’s forming a similar group here.

“There are two running clubs in Bath that I’m aware of: Team Bath, at the university, and a women’s group operating out of Sweaty Betty. I didn’t feel dedicated enough for the former, and failed the qualifying test for the latter. I’ve made a couple of running friends here and, like me, they find it easier to motivate themselves running with others. So we’ve started a group for people like us, who, if they didn’t have others to run with, would probably stay on the sofa.”

Bath Social Runners meets twice a week, Wednesdays at 6pm and Saturdays at 9am. There’s no cost to join, and no commitment – if you fancy a run, just turn up. And, with the

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emphasis on social as much as running, there’s an opportunity for a coffee or beer afterwards. Further information can be found on the group’s website www.bathsocialrunners.co.uk

Mike’s top ten: ● Supertramp – Bloody Well Right From my all time fave album, Crime of the Century. The extent of my teenage rebellion was to sing this very loud about the house, the word ‘bloody’ upsetting my mother. Pathetic really. ● Harry Chapin – Taxi Most people have never heard of this singer-songwriter from the 1970s but on an early date with my wife I discovered she was a fan too, which was a definite tick. His songs were stories set to music; Taxi is a moving tale of unfulfilled ambition. ● Cockney Rebel – Death Trip At university I was obsessed with a Goethe novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther about a youth who kills himself for love, and adapted it for the stage, using this orchestral rock piece about suicide as soundtrack. It’s a fabulously baroque, epic piece of music. ● Radiohead – Creep My favourite song of all time, with one of my favourite lines: “I want you to notice, when I’m not around.” When my kids were young I’d sing them to sleep with this. I want it played at my funeral, cranked up to 11. ● Patsy Cline – Crazy This one’s for my Dad, who died nine months ago. He loved this song, and I do too. The vocals are so pure. They don’t write ‘em like this anymore, and music’s the poorer for it. On ya, Pops! ● Antony and the Johnsons – Cripple and the Starfish Antony has the most angelic voice but sings of pain, heartache and worse. Sumptuous, haunting and heart-breaking. ● Linda Ronstadt – Blue Bayou I remember as a kid my Mum singing along to this track and being pitch-perfect on the ridiculously high note at the end. I was shocked. My mother could sing! That day I realised my Mum was a fully-formed person in her own right, not merely a supporting character in my life story. ● Leonard Cohen – Chelsea Hotel #2 I was in the front row (prime blagging) for a concert the great man gave in a vineyard outside Sydney. The sun set over the stage. It was a sublime moment, almost spiritual. I love all his work but particularly this song which contains another of my favourite lines, too rude to quote here. ● Philip Glass – Violin Concerto I don’t like opera and I can take or leave most classical music, but I find Philip Glass hypnotic. His work seems effortless, but that’s just because he’s so clever at hiding its complexity. I can’t generally write to music, but Philip Glass provides a great backing track. ● Frank Sinatra – That’s Life Sinatra at his best, belting out a showstopper with a big band behind him. I love his phrasing, and the way he punches each line. Whenever I get drunk enough to sing karaoke, this is the song I want to do (badly, but in my mind I’m Old Blue Eyes!). ■

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Mr Bristow ODD WAYS TO FIND A BARGAIN

T

he way some people behave at the sales beggars belief. All that bonhomie and shared Cuppa Soup in the overnight pavement queue suddenly turns to animalistic frenzy when the doors open. New friends become sworn enemies as they fight to the death over the discounts.

I used to co-manage a charity shop raising funds for community arts projects. One day a nearby sports shoe importer donated a whole van load of trainers. The company’s policy was to send out single shoes to the retailers as samples. These were what they were left with. So really they had given us several hundred odd shoes. The possibility of finding any pairs was remote.

Nevertheless, my mum, dear soul, spent many hours in a freezing cold shed sorting out the smattering of pairs that did exist, plus a whole load that matched as near as dammit. These we sold in our shop for a few quid each and everyone thought they’d got a real bargain.

on opening the doors an OAP riot ❝ broke out. The heap of shoes became a heap of old ladies, their legs flailing ... ❞ We stored the remainder, not really knowing what to do with them.

Until, that is, the council lent us an empty shop in town for a one-off jumble sale. The night before the event we set everything up and I had the idea of piling the shoes, all of which were brand new, in the middle of the room with a sign saying ‘Only fifty pence a pair…if you can find one!’ It was meant to be a joke, but unfortunately my sign could be read from out in the street and when we came to open up in the morning, the queue stretched down the road and round the corner.

On opening the doors an OAP riot broke out. The heap of shoes became a heap of old ladies, their legs flailing in the air as they fought tooth and nail to scrabble for anything that looked vaguely pairish. Some managed to get in through a side-door which was clearly marked No Entry. There was a reason for this because, as the council had pointed out, the floor in the corridor was rotten. Sure enough, there was a cracking noise and one lady went through the floorboards up to her ankles. Luckily, she didn’t fall down into the cellar, but was stuck there like a skittle until someone pulled her out.

Meanwhile the mountain of odd shoes was diminishing rapidly, a bit like one of those freeze-frame film sequences, and ladies were grabbing armfuls and laying siege to the till where my mum was coping bravely.

Some of the shoes had two stripes, some had three. Some had no stripes at all. But they nearly all sold.

I imagined that all over the city husbands were looking aghast at the ‘pair’ of odd shoes their wives had proudly presented to them, or teenagers were being mocked at sports days for the non-matching footwear that mum had sent them along in. For weeks after that if I saw any lady over 50 in the bus station wearing trainers (and they are legion, it’s not only the yoof what like the Nike) I would study their footwear very closely and count the stripes thereon.

But despite our profitably disposing of hundreds, I never spotted anyone sporting a mismatched pair. And nobody rang to complain either, apart from the lady who fell through the floor. But I think her main beef was that she didn’t actually manage to get her hands on any shoes. ■ 18 The Bristol Magazine

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ICONIC: model Joy Weston, photographed at The Mansion House, London for Vogue in March 1955, wearing Victor Steibel at Jaqumar, an evening dress with a bodice of fern green silksweeps with a billowing white organdie skirt, appliqued with embroidered green stem marguerites All photographs courtesy of the Angela Williams’ Archive Designers of British Fashion portfolio, 1950-1965 © Norman Parkinson Ltd/courtesy of the Norman Parkinson archive

THE NORMAN CONQUEST A new exhibition at Bristol’s M Shed reveals how the legendary photographer Norman Parkinson captured the spirit of the 1950s and 1960s with his trademark panache, says Lindsey Harrad

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1

960 represented a pivotal moment in the emancipation of women. While girls coming of age in the previous decade aspired to careers as an air hostess, nurse, secretary, or possibly the wife of a duke, the next decade brought sweeping social change and thrilling freedom for a new generation of confident, ambitious young women.

With youth culture in the ascendancy, designers both responded to, and fuelled demand for, a more liberal approach to fashion, as girls no longer wanted to dress in Hardie Amies suits like their mothers. The restrictive girdles, safe hemlines and ‘good girl’ attitudes of the 50s were swept away by the bold colours, bare legs and the new contraceptive pill of the 60s, and pioneering designers like Susan Small, Mary Quant and Jean Muir brilliantly captured the spirit of the age, while also laying the foundations of the modern fashion industry.

With most of the original mini skirts and graphic prints of the 1960s now long gone to jumble sales, vintage shops and dusty trunks in the attic, it is left to the fashion photography of the era to tell the story. An Eye for Fashion at M Shed is a collaboration between the Angela Williams Archive (AWA) and Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives, featuring around 60 rare and original vintage prints taken from an important collection of over 200 images that comprise the AWA’s Designers of British Fashion portfolio. The exhibition opens on Saturday, 21 January and runs until Sunday, 15 April, and provides a window into the work of the great British photographer Norman Parkinson, whose career spanned six decades of the 20th century. At the peak of his career, from 1945 to 1960, Parkinson was employed as a portrait and fashion photographer for Vogue, and from 1960 to 1964 he was an Associate Contributing Editor of Queen magazine. From 1964 until his death in 1990 he worked as a freelance photographer.

The poster image for An Eye for Fashion was taken by Parkinson in 1960 as part of his first assignment for the new trend-setting Queen magazine after leaving Vogue. It was a defining year for Parkinson’s own career as he moved to a bold new publishing venture, and the photograph itself teeters on the brink between two very different eras. The outfits are still a little prim and don’t yet reflect the liberation of the new decade, but a closer inspection of the shot reveals the models are manacled together. The unexpected discovery of handcuffs suggests a desire for greater sexual freedom hidden beneath those sensible suits, but it also hints at the still-precarious nature of female emancipation at this time. The symbolism is enigmatic, anarchic and a little bit naughty – in other words, a classic Parkinson moment.

SOCIAL REVOLUTION: from the top: for Life magazine, October 1963, models Jill Kennington and Melanie Hampshire in Mary Quant dresses, Bank of England and Eton; middle, Vogue February 1955, Enid Munick Scutty Boulting at home wearing a Susan Small embroidered lace dress with pearl drop and cummerbund; bottom, Vogue September 1957, Pagan Grigg wearing Hardy Amies lace day dress

Parkinson was the first fashion ❝ photographer to truly liberate his models from the stuffy confines of a studio and bring them into the real world

❞

Just a few years later, Parkinson was working on a series of commercial shoots for National Benzole petrol, part of the Getaway campaign running in Queen magazine. We may be used to seeing fast cars and impossibly gorgeous girls in advertising now, but this glamorous, aspirational photography inspired by the American dream was quite unique in the UK at that time. “Queen was illustrating a lifestyle that hardly existed in this country, it was a real dream – but it seemed within reach for a new young generation for the first time,” says Angela Williams, exhibition curator. “They wanted a taste of the world they had seen in the movies. Of course, even then, film stars of ➤

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the day would set trends for wearing particular designers.”

Then, as now, couture designs quickly translated into high street fashion, and girls were rushing out to buy dresses inspired by the latest issue of Vogue. But the aloof, aristocratic-looking models that had dominated fashion photography from the 1930s now seemed archaic and quickly became redundant.

“Parkinson was the first fashion photographer to truly liberate his models from the stuffy confines of a studio and bring them into the real world, where he captured their natural beauty and energy with his trademark mix of realism and wit,” explains Angela. “Parkinson’s innovative yet meticulous approach to every shoot ensured there was always a touch of magic in his work; he did not merely document, but also influenced, the zeitgeist.”

A new style of fashion photography needed a new type of model, and the ice-queen debutantes of previous decades were replaced with ‘real’ girls, reflecting the breakdown of traditional class barriers.

“Models in the 1960s like Celia Hammond, Enid ‘Scutty’ Boulting, Jill Kennington and Jean Shrimpton were normal young women from average family backgrounds, carefree modern girls you could imagine running through fields and bunking off school,” explains Angela. “Gone were the dukes’ daughters, these were the accessible, relatable new role models for the girls on the street.”

An Eye for Fashion features original vintage prints from 1954 to 1964, visually documenting the fashion industry’s transition from sober style for the post-war generation to the vibrant, irreverent fashion favoured by the baby-boomers of the 1960s.

The exhibition also includes original examples of vintage Vogue and Queen front covers from the AWA, alongside examples of high street fashion and other ephemera of the period from the Bristol Museums and Galleries collection, which provides a vivid context for the photography and evokes a sense

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of nostalgia for this fascinating era of rapid social change.

“These prints represent one of the most significant and creative periods of Parkinson’s career, but most of the images have not been published or exhibited since they were first taken, so it is very exciting to be able to bring these works to a new audience,” says Angela Williams. “Parkinson always claimed he was a working photographer not an artist, but with the passage of time these photographs have gathered substantial artistic and historical significance, and the images now transcend their original purpose.”

By its very nature, fashion photography is usually a disposable art form, both the photos themselves, and the fashion they depict, are quickly displaced by a new issue of the magazine, the launch of next season’s fashion collection, or even the next top model rising through the ranks. But as one of the 20th century’s truly great photographers, Parkinson’s iconic images are not merely a fleeting piece of commercial ephemera; they are snapshots of history in the making, perfectly capturing the mood, the moment and the magic of this chameleon era. ■ An Eye for Fashion opens at M Shed, Princes Wharf, Wapping Road, Bristol, on Saturday 21 January and runs until Sunday 15 April. Open Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 5pm; weekends 10am – 6pm. www.mshed.org Original vintage prints are available to view and purchase at: www.angelawilliamsarchive.com or further works can be viewed at: www.normanparkinson.com

PARKY’S VISION: main picture, manacled models pose on a staircase for Queen magazine, March 1960, wearing clothes by Mascotte, Worth, Susan Small, Fredricke Starke and Frank Usher WOMAN IN BLUE: model Tania Mullet, who also appeared in the James Bond film Goldfinger, wearing a blue crystal organza dress by Susan Small.

Parkinson exposed the image twice in the camera on a 10x8 inch film

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TOBACCOfactory

SCENES OF AN INTIMATE NATURE The 2012 Shakespeare season at the Tobacco Factory brings a contemporary resonance to classic drama, writes James Russell

O

ne of the abiding images of the past year showed the former Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi shortly before his death. Bloodied and bowed, he was the very picture of the toppled tyrant – a figure both contemporary and timeless. Shakespeare would certainly have recognised him, and it will be interesting to see how his fate influences the new production of King Lear at the Tobacco Factory next month.

Given the events unfolding across the Middle East, the choice of Lear for the 13th season of Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory is extremely apt. In a sense the same was true when artistic director Andrew Hilton chose the play for the new company’s first production in 2000, when the fall of Communism was fresh in our minds. But what is particularly intriguing about events in Libya is that the Gaddafi regime was, like Lear’s, a family affair.

Hilton is intrigued by the parallels. “The people in the play are Lear’s children,” he says, “And he is SO dominant. I was reminded of a Libyan man who was interviewed on the television and said ‘I want my dignity.’ He didn’t want to be treated like a child – to have his every move dictated.”

In a dictatorship power resides not in institutions but in the tyrant himself – or herself. Andrew Hilton believes that Shakespeare drew for inspiration on his experience of growing up in Elizabethan England, a country where the great majority of people had known only one ruler – the Virgin Queen herself.

King Lear was written not long after her death and first performed for James I on Boxing Day 1606. In the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, the sense of living in an uncertain political world must have been very strong.

Part of the play’s strength and continuing appeal lies in the interweaving of public and family life. Everyone loves a 24 The Bristol Magazine

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dysfunctional family, and Lear’s is a classic of the type, only the power his eldest daughters are able to abuse extends far beyond their own lives. Still, it is perhaps the intensity of this family saga that makes it so fitting for the uniquely intimate stage of the Tobacco Factory Theatre, a space where one feels, as a critic of the 2000 production put it, ‘like an embarrassed bystander in a riveting domestic quarrel.’

Everyone loves a dysfunctional ❝ family and Lear’s is a classic of the type ❞ Andrew Hilton looks back on that first season less with nostalgia than with relief that it did not end in disaster. George Ferguson had only recently bought and refurbished the Tobacco Factory and the newly formed Shakespeare company was one of the first to use it. Everything was very much DIY. “We even created our own box office,” Hilton recalls, “out of my mobile phone.”

At the first night there were just 12 people in the audience, and it was hard to see how the play could be anything other than a financial disaster. However, an excellent review in The Independent brought the beleaguered production to the attention of the theatre-loving public and the opening season, which also included A Midsummer Night’s Dream, proved a roaring success.

“We were extremely lucky,” the director says. “By the end of Lear we were turning people away.”

Since then, Andrew Hilton has directed more than 20 Shakespeare plays at the Tobacco Factory, along with several by other writers, and the company’s standing among the nation’s

FAVOURITES: Julia Hills, pictured as the Duchess of York with Roland Oliver in Richard II, is returning to the Tobacco Factory to play Goneril in King Lear Top right, Simon Armstrong in the 2009 production of Uncle Vanya

PHOTOS: courtesy of Graham Burke

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TOBACCOfactory theatre critics has steadily risen. The 2004 season transferred later in the year to the Barbican Theatre in London, while other productions have travelled to Exeter and elsewhere. Hilton wants to do more of this, and hopes to see successful productions touring more widely around the country. But right now his focus is on the Tobacco Factory and the stage he has grown to love over the years – those pillars included.

So how will this year’s Lear be different? The answer to this question lies not in some deliberate directorial ‘take’ on the play – there is none – but in the casting, which Hilton describes as ‘a long and laborious process’.

Each year the company evolves, with a certain proportion of new faces. This year there are nine new people (out of 21), with John Shrapnel – a vastly experienced actor whom Hilton describes as ‘fiercely intelligent and explosive’ – playing Lear. We can expect some fireworks.

Meanwhile, in rather a neat twist, the lead man in the Tobacco Factory’s first Lear will be performing in the season’s other production. Roland Oliver will play Simeonov-Pishchik in The Cherry Orchard, the third Chekhov play to be tackled by the company. Previous productions of Three Sisters (2005) and Uncle Vanya (2009, with the Bristol Old Vic) have proved extremely popular with audiences and critics alike, and as with Lear the choice of this play is timely.

Another family story, albeit of a very different kind, The Cherry Orchard portrays in microcosm the collapse of the

Russian aristocracy, with characters powerless and uncomprehending in the face of financial crisis and social upheaval. Chekhov himself knew all about the difficulties of running an estate, having poured time and money into his own, and drew on his experiences to create a play that treads a fine line between tragedy and comedy.

Andrew Hilton believes strongly that the peculiar qualities of the Tobacco Factory theatre lend themselves particularly well to a play he has seen in numerous productions.

“I’m looking forward to getting close to this play. The Cherry Orchard has always been something beautiful and melancholic but it has never really moved me before. This time it will be so different, because instead of looking from a distance at a picture – as you do in most theatres – the audience will experience the action at close range and in three dimensions.”

We can also expect from this new production the most wonderful language, thanks to the director’s close collaboration with translator Stephen Mulrine. Look out too for the new translation of Chekhov’s masterful monologue, On the Evils of Tobacco, which is promised as a post-show extra on Wednesday and Friday evenings. ■ Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory, 2012 season. King Lear runs from 9 Feb – 24 March and Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard runs from 29 March – 5 May For more information visit: www.sattf.org.uk, or tel box office: 0117 902 0344.

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Michael Kemp and his staff would like to thank all their loyal customers who supported them during the company's 130th year and wish everyone a happy and prosporous 2012.

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WHAT’Son THEATRE, DANCE & COMEDY – listed by venue

BAD HABITS

good versus evil, expressed through dance, has thrilled audiences worldwide and catapulted Irish dance to a new dimension and unprecedented worldwide acclaim. As the story unfolds, the Little Spirit travels through time to help the Lord of the Dance protect his people from the challenge of Don Dorcha, the Dark Lord. As this evil dark power challenges the hero, the incredible adventure continues, drawing its audience into a mythical universe of love, danger, and desire.

Lord of the Dance

T h e Toba cc o Fac t or y T he at re Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol.

Box office tel: 0117 902 0344 or visit: www.tobaccofactory.com Sister Act at the Bristol Hippodrome

B r i s to l H i pp o dr o me St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol. Box office tel: 0844 847 2325 or visit: www.bristolhippodrome.org.uk

Peter Pan, until Sunday 8 January, please contact theatre for times Fly away on a journey of wonder and excitement into the magical world of Neverland. Join Peter, Wendy and the Lost Boys in their thrilling adventure to save Tinkerbell from the villainous Captain Hook and his crew of dastardly pirates. With special effects, great costumes, and a good helping of fairydust, Peter Pan is a perfect treat for the whole family. David Hasselhoff is starring as Hook and the hilarious Andy Ford is back at the Bristol Hippodrome as Smee.

David Hasselhoff stars as Captain Hook in Peter Pan

Cinderella: A Fairytale, Until Sunday 15 January, please contact theatre for times Sister Act, Wednesday 11 – Saturday 21 January, please contact theatre for times From producers Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment (Hairspray, High School Musical), the five times Tony nominated West End and Broadway hit Sister Act is going on tour. When disco diva Deloris Van Cartier witnesses a murder, she is put in protective custody in the one place the cops are sure she won’t be found – a convent. Disguised as a nun she makes the wrong impression on the strict Mother Superior. But when she transforms the choir into the most glorious musical act in town, Deloris forms a lasting bond with her newfound friends – and the gang that’s chasing her finds itself up against an unstoppable team of soulful sisters. Based on the movie of the same name, this fabulous, family-friendly, feel-good show is packed with songs inspired by Motown, funk, soul and disco, which more than a million people saw in the West End.

Lord of the Dance, Monday 23 – Sunday 29 January, Monday – Friday, 8pm; Saturday & Sunday, 2.30pm & 8pm Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance is a magical adventure of sight and sound that transports its audience to a mythical time and place, lifting the spirits of all who experience it. Based on Irish folklore, this classic tale of 26 The Bristol Magazine

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The team behind Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves returns to the origins of the Cinderella story to bring you a brand new version of one of the oldest, best loved fairytales of all time.

When a rich man’s wife dies, his daughter Ella mourns her beloved mother with a grief as deep as the snow on her grave. Before the spring sun has time to melt it, her father takes a second wife and their peaceful life is taken over by a host of new and unpleasant relations. Her only friends are the woodland birds who roost in the tree that grows over the grave, but they are no ordinary birds. With its quirky visual style, original live music and pitch-perfect ensemble acting, director Sally Cookson and team bring this classic tale of fortunes reversed imaginatively to life.

The Marvellous and Unlikely Fete of Little Upper Downing, Wednesday 18 – Saturday 21 January, 8pm After the sell-out success of Crocosmia and Operation Greenfield, Little Bulb, one of the UK’s most exciting theatre companies, returns with a season highlight and a traditional English fête. The Little Upper Downing Folk Society is in town, and as well as wanting to share some cracking tunes, there’s a severe hole in the history curriculum that desperately needs to be rectified. As if it weren’t bad enough that most people haven’t even heard of Little Upper Downing, no one even seems to realise that it was home to the greatest folk duo of all time. Fear not though, as Seth, Peter,

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WHAT’Son

Charlotte and Mary have brought just enough props and passion to tell you the tale of the village’s two unlikely heroes, Derek Badger and Christopher Roaring, both on a journey of self discovery through fog, friendship, folk music, and the odd ribbon dance.

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Friday 27 & Saturday 28 January, 7.30pm Robert Tressell’s famous novel is brought to life using live music, mayhem and mirth in a hilarious, fast-paced show. Sharing with its audience a year in the life of a group of painters and decorators, as they renovate a three-storey town house for Mayor Sweater, it traces their struggle for survival in a complacent and stagnating Edwardian England. These workers are the philanthropists who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters. This vibrant, lively story is brought to you by two hugely talented and experienced performers with comedy routines, entertaining songs and live music from the music hall and uplifting hymns from the chapel sung in graceful harmony.

T h e B r e w er y Th e a t r e North Street, Southville, Bristol.

Box office tel: 0117 902 0344 www.tobaccofactorytheatre.com

Henry VIII & The Royal Wedding Planner, Tuesday 10 – Saturday 21 January, 8.15pm The true story of the Tudors – through the eyes of Henry’s wives. Henry VIII caused a constitutional crisis because of his serial marriage disorder, caused misery to five of his wives, but created a celebrity out of his wedding planner. This new historical performance takes a hilarious, dramatic and touching journey through the lives of Henry’s jilted brides, from the eyes of longstanding lady in waiting, Jane Parker. Jane marries Anne Boylen’s ill-fated brother and becomes Jane Boylen, Lady Rochfort, building an intimate knowledge of the tos and fros of the royal bedchamber. With each wife brilliantly portrayed, Jane tells us the real story of the Tudors, all performed by Julia Gwynne under the direction of Andy Burden (The Adventures of Pinocchio).

Belleville Rendez-vous, Tuesday 24 January – Saturday 4 February, 8.15pm Take a seat in the Belleville Rendez-vous, a 1950s cabaret bar and witness the fantastical and touching story of orphaned cycling

www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

fanatic, Champion, his grandmother and their corpulent dog, Bruno. Inspired by the film, Belleville Rendez-vous tells the charming tale of Madame Souza’s fight to rescue Champion from the mysterious crooks that kidnapped him during the Tour de France. Joining forces with the ageing jazz trio Les Triplettes de Belleville, they hatch an ambitious plan to rescue him from his seeming state of peril.

Spanning countryside to metropolis, FellSwoop’s original stage adaptation uses puppetry, physical theatre, live jazz and bespoke sound effects to tell this touching comedy that has enthralled audiences around the world.

Belleville Rendez-vous

Instant Wit, Sunday 29 January, 7.30pm Bristol’s highly acclaimed comedy improvisation company is back with the show based entirely around audience suggestions.

Good suggestions receive flying packets of custard; the best of the evening gets a bottle of wine. If you like your comedy fast-paced and with a slightly unusual edge, this is definitely for you.

Slapstick: Bristol’s Silent Comedy Film Festival 26 – 29 January Britain’s biggest festival of visual screen comedy returns to venues in Bristol for the eighth year running this month, bringing with it hilarity and top name guests – including Sanjeev Bhaskar, Barry Cryer, Griff Rhys Jones and Terry Jones. The festival’s full programme of events and ticket information can be found online at www.slapstick.org.uk

HIGHLI GHTS INCLUDE: Stupid Boy – a salute to Dad’s Army with Ian Lavender, 26 January, Colston Hall, 7.30pm

King Street, Bristol.

Box office tel: 0117 987 77877 www.bristololdvic.org.uk

It’s been over 45 years since Bristol Old Vic-trained Ian Lavender became a household name as Private Pike but this will be the first time he’s ever shared with a live audience his memories of what it was like to work with a who’s who of British comedy on a series that is still cherished by millions. On stage with Ian will be broadcaster Matthew Sweet.

Mayday Mayday, Thursday 26 January – Saturday 4 February, 8pm

Griff Rhys Jones presents a Silent Comedy Spectacular, 27 January, Colston Hall, 7.30pm

Padstow. Cornwall. The death of winter, the birth of summer. A man falls head first off a wall. Years later he tries to remember what happened next. This is a true story told by the man who fell. With smoke and mirrors, music, slapstick and a guest appearance from the Obby Oss, this theatrical adventure starts with an unforgettable celebration: a day where everything changes. After delighting audiences as Long John Silver in Treasure Island and a recent run on Broadway with Brief Encounter, internationally renowned performer and Kneehigh veteran Tristan Sturrock puts his neck on the line to tell his own story in this haunting new solo show. Mayday Mayday has been developed through Bristol Old Vic’s Ferment. An earlier version of the piece, Frankenspine, played with the theatre last year and is now back by popular demand in a reworked version.

Actor, broadcaster and writer Griff Rhys Jones introduces his silent comedy hero, Buster Keaton, in The General (1926), screened here with a brand new score by Guenter A. Buchwald. Other treats include shorts starring Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin and live music and song.

B ri st ol Ol d Vic

He’s Not the Messiah, He’s... Terry Jones, 28 January, Colston Hall, 7.30pm The chance to watch Monty Python’s Life of Brian on the big screen with its director, co-writer, cast member and utterer of the film’s most famous line – Terry Jones. Joining him will be comedian, actor, Spamalot star and longtime fan Sanjeev Bhaskar.

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WHAT’Son M USI C – listed by date Bristol Acoustic Music Festival, Friday 13 – Sunday 15 January St George’s Bristol, Great George Street, Bristol. Box office tel: 0845 40 24 001 www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk Bristol’s iconic, three-day acoustic music festival returns to St George’s for its ninth year, celebrating the breadth and diversity of Bristol’s eclectic non-electric music scene, featuring some of the finest acts the city has to offer. Every act plays for no payment, with all income going directly towards supporting St George’s innovative artistic and education programmes, and towards maintaining the building. There’s something for everyone in the programme, from quintessentially English boho-jazz-folk to reggae.

Katey Brooks will be appearing at the Bristol Acoustic Music Festival

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Vocal Works Gospel Choir presents Broadway Soul, Saturday 21 January, 7.30pm The Redgrave Theatre, Clifton, Bristol.

Box office tel: 0117 922 3686 An uplifting and must-see show from the inspirational Vocal Works Gospel Choir.

Celebrating the soulful and gospel side of musical theatre, the programme includes songs from shows including The Lion King, Sister Act, Dreamgirls and Hairspray, and promises to raise your spirits. VWGC, under musical director Tim King, has established itself as one of the top gospel and soul choirs in the UK.

Sophie Yates, Friday 27 January, 7.30pm St George’s Bristol, Great George Street, Bristol. Box office tel: 0845 40 24 001 or visit www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk In the glow of candlelight at St George’s, enjoy the glittering sounds of the harpsichord under the elegant and sensitive touch of Sophie Yates.

This programme spans two generations of the legendary Bach family, father Johann Sebastian Bach and son Johann Christian, and offers a generous measure of French flamboyance and virtuosity in the form of four inventive pieces by one of the most famous musicians of his time, Balbastre.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Thursday 2 February, 7.30pm Colston Hall, Colston Street, Bristol. Box office tel: 0117 922 3686 This engaging programme kicks off with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, which earned an ovation of over half an hour at its 1937 premiere. The BSO welcomes back conductor Emeritus Marin Alsop, who returns with Beethoven and Rachmaninov. On the piano is Denis Kozhukhin, the winner of the 2010 Queen Elizabeth Competition.

Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra, Saturday 4 February, 7.45pm St George’s Bristol, Great George Street, Bristol. Box office tel: 0845 40 24 001 www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk The BHCO celebrates 25 years of high quality music-making with this anniversary concert conducted by its founding director, Grant Llewellyn, now artistic director of the North Carolina Symphony. The programme opens with Haydn’s Trauer Symphony and concludes with Beethoven’s spirited Second Symphony.

Brilliant young star Tom Poster, internationally recognised as a pianist of astounding artistry and versatility, brings his talent to a compelling account of Brahms’s huge Piano Concerto No 2.

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WHAT’Son OTH ER EVENTS – listed by date Photography for Beginners, Saturday 14 January, 10am – 4pm Slimbridge Wetland Centre, Gloucestershire.

Cost: £60 per person, including refreshments and lunch. To book contact tel: 01453 891223 Photography for beginners with Iain Green.

Starting with an illustrated introductory session looking at composition, technique and equipment, you will then head outside for a practical session of nature photography.

Through the day Iain will guide you through key camera techniques and photographic skills such as: using shutter speeds to capture action and movement, understanding apertures and how to control the depth of field in close-up or landscapes, achieving correct exposure in different lighting or settings, and effective composition to add impact to your images.

Suitable for any type of camera.

Film Premiere of Severn and Somme, Saturday 21 January, 7.30pm Bristol Cathedral, College Green, Bristol.

Tickets £8-£20 from: redcliffefilms@hotmail.co.uk or tel: 0117 230 3422 A film premiere of Severn and Somme with the Bristol Classical Players about the life of Ivor Gurney, war poet and composer. His untold story from the trenches to the asylum.

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Brian May of Queen: Book signing Thursday 26 January, 4pm RWA, Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol. To book, tel: 0117 973 3171.

To celebrate his pioneering 3D photography exhibition, A Village Lost and Found, Brian May will visit the RWA. Don’t miss this chance to meet the artist and have your copy of the accompanying book signed by the man himself. Books available from the RWA shop, priced £35.

Start Stargazing, Friday 27 January, 11am – 12.30pm Tyntesfield House, North Somerset. Cost: £4 per person (including a hot drink). Booking is essential on tel: 0844 249 1895 The Bristol Astronomical Society will guide you through the night sky with an interactive talk and arm you with the basics so you can start stargazing.

Christopher Frayling: For a Few Guitars More, Sunday 5 February, 2.30pm Watershed, 1 Canon’s Road, Harbourside, Bristol. Tickets £5 from tel: 0117 927 5100 Cultural historian Sir Christopher Frayling presents an illustrated talk on the sonic revolution that transformed western movie music and the spaghetti-western’s unique degree of integration between score, dialogue and soundscape.

David Hempleman-Adams: An Adventurous Life, Wednesday 15 February, 7.30pm St George’s Bristol, Great George Street, Bristol. Tickets £13 from the box office on tel: 0845 40 24 001 or visit: www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk One of the world’s foremost adventurers, David Hempleman-Adams OBE is justly famous as the first man in history to conquer the North and South geographic and magnetic Poles and scale the highest mountain in each of the seven continents, including Everest. An inspirational speaker with a wealth of experience extending beyond his polar expeditions, David details the many pioneering journeys that have dominated his life.

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NEW HEIGHTS Set yourself a new year challenge with a 200ft abseil to help raise money for CLIC Sargent

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LIC Sargent, the children’s cancer charity has been running its abseil off Bristol Children’s Hospital as a fundraiser for the last seven years, raising £150,000 in the process. Sadly, due to current building work, the hospital is out of bounds for the event this year. Don’t worry though – the charity has found an even taller and tougher challenge for its participants.

Take on CLIC Sargent’s 200ft abseil off Bristol’s City Centre Premier Inn, pictured, on Sunday 4 March, and show your support for children and young people with cancer. To take part there is a £15 (non refundable) registration fee and a pledge to raise a minimum of £150 in sponsorship.

Everyday in the UK, 10 families receive the devastating news that their child has cancer. CLIC Sargent is there right from the point of diagnosis, trying to improve the lives of children and young people with cancer, and those of their families. Last year over 98 families from Bristol were supported by CLIC Sargent and with each family on average costing £3,750 a year to support, they need our help to continue their vital services.

At Bristol Children’s Hospital CLIC Sargent funds health care professionals to include nurses and social workers providing families going through their traumatic cancer journey with clinical, practical and emotional support, both on the wards and in their homes. The charity also provides free accommodation at Sam’s House and CLIC House where families can stay within walking distance of the hospital while their child is in treatment. ■

For more information and to enrol in the Spring Leap Abseil, contact Sophie on tel: 0117 311 2639 or email sophie.porfirio@clicsargent.org.uk.

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SA BE LE ST N EV O E W R O N !

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Unit 2, Sheene Way, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4TA Email: enquiries@lightingwarehousebristol.co.uk • Web: www.lightingwarehousebristol.co.uk • Opening hours: Mon - Sat 9:00am - 5:30pm

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January 2012

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BRISTOLartSCENE

POP UPART

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op up galleries are fast becoming the most desired addition to the high street. Following the global success of last year’s Nelson Street Festival, temporary art installations have become a sought-after medium for both artists and retail centres. Bristol is a long established hub for creatives and has a thriving art scene, so it’s no surprise that a new year has brought with it a new idea. With a determination to remove the signs of recession and open doors for the creative community, Bristol City Council and Meanwhile Space have joined forces to create Pop up Bristol!

Meanwhile Space promotes the temporary use of buildings left empty by the recession, helping to create a new and socially beneficial space. Dan Gibbon explained their plans for Bristol to be at the forefront of pop up: “The pop up gallery offers artists an affordable space to display their work, curate their own exhibition and capture a new audience” says Dan. “At the same time it brings life back to the high street by utilising empty units and demonstrating positive change.”

By working alongside the Neighborhood Arts Scheme, Capacity Bristol, the coming year looks to offer artists a colourful palette of avenues to explore.

You may remember The Sandwich Box (the not-soglamorous café at the bottom of Park Street)? Well, there’s only one thing on the menu now: art. The old shop unit is one of two available for temporary let to Bristol’s creative community.

Renamed The Showroom and The Parlour, the ex-retail units play host to an eclectic programme of events and exhibitions.

Last year the space was transformed into a cinema, photography exhibition, a make and do craft café and indoor recycled woodland and this year is making room for much much more.

“Temporary use of empty buildings is a very effective way of supporting the arts and helping to grow Bristol’s vibrant, experimental and alternative cultural scene” says Ruth Essex, arts officer for Capacity Bristol. Over the past three years, Ruth has supported the creation of studio, office, rehearsal and storage space for the creative community.

Jack Gibbon was one of the first artists to open up a temporary art gallery in Bristol and his exhibitions have transformed spaces all across the city. Since opening on Whiteladies Road, he has taken Antlers Gallery to Jamaica Street, Quakers Friar and Cabot Circus with a belief that pop up is an ethical and practical pathway to creativity.

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Bethany Wivell investigates the latest creative arrival on Bristol’s street scene

Jack said: “The beauty of pop-up projects is in mutual benefit. The arts have a lot to offer as equal partners to business in the rejuvenation of town centres and areas that are starting to wane. Running Antlers as a nomadic gallery allows us to reach a really broad section of our community and respond to new and interesting spaces. Without the opportunity to use pop up spaces we would not have been able to enact as progressive a programme as we have.”

The whole city is getting behind the concept with The Galleries, Broadmead and Cabot Circus handing over retail space for art’s sake. Last year, Cabot Circus was home to three pop up shops in the build up to Christmas but this year plans to offer up more of its units to the creative sector. Cabot Circus centre director, Kevin Duffy, commented: “Over 100 local artists, designers and photographers were showcased in 2011 and we look forward to showcasing more independent galleries and Bristol-based creative talent on the high street.”

Resourceful creatives are also ❝ taking advantage of neglected industrial property ❞ It’s not just commercial centres that are making a home for art. Resourceful creatives are also taking advantage of neglected industrial property. The Control Room on Bristol Bridge, Kings Porch and Clifton’s Victorian toilets are all open for exhibition this year, showcasing local talent. Many of the above spaces are available for free or let with minimal running costs allowing artists who would otherwise not be able to cover the costs of hosting their own show, escape the overheads that come with a home gallery.

So it seems art is not just affecting the look of the high street but also the way it is run. Pop up galleries are engaging the city in a political and ethical conversation, and the word is spreading. Pop up realises artistic vision and demonstrates the positive effect creativity plays on all aspects of society. Bristol has plans to be the leader in this innovation so keep your eyes peeled: art is literally popping up everywhere. ■ Artists interested in hosting a pop up gallery, visit: capacitybristol.wordpress.com for a full list of venues, or contact Ruth Essex at ruth.essex@bristol.gov.uk

UNUSUAL SHOWCASES: main picture, the control room on Bristol Bridge and, top right, the old public conveniences in Clifton have both become art galleries.

One of the pieces on show at the Antlers Gallery, Bouchaille Etive Mor by Charles Emerson

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ARTSgardens &EXHIBITIONS CITY DAVID SHEPHERD: A CRAZY LIFE OF STEAM & ELEPHANTS David in his studio

RWA Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol.

Tel: 0117 973 5129 www.rwa.org.uk

8 January – 12 February David Shepherd: A Crazy Life of Steam & Elephants features over 30 works never before exhibited.

Selected from the paintings that hang in his own home, the exhibition showcases the breadth of subjects close to David’s heart – steam railways, aviation, wildlife and portraits – giving a glimpse into the ‘crazy life’ of one of the UK’s bestknown painters.

Chris White

▲ EXHIBITION: SIX SHOOTERS

EXHIBITION: SIXTIES ICONS – PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROGER HOPKINS

Bristol Folk House 40a Park Street, Bristol.

Tel: 0117 926 2987 www.bristolfolkhouse.co.uk

The Bristol Gallery Building 8, Unit 2, Millennium Promenade, Harbourside, Bristol. Tel: 0117 930 0005 www.thebristolgallery.com

6 January – 2 February

Until the end of February

A photography exhibition by Bristol collective, Six Shooters – Chris White, David Gillett, Kate White, Nicky Lambert, Angharad Hughes and Liam Tullberg. Having met through the Folk House, the artists became inspired by each other’s work and subsequently formed their own collective. Here they have come together to create a show, based on six very different perspectives of the world around them, from Chris White’s beautiful natural harbour scenes, to digital designer David Gillett’s portraits, exploring the idea of personal aspiration. Kate White’s photographs aim to provoke and challenge the viewer, and for Nicky Lambert, photographs are a way to stop and capture moments – slowing things down and allowing you to see them properly, whilst giving the viewer a chance to see through someone else eyes. An interesting and intriguing show.

In a previous life, digital artist Roger Hopkins worked as a photographer for top music journals. His new photographic exhibition of sixties icons is a celebration of that fabulous period in pop history, and an opportunity to revisit the famous faces of the time.

David Shepherd, Last Refuge

EXHIBITION: SUZANNE MOONEY – THE EDGE OF COLLAPSE Spike Island Cumberland Road, Bristol. www.spikeisland.org.uk

21 January – 18 March

EXHIBITION: WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2011 Bristol’s City Museum and Art Gallery Queen’s Road, Bristol. Tel: 0117 922 3571

Until 11 March An exhibition of thought-provoking images that provide an insight into the beauty, drama and variety of nature. This world-renowned yearly touring exhibition from the Natural History Museum provides a spotlight on the rarely seen wonders of the natural world.

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Pictured: above, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones and right, Marianne Faithfull

A series of new photographic works

by Bristol-based artist Suzanne Mooney. The Edge of Collapse stems from Suzanne’s interest in a tension between an object and its representation. Her carefully composed images unsettle the viewer’s understanding of architectural and pictorial space by obscuring cues of depth and scale.

Suzanne uses various printing techniques and paper types to emphasise the seductive qualities of the photographic image.

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ARTS&EXHIBITIONS EXHIBITION: ANDY HOLDEN – THE COOKHAM ERRATICS

Filthy Luker

Works|Projects Sydney Row, Bristol. www.worksprojects.co.uk

21 January – 10 March

▲ ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: FILTHY LUKER RWA Queens Road, Clifton, Bristol.

Tel: 0117 973 5129 www.rwa.org.uk

20 January – 4 March Bristol-based international street artist, Filthy Luker, is a site-specific installation artist specialising in hand-crafted inflatable sculptures.

With unmissable, over-sized objects reminiscent of Oldenburg, Filthy Luker brings humour to his work through its interaction with the urban environment and architecture. As part of his residency Filthy Luker will be creating a series of installations and working with the RWA to provide hands-on opportunities to collaborate and learn more about innovative forms of art.

In his second solo exhibition at Works|Projects, Andy Holden presents a recent body of six knitted sculptures – enlarged replicas of small stones and pebbles collected from the churchyard at Cookham, England, the setting for the celebrated painting The Resurrection, Cookham, 1923-7 by British artist, Stanley Spencer. The sculptures, constructed from steel, foam and mixed yarns resonate with Holden’s iconic Pyramid Piece. First installed in the main building of the Benaki Museum, Greece, in 2011, the Cookham Erratics was a response to the museum’s ancient sculptures and relics, presented as a personal archaeology investigating the links between private memories, monuments and the complexities in creating an object which represents an overall temporal experience.

EXHIBITION: NEW VISIONS Grant Bradley Gallery 1 St Peter’s Court, Bedminster Parade, Bristol. Tel: 0117 9637673 www.grantbradleygallery.co.uk

7 – 28 January The gallery kicks off the new year with its first ever open submissions exhibition, New Visions, which is the culmination of a lengthy selection process, showcasing the work of over 40 emerging and established artists employing a range of creative styles and techniques. Concentrating on fresh, contemporary pieces, the exhibition presents a selection of artwork from all disciplines, adding to the city’s already thriving creative community.

EXHIBITION: A FRESH START Lime Tree Gallery 84 Hotwell Road, Bristol.

Tel: 0117 929 2527 www.limetreegallery.com

19 January – 19 February A cheerful and colourful exhibition for the start of the year, with a broad range of landscapes, still life and figurative paintings by Scottish artists Charles Jamieson MFA PAI PPAI, Alan King PAI, Peter King, Judith Bridgland, Rory McLauchlan, and new to the gallery, Jacqueline Orr RSW.

▲

EXHIBITION: MUSEUM SHOW PART 2

Maarten Vanden Eynde, Museum of Forgotten History, Ikea Vase, 2011 A.D

Arnolfini 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol. www.arnolfini.org.uk

Until 19 February Following on from Part 1, Museum Show Part 2 is the second chapter of the major historical survey of museums created by artists. Museum Show is a comprehensive selection of these highly idiosyncratic, semi-fictional institutions – a museum of museums. It is the first ever exhibition to chart this particular tendency in contemporary art. Museum Show Part 2 presents an ambitious series of installations, including The Museum of American Art, charting the dominance of American art and ideologies in the 20th century.

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Peter King, Sweet Peas

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MADEinBRISTOL

THEY MADE BRISTOL FAMOUS A new book celebrates 50 products which have been made in Bristol and put the city’s name on the world map – we’ve picked ten of the most wonderful and weird

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hat do wildlife films, hot air balloons, wigs, Ribena, motorbikes and Brain’s faggots all have in common? They have all been made in Bristol and are celebrated in a delightful and quirky book, published in the city and written by a former teacher. Made in Bristol: 50 Stories of Local Enterprise and Invention is a collection by David Bolton of products which have put the city on the world map.

1 Kleeneze brushes

There was a time when Kleeneze was a household name throughout the country. During the 1930s an army of door-todoor salesmen made an average of four visits a year to every household in the UK offering a range of brushes to housewives.

And it all started in a small rented space under the stairs of a factory in Chalks Road, Whitehall where Harry Crook started making brushes by hand. Inspired by his experiences in America where salesmen called on homes, he started knocking on doors in north Bristol. Many of his earliest recruits were ex-servicemen and, as their numbers grew, they were called to regular sales meetings where morale boosting songs were sung. Harry Crook became a multi-millionaire and in 1955 he was made Lord Mayor of Bristol. He died in 1970 and in 1995 the company was sold. Kleeneze products are still available, although its links with Bristol have been severed.

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2 Berni Inns You could argue that our habit of eating out at restaurants and gastro pubs was begun in the 1950s, with the launch of the first Berni Inn in Bristol, serving steak, chips and sherry to Bristolians. Three Italian brothers, Frank, Marco and Aldo Berni took over the old Rummer pub and transformed it into a restaurant where diners could enjoy a fixed-price menu, for the first time since meat rationing ended after the war, enjoying grilled steaks served with chips and peas. The brothers brought in exotic dishes such as prawn cocktail and Black Forest gateaux, and – the height of sophistication – a schooner of sherry served as an aperitif. The Berni brothers’ empire expanded as they bought and decked out other pubs with dark red carpets and banquettes. The historic Llandoger Trow was at one-time the flagship for Berni Inns. The brothers sold the business in 1970 and many hostelries in the chain later became Beefeater pubs.

3 Limbs and Things

It’s a sad fact of life that trainee doctors and nurses can find it difficult to find live people who will let their bodies be practised on – but thanks to a Bristol firm founded by an Australian, there is a whole range of artificial body parts that can be bought and used in medical training. Margot Cooper founded Limbs and Things in 1990 and has since gone on to employ more than 80

DAREDEVIL ON A DUGGIE: Rosie Douglas, daughter of speedway bike maker William, used to alarm people by riding her motorbike at speed down Kingswood High Street standing on the saddle

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MADEinBRISTOL

HIGHS AND LOWS: left, Concorde, the world’s first supersonic aircraft, was made in Bristol and is still missed by many.

Right, women working packing Woodbines at the Wills factory

staff and win international awards for her innovations. All kinds of realistic looking, and feeling, body parts of all shapes and sizes are created which enable medical students to practise on.

4 Wills cigarettes In its heyday Wills cigarette factory in Hartcliffe was the largest tobacco factory in Europe, employing 4,500 people and producing 350 million cigarettes a week. There are still Bristolians who recount tales of how they were given a ration of cigarettes each month as one of the perks of the job. Wills’ biggest selling product were Woodbines, the favourite smoke of the working classes and of the soldiers in the First World War. The Wills family built factories in Bedminster and at Ashton Gate and still their huge dark redbrick buildings dominate the skyline in many parts of the city. The health risks of smoking was a major nail in the coffin of the tobacco industry in Bristol, with the last smokes, in the form of Panama and Castella cigars made in Winterstoke Road until 2009 when the work was exported to Spain. Only the corporate headquarters remain, in Upton Road, Ashton Gate.

5 Douglas Motorcycles

Mention Douglas Motorcycles to certain people and they will come over all misty-eyed about the family-run business which ran in Kingswood for so many years. Douglas Motorcycles won royal approval under George V and his son, the Duke of York, later George VI, rode one. During the late 1920s the Douglas factory made bikes for speedway racing. William Douglas and his two sons ran the business, while daughter Rosie was also a keen rider and could be seen speeding along Kingswood High Street, sometimes riding standing, with her feet on the saddle.

But the business went through several incarnations, making different forms of transport and munitions during the Second World War, and faced a series of financial crises before eventually being sold to Westinghouse Brake and Signal company. And so the Duggie, as it was affectionately known, ceased to be made.

6 Ribena

Bristol may be linked with Harvey’s Bristol Cream sherry in many people’s minds, but the city was also the birthplace of that children’s favourite, Ribena. A small firm, HW Carter & Company at Ashton Gate, used to make orange and lemon based drinks but with fears of war breaking out in the 1930s they wanted another, more easily available, source of fruit. Their design team took the humble blackcurrant, ribes nigrum, and created a concentrated drink rich in Vitamin C. And so Ribena was invented, giving children during the war a drink that was perceived as healthy during a time when fresh fruit was often hard to come by. Sadly, Carter’s factory was bomb damaged and the government encouraged the business to move production to the Forest of Dean. Now owned by giants GlaxoSmithKline, it sells 750 million bottles a year, made with British blackcurrants.

7 Mustard gas

The habit of attacking your enemy with mustard gas began with the German unleashing on British soldiers in the First World www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

War, but it wasn’t long before the British government decided to retaliate and Avonmouth was chosen as the centre for this new and extremely dangerous chemical warfare industry. A huge factory was set up, employing 1,100 people working in appalling conditions. A terrible smell hung over the neighbourhood where locals were banned from picking blackberries within a mile of the factory. The workers were struck down by a series of horrible afflictions, including skin blistering, bronchitis and sickness – dozens fell ill and three died. Ironically, the mustard gas they produced arrived at the Front less than two months before the Armistice came.

8 Concorde

Many Bristolians will recall the first flight by Concorde, on April 9 1969. People took the day off work and crowds gathered at Filton to watch one of the technological triumphs of the 20th century take to the skies. Workers from the British Aircraft Corporation lined one side of the runway, while the engine builders from Rolls Royce lined the other side. The craft was the world’s first supersonic airliner, a ground-breaker in more ways than one. Not only would it cut the flying time to New York in half, but the project saw the English and the French collaborating together – a rare experience. One of the noisiest and most expensive aircraft ever built, it has legions of loyal admirers who shed a tear in 2003 when the mighty Concorde took its last flight home to Filton – the last flight by a Concorde anywhere in the world.

9

Boat building

Bristol has a centuries-old history as one of Britain’s major ports and was well placed for trade with North America and the West Indies. It is also a tricky port to get in and out of, being six miles inland from the sea and reached via the winding Avon Gorge.

This is how the Bristol pilots and their nimble ships, the Bristol cutters came to play such a valuable role in getting ships in and out of the port. The sail cutters were superceded by steam cutters, but ten years ago RB Boatbuilding began building new cutters. These are fast, seaworthy boats which can be sailed by two people. It’s thanks to the labour of love by the craftsmen at RB Boatbuilding and at the Bristol Classic Boat Company, that the art of traditional boatbuilding remains in the city.

10 Aardmann Animations

When Bristolians travel and are asked what their home city is famous for, the easiest way to raise a smile of recognition is to mention Wallace and Gromit – the animated duo who have universal appeal while at the same time remaining quintessentially and eccentrically English. Aardmann was born in Bristol in 1976, when friends Peter Lord and David Sproxton set up the company and went on to create Morph. They were joined in 1985 by Nick Park and the trio went on to international fame with titles including The Wrong Trousers, Chicken Run and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Their latest collaboration was Arthur Christmas, in conjunction with Sony Pictures. Long may Bristol be their home. ■ Made In Bristol by David Bolton is published by Redcliffe Press, £12.95 in softback January 2012

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FOOD&DRINK

Beat the winter chill with a pie Bristol is fast becoming the pie capital of Britain, as the already thriving pastry producing industry sees a new pie seller throwing its shortcrust into the ring.

Mash Up pies is a new business set up by Alex Tristam and James Purslow and the pair has already tested its fare on festival goers at Alex James’ Harvest, the Festival of Nature and BrisFest.

Mash Up’s hot pie and mash to go is now available to customers at the Deli Delish independent deli

and café in Whiteladies Road. The range includes the Harrold, which is filled with grilled halloumi cheese and Moroccan spiced beans, and the Barbara, made with British lamb, fresh mint and roast pumpkin. Throughout the chilly winter months the daily offering will also include extras such as English mustard mash, sweet potato mash or harrissa and Cheddar mash.

The pie and mash menu is from £4.80, with mushy peas optional.

Cheers m’beers Southville’s reputation as a creative community – home to the Tobacco Factory theatre, Mark’s Bread real bakery and the independent brewer The Bristol Beer Factory among others – has been enhanced with a national award for the brewery.

The Bristol Beer Factory won Best Drinks Producer in the BBC Food and Farming Awards, the Oscars of the industry, which were aired on BBC Radio 4.

The shortlisted entrants were decided on votes from the public and the winners by a panel of judges chaired by chef and restaurateur Richard Corrigan. They liked the fact that the Bristol Beer Factory is at the heart of the community and central to the regeneration of the area.

George Ferguson, founder of the Bristol Beer Factory said: “We see this as an accolade for Bristol and the craft beer industry as a whole and feel very lucky to be representing independent brewers up and down the country who put so much care and attention into producing high quality craft beers.

“We strongly believe that independent local businesses, whatever they are, are capable of producing higher quality products and services than national massproducers. We make a truly local beer – using local suppliers and materials and reinvesting in the area.”

Bristol Beer Factory was founded six years ago after a chance conversation in the Tobacco Factory, when George Ferguson decided to buy the building which now houses the brewery, which was then under threat.

Originally known as the Ashton Gate Brewery, which boasted 120 pubs in the area, it was closed after George’s Brewery took it over in 1933 and the building stood empty since then. George came up with the idea of returning it to brewing over a drink in the bar of the Tobacco Factory.

He said: “Pubs have always been the heart of any community and we feel there should be local beers to go in them. But it’s not just about the ales we create, it’s also about being part of the local community and local economy.”

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FOODIE TITBITS

Baker seeks a new home

Marco appoints new head chef

Bristol baker Laura Hart, who built up a growing number of customers for her real bread when she was baking from Hampton Lane, Cotham, is currently seeking new premises for her bakery.

Hart’s Bakery not only produces delicious handmade bread but also croissants, custard tarts and sausage rolls. As soon as Laura can find somewhere as a permanent bakery in Bristol she plans to re-start her bread and breakfast baking workshops. If you can help Laura – and do bread lovers a good turn too – contact her: laura@hartsbakery.co.uk

FOOD & DRINK A celebration of Bristol’s food producers and eateries

Festival’s 10th birthday Independent food producers and artisans can now book stalls for the 2012 Bristol VegFest, which this year runs for three days, from Friday 25 May to Sunday 27 May. The meat-free festivities, now in their tenth year. will take place by the Harbourside.

Entry is free to all and entertainment for the 2012 festival will include two stages, a Secret Garden and walk-about festival artists. The VegFest is a great opportunity for small producers to test the market and meet their customers face-to-face. With shopping guru Mary Portas urging us to become a nation of market traders, the festival provides a relatively low cost way for start-up businesses to launch themselves.

Some of Bristol’s most successful food producers started out at small stalls and festivals and grew from there. To find out more about Bristol VegFest visit: www.bristol.vegfest.co.uk.

Neil Wrigley, pictured, has been appointed head chef at the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar and Grill at DoubleTree by Hilton, Cadbury House in Congresbury.

Neil has worked at the four-star hotel in North Somerset for the past six years, starting as an apprentice in the kitchen before being made a chef within the events department.

Neil, who lives in Weston-super-Mare, trained at Weston College, studying Pro Cooking and undertaking an NVQ course in Hospitality Management.

He said: “My passion has always been for food and cooking so it’s a huge honour for me to be head chef at such a fantastic restaurant and to be working under a culinary legend like Marco Pierre White.

“The thing I love most about my job is creating the interesting and delicious seasonal dishes for our specials menus. It gives me the chance to be creative and play around with flavours. I am very lucky that at Marco Pierre White’s I am able to use the best fresh local produce.

“A common misconception about our restaurant is that it is very expensive and we only offer steak and chips. In fact we do some fantastic lunchtime and evening offers and the menu includes everything from soup, salads and risotto to chicken and leek pie and sticky toffee pudding.”

Sunday lunches are £19.50 for three courses.

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New Year and a New Start Introducing our Post Christmas Detox Menu available throughout January Happy Hour on all cocktails 2 for 1 every day 6pm - 7pm The Mint Room Longmead Gospel Hall, Lower Bristol Road, Bath BA2 3EB 01225 446656 • www.themintroom.co.uk

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Za Za Bazaar Harbourside, Canons Road, Bristol. Tel: 0117 922 0330, www.zazabazaar.com

REVIEW

MIX AND MATCH I n most families or groups of friends there’s always one or two, or even three very fussy eaters and it makes choosing a place to eat out incredibly difficult. But there’s an answer to this problem in the shape of a huge new buffet dining experience located on the harbourside.

Za Za Bazaar is a world banquet and bar with an amazing variety of global cuisine, live cooking and expertly mixed cocktails. It’s great for anyone who loves the buzz of a night market, has the spirit of adventure and an appetite for fun.

Opened last month, the food hall style restaurant seats 700 people and its aim is to create a celebration of world cooking.

Inspired by the night markets of Asia, you’ll find a lively atmosphere with neon lights and a constant flow of customers of all ages where you can enjoy a variety of new flavours, cooked by top chefs.

Nick and I were seated on a table overlooking the waterfront and at night, with the lights reflecting on the water and the boats gently bobbing around, it’s one of the best sights in the city.

After making us comfortable and handing us a drinks menu, the friendly waiter left us to make our choices and get our heads around the remarkable 30,000 sq ft of space – apparently it’s the UK’s largest restaurant, and I can well believe it. But don’t think it’s daunting – the waiters are incredibly helpful and happy to advise on where to start. There’s also a map which doubles up as a placemat and I’d like to put emphasis on the usefulness of this – it’s easy to feel lost if you don’t have a plan.

A fantastic choice of drinks are available and with wines, beers, cocktails and spirits from around the world, you can have fun matching your drink to your choice of cuisine. We were particularly impressed with the wine list and opted for an Italian Chardonnay (£13.50). It was deliciously crisp and citrussy and proved a refreshing accompaniment to most of our food choices throughout the evening.

If you’re anything like us, then you’d want to try a bit of everything to get a good mix of flavours without going over the top. Our plan was to try a small portion from each buffet.

Being curry fans, we started at the Indian buffet and found the usual dishes of varying spiciness and consequently chose a mix of our favourites. Most impressive was the fresh Peshwari naan 40 The Bristol Magazine

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bread that was rolled, filled and put into a kiln right in front of us – and it tasted just as delicious as it smelt.

The next buffet was European style cuisine, offering a number of pizzas, pastas and piri piri chicken as well as some great British favourites – something other buffet restaurants do not always have. My made-to-order mushroom risotto was rich and full of flavour and Nick’s lasagne was traditional and tasty. Having small portions seemed to be working quite well and we felt that we still had plenty of room left to explore more cuisines.

We particularly enjoyed the tasty offerings of the Tex Mex buffet. Having a traditional fajita whipped up in front of you is quite a unique experience.

Discovering the flavours of the Far East was also a highlight.

From here you can enjoy curries, noodle dishes, Thai and Chinese favourites as well as Vietnamese pho soup for something a little lighter.

The chefs are more than happy to talk you through the dishes and the stages of preparation if you ask – in fact they welcome the interest. And what’s really nice is that all the food is fresh and cooked right in front of your eyes so you know exactly what’s going into your dish.

After all the meat and deliciously rich sauces, the salad bar was a welcome sight. As well as fresh vegetables and deli favourites, there is a delectable variety of seafood and vegetarian sushi to choose from. But make sure you save room for dessert because at Za Za Bazaar you’re not faced with the difficult decision of which tempting sweet to go for; you can have a little bit of everything you fancy. You’ll see eyes popping at the amazing gateaus, trifles, crème brulees, cupcakes and ice creams on offer. But what won me over was the chocolate fountain. It was this that also pushed me over my stomach capacity and I found myself walking to the car with a bit of a waddle.

‘Celebrate. Satisfy. Explore. Discover’ is Za Za Bazaar’s message to Bristolians – so get together and enjoy the madness. ■ SE The fixed price buffet costs: Monday – Friday: 11am – 5pm, £6.99; 5pm – 11pm, £12.99. Weekends: lunchtime, £9.98; evening, £15.99. 5-11 years are half price and under 5’s are free.

Bookings are for two hours only.

FULL OF FLAVOUR: explore cuisine from all over the world in the huge food hall on the harbourside

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ITALIAN BAR & KITCHEN

2 for 1

Mondays: 6pm - 9pm

offer on piz on Mon zas day nights

Tuesday to Saturday: 12 - 2pm, 6pm - 10pm Closed Sundays

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TBM talks to Louise McCrimmon, head chef at Harvey Nichols Second Floor Restaurant, whose foodie heroes include Michel Roux, Jane Grigson, Elizabeth David and Prue Leith

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rink is

bought

Daily lunchtime offer Tuesday to Friday

SECRETS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR

Any pasta or pizza for £6.95 a drink must be bought

If you would like to make a reservation please call 0117 973 0496 7 North View, Westbury Park, Bristol BS6 7PT

W

e’re an adventurous crowd in Bristol when it comes to food, according to Louise McCrimmon, head chef at the city’s Harvey Nichols stylish Second Floor Restaurant. The award-winning chef says: “We change the menu about every eight weeks, taking on new ingredients as they come into season. However, there is one dish that makes a return again and again – our Valrhona chocolate mousse and peanut butter cookies. It really takes some beating. I have definitely noticed Bristolians are an adventurous crowd and are open to more unusual flavour combinations, such as soy glazed pigs cheeks with seared scallops.”

Louise has been at the helm as head chef since the restaurant opened four years ago. She took time out of her busy schedule to talk about her career and her approach to food.

“Food was always my thing – reading about it, trying recipes and generally getting in my mother’s way while she was cooking. It is an everchanging job, I don’t think I have ever looked at the clock and wished that time was going faster, and it is great working with such a dedicated team.”

She trained with Prue Leith at her School of Food and Wine and Leith remains one of her food heroes. The others include Michel Roux senior for his passion, dedication and decided lack of ‘celebrity.’ Elizabeth David for her inspirational writing and recipes, and, in the same vein, Jane Grigson.

“Local ingredients are always going to play a key role in our menu planning. My two favourites have to be Stream Farm who supply us with fantastic organic lamb, chickens and apple juice, and Simon Gaskill for wild boar and beef. Both suppliers are so passionate about what they produce and always supply a great product.”

She says while it is fashionable to talk about using seasonal produce, this is because it is genuinely exciting when delicacies, such as the first asparagus of spring arrives. But Louise confesses that there is one ingredient she likes to use the year-round. “I couldn’t cook without butter ... pastry and cakes without butter, toast without butter, mashed potato without butter – all unthinkable. Other than that it really depends on time of year and where you are.”

We asked Louise what she would prepare for a simple dinner party for friends at home: “Cooking at home is about being relaxed and having fun, so meals invariable turn to Morocco or the Middle East for inspiration. I would usually prepare lots of dishes that everyone can share and relax over.” ■ The Second Floor Restaurant, tel: 0117 916 8898 or email reception.bristol@harveynichols.com. www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

Why not learn the tricks of the trade and come along to one of my cupcake decorating courses? We will start the day with speciality tea in exquisite vintage china and a complimentary cupcake before beginning the fun and creativity.

In a relaxed, informal and fun way, you will learn how to decorate beautiful cupcakes. I provide 6 ready-made sponges for you to enjoy different icing techniques, using colourings and lots of glitter and sprinkles. With a little knowhow you will be able to make flowers, shoes, butterflies, handbags, leaves, hearts and more to adorn your cupcakes. By the end of the day you will have a box of your own fabulous cupcakes to take home for all the family.

If you would you like to surprise your friends or loved ones with a cupcake decorating course but don’t know when they will be free then gift vouchers are available and they can choose the date!

A range of exciting new courses will be available in the New Year, so follow me on Facebook or Twitter, via my website: www.CakeCoutureBristol.co.uk and check out the dates.

Contact Stephanie on 07815061772 or Stephanie@CakeCoutureBristol.co.uk.

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Buy one main course and get a second free*

MILES FROM DELHI

Sunday to Thursday Evenings 5.30pm - 7.30pm

A new culinary experience...

Happy Hour 5pm - 7.30pm 2-4-1 Cocktails

www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

This offer can not be used in conjunction with any other offer or discount.

Only one voucher per table or group. Please bring this voucher with you.

Management from 4500 Miles from Delhi reserves the right to amend, modify or cancel this offer at anytime.

This offer does not apply to Seafood dishes or Tandoori Sizzlers

Opening hours • Daily lunch: 12pm - 2.30pm • Evening 5pm - 11pm Sun to Thurs 5pm - 11.30pm Fri & Sat 4500miles.co.uk • fiveriverssreastaurant.co.uk • Tel: 0117 9292224 8-10 Colston Avenue • Bristol • BS1 4ST

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CORNISHgetaway

COASTAL RETREAT, CITY CHIC Samantha Ewart enjoys a break at one of Cornwall’s beautiful coastal spots and discovers a mix of fresh air, style and relaxation staying in a new boutique hotel

T

aking a break on the Cornish coast doesn’t necessarily mean staying in a run-down holiday let or a crowded b&b; in Gorran Haven, a peaceful fishing village on the south coast near St Austell, lies the stylish Llawnroc Hotel where you can enjoy luxury, comfort and a warm welcome.

Here you’ll find a chic adult retreat perfect for relaxing, unwinding and enjoying the very best that Cornwall has to offer.

With its spacious rooms, sophisticated gold, purple and black decor, bespoke furnishings and stunning sea views, The Llawnroc boutique hotel is dressed to impress.

We arrived at the hotel on a chilly Thursday afternoon for check-in at 4pm and were greeted by warmth, contemporary design and attention to detail. You immediately know that you’re in good hands.

Each of the 18 individually designed rooms at the recently opened hotel has been created as an exclusive space for guests to relax and soak up the splendour of the lavish interiors.

Our room had a balcony and sea view and just screamed luxury with a super king size bed, fluffy towels and robes and a Champagne bucket with two glasses at the ready. Every effort is made to make guests feel comfortable, even down to the small touches – a selection of tea, coffee and hot chocolate was available in the room, top quality organic products were provided in the bathroom and you can even choose what kind of pillow you’d like to sleep on from a range available on request.

We were particularly impressed by the state-of-the-art gadgets installed in the room, including the wall-mounted widescreen TV, Sony iPod dock, digital radio, air conditioning, LED lights in the bathroom and the Playstation 3 for which you can borrow games and DVDs. Nothing has been left out; every detail has been designed to cater for everyone’s needs.

Tucked away in an unspoilt and relatively undiscovered corner of Cornwall, the hotel is just a five minute walk from the coast where we discovered a magical setting of sea, beach and cliff backed by green rolling countryside. The village itself is a quaint collection of cottages, narrow country lanes and a small fishing 44 The Bristol Magazine

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harbour. It is a charming and quintessentially Cornish location, where the slow pace of life makes it an ideal getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city. Sail, surf, walk and explore the local beaches and at the end of the day head back to your room for an indulgent bath followed by drinks in the lounge bar and dinner in the hotel’s Gorrans fine dining restaurant.

Elegant and sophisticated, Gorrans boasts sea views and local, masterly-prepared fresh food. Changing with the season, the menu offers two courses for £25 per person or three courses for £35, and does not disappoint with its choice of mouth-watering dishes.

We ordered a bottle Sauvignon Blanc and were each presented with a selection of canapés and an amuse-bouche of brussel sprout and bacon soup with crusty bread straight from the oven.

I was in heaven with my starter of scallops and pork belly and Nick raved about his choice of succulent pigeon breast. For the main course I enjoyed a beautifully rich venison loin and faggot with mushroom puree and hazelnut gnocchi, while Nick had trio of duck with confit mash and spinach and cherry jus – a perfect winter warmer. Unfortunately we couldn’t manage a dessert, but the chef gave us a little taster of the lemon mousse and it was utterly divine. Next time I’ll make sure I go for a longer walk to work up more of an appetite so as not to miss out on the tasty treats.

Breakfast followed suit in the morning with a wonderful continental buffet alongside a choice of a full English, porridge and Cornish griddle cakes with fruit to set you up for the day.

And if it’s raining? No fear, as the hotel’s comfortable lounge room holds a selection of books, daily newspapers and board games and the bar and bistro makes for a great place to stop for lunch, light bites or a Cornish cream tea.

Although a small and intimate hotel, its character is bold and it has certainly made a big impression on us. A getaway as perfect as this always makes for an unforgettable stay. ■ Room rates start from £120. For further information or to book, visit: www.thellawnrochotel.co.uk or tel: 01726 843461

RICH DECOR: the contemporary and stylish Llawnroc Hotel at Gorran Haven is designed to inspire and impress Main picture: one of the 18 luxurious and spacious bedrooms Above: the hallway is a masterclass of contemporary interior chic

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Small Ship Cruise Expeditions

A bespoke portfolio of fascinating itineraries aboard comfortable, fine quality small ships.

Unique travel experiences for the curious and discerning.

SOUTH SEAS ODYSSEY - Celebrate Christmas on Pitcairn Island during an epic voyage from Easter Island to Fiji via the Gambier Islands, the Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Society Islands, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga and Wallis & Futuna Group.

Depart 16 December 2012 ex London via Santiago to Easter Island return 21 January 2013.

The portfolio has an enticing array of options from around coastal Britain, circumnavigation of Iceland, Norwegian Fjords to Murmansk and the White Sea, the intimate Mediterranean, the Levant and Black Sea, West to South Africa, South America and coastal New Zealand.

Explore in depth at :

www.johnkennedy-noblecaledonia.com or call John Kennedy on: 0117 946 6000

www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

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WEEKENDaway

MOOR PLEASURE You don’t need to be a rugged outdoors type to enjoy a winter weekend on Dartmoor.

Georgette McCready samples the twin delights of walking with a stay in Mill End, a comfortable country house hotel

S

ometimes it can feel as if we’re living on a very overcrowded island with everyone jostling for room. I’ve got just the cure for that. Head down to Dartmoor, armed with boots, map and a compass, and simply walk. Sooner or later you’ll find yourself alone with just the big skies, the moorland and maybe a few birds wheeling overhead. Bliss.

Because the weather is so unpredictable on the moors – you’re just as likely to find driving rain and mist in July and sunshine in November – Dartmoor is a great place to visit at any time of year.

If you want shelter there are any number of walks along wooded valleys where you’re protected from the winds, while on a clear day the open, rolling moors are the most beautiful wide open spaces imaginable.

Dedicated walkers may trek for a dozen or so miles at a time, but it’s perfectly possible to explore the moors by walking far fewer miles. I usually take a well-thumbed old copy of Pub Walks on Dartmoor with me to remind me of some of our favourite walks. One such walk has to be the riverside path through the wooded valley from Fingle Bridge to the last castle to be built in England, the National Trust owned Castle Drogo.

I’d also recommend taking the short walk from the Two Bridges Hotel across open moorland to stand among the dwarf oaks of Wistman’s Wood. The trees’ twisted branches are festooned with lichens and the wood is littered with huge furry green boulders covered in moss. There is a magical other-wordly atmosphere to this place. It’s no surprise to learn that there are strange stories associated with the wood. Legend has it that Wistman’s Wood is where the Devil kept his huge black Wisht Hounds and they range the moor on dark and misty nights looking for unwary travellers, led by the Devil or by the spirit of Old Crockern who lives on the nearby Crockern Tor. Not a place to be when night falls I reckon . . .

When it comes to where to lay your weary head on Dartmoor you’re spoiled for choice. If you’re a very hardy type there are camping barns dotted about on the moors which can be booked for groups. But for those who would prefer to combine their walking break with the sybaritic extras of hot baths, comfortable beds and restaurant food, Dartmoor also has a wide range of country hotels.

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The last time we visited Dartmoor we stayed at the family-run Mill End Hotel just outside Chagford. If you’re just here for a couple of nights it’s worth noting that there are some good walks right on the doorstep – including the walk up to Castle Drogo.

This comfortable country house has been beautifully decorated and the rooms, rather than impersonal numbers, are named after the rivers which cross the moors. Ours was the Meavy, a stylish room with a luxury bathroom that overlooked the slowly spinning waterwheel below.

Mill End specialises in attention to detail. If you want fresh milk, rather than little sachets, to make tea in your room, you only have to ask. The mugs are a decent size and the chunky shortbread biscuits are homemade. Dog owners will be delighted to hear that their pets are positively welcomed. Ground floor rooms open into the gardens for early morning outings, while a boot room is well equipped with towels and a sink for washing down wet, post-walk muddy pooches. Non doggie people can be reassured that the towels are washed separately to the human laundry.

So, walking boots abandoned, muscles relaxed in a big, foamy bubble bath (thanks to The White Company products) and its downstairs to the lounge for drinks before dinner.

I have to say, chef Wayne Pearson is a bit of a genius. Using largely local, seasonal produce, he delivers the goods every time.

An oven baked goats cheese comes with caramelised walnuts, beetroot jam and a pea sprout salad – a perfect taste combination.

His saddle of venison with dauphinoise potato is a delight.

Even if you weren’t eating, you’d only have to listen to the appreciative comments of the other diners to learn how good the food is. We would also recommend the cheeseboard, a well kept selection of west country cheeses and a great way to finish a meal.

After a perfectly cooked English breakfast, prepared individually, the next morning, we were given a warm send-off by owner Sue Davies and headed back to those big skies. ■ Mill End Hotel rates are; bed and breakfast from £75 - £200, dinner, bed and breakfast from £145 - £270 per night per room.

Dinner for non residents is £36 for two courses and £39.50 for three courses.

COUNTRY LIFE: main picture, one of the rooms at Mill End Hotel near Chagford.

Top, burn off calories and soothe the troubled mind with a walk on Dartmoor Bottom, executive chef Wayne Pearson is a Master Chef of Great Britain Contact Mill End Hotel, tel: 01647 432282 or visit: www.millendhotel.com

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MOTORINGcity

NOBODY PUTS THIS BABY IN THE CORNER TBM puts the nimble Audi Quattro3 through its paces and finds it sure-footed and light but with great road holding and an eye to effective and fuel-saving performance

D

riving the latest Quattro brought back memories of 1980 and haring back to London through the mountain roads in Wales with my foot to the floor and being overtaken with ease by a Quattro and thinking I’d just love to drive one of those. So it was with great joy that I greeted the chance to try one recently.

After the flying success of the Q5 and Q7, another new Audi Q-badged family member is about to explode onto the scene: the baby 2012 Audi Q3. Audi says the Q3 is a premium SUV in compact form, a “coupé like five-door SUV with seat positions, wheel size and ground clearance characteristic of a typical SUV…a versatile companion for everyday life.”

It is essentially a crossover based on the VW Tiguan, but with a sportier, more luxurious, stylish, upmarket positioning.

This nimbler baby brother of the Audi Q5 and Q7, is set to compete with the likes of BMW’s upcoming X1, Range Rover Evoque and Mini Countryman.

On appearance the single-frame grille with its tapered upper corners dominates the front; its outline is extended by the dynamic curve of the engine hood. By using aluminum for the engine hood and tailgate, the Q3 weighs just 1,500 kg and yet the passenger compartment is sturdy, made with ultra-highstrength steels. The wedge-shaped headlights are available as a xenon plus version including LED daytime running lights.

Large air inlets hint at the potential of the engines. The Q3’s exterior styling is nothing rebellious, its appearance fits right in with the Q family.

Once in the car and after a good guide on the extras available, I tentatively drove off. Immediately I felt the comfort of the sports seats and enjoyed the visibility. I took the car on to the motorway and noticed with glee the power the Q3 produced when putting my foot to the floor. Although I drove the 2.0TSI petrol Quattro with 168bhp with 170PS, rather than the more powerful 208bhp version, there was more than enough instant response to these actions. With a top speed of 134mph and 0-60 in 8.2 seconds you will never find yourself 48 The Bristol Magazine

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struggling to keep up on the motorway.

The next task was to see how well the Q3 could handle the narrow country roads, and I wasn’t disappointed. Despite the height, the Q3 held firmly to the road and there was no danger of sliding or losing control when the vehicle was pushed to the limits.

Here’s the science bit: the 2.0 TFSI petrol engine also features the Audi Q3 valvelift system. This innovation varies the valve lift between two levels which provides the car with better low-end torque and a more effective dynamic torque build-up. The effect is a significant increase in engine efficiency, so you can get greater power and improved response from less fuel.

Inside the Q3 the passenger room for adults is very impressive and as usual Audi cars are built to high quality with the leather touches and trimming. Its instrumentation is a picture of clarity, its switchgear operates with confidenceinspiring solidity and the layout is simple and uncluttered. The leather-trimmed multi-function steering wheel makes driving the Q3 even more of a pleasure – and safer too. Frequently used controls can be operated while your hands are still in a normal driving position. You can switch channels on the radio and change tracks on the CD, and with optional mobile phone preparation, you’ll experience true hands-free mobile operation.

The Q3 is available with two engines: a 2.0-litre TFSI petrol developing either 168bhp or 208bhp, or a 2.0-litre TDI diesel unit developing either 138bhp or 175bhp.

For insurance: groups 18E to 25E. Running costs are estimated at 34.73p per mile. Priced from £24,560 to £31,360.

The car is now on sale and I can imagine, after driving one over the course of a weekend, that it is going to be a great success. ■ To arrange a test drive contact: Bristol Audi, Lysander Road, Cribbs Causeway, Bristol BS10 7FF. Tel: 0117 314 9308

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Audi’s latest offering, the Q3 is billed as a premium SUV in compact form.

Pictured on location in Bath Street, Bristol.

Architectural Sculpture; ‘Frozen Anima’ by John Packer.

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BUSINESSnews

Youth charity gets wheels in motion for fledgling bike business Frank Colzie, pictured, from Bristol, who has turned his life around with help from The Prince’s Trust, won the RBS Enterprise Award at The Prince’s Trust and L’Oréal Paris Celebrate Success Awards. The award recognises young people who have overcome barriers and achieved success in creating a sustainable business.

Before getting help from The Prince’s Trust, Frank was unemployed for two and a half years. However, he has since turned his hobby into a successful business selling new and re-conditioned bikes in Redcliffe Hill. After losing his job, Frank found that

News in brief ■ Talks have begun to try and bring surfing to Bristol, with the launch of a project called Wavegarden UK. If successful, this will be the world’s first inland surfing facility open fully to the public. The new technology will create perfect surfing waves up to 1.6 metres high on a 450 metre man-made lake close. Experienced surfers can enjoy a 55-second ride, while beginners will be able to learn to surf in a safe environment. Wavegarden is the idea of two Bristol friends and surfers, Nick Hounsfield (an osteopath) and Tobin Coles (a corporate marketing director).

There are a number of possible sites for the development, one of which is a 13 acre former sports field near the Portway.

■ BDO LLP, Bristol-based accountants and business advisors, has been supporting Penny Brohn Cancer Care over the past year as the firm’s charity for 2011. Employees from BDO, from executives to directors, have been giving up their time to carry out weeding, planting bulbs and laying stones for the centre’s new memory path. BDO has also been fundraising for the charity, aiming to raise £1,000 to buy non-chemical paint to decorate the centre’s bedrooms. The firm has already met the target following a cake sale and the Business Restructuring team’s sponsored moustache growing.

■ Bristol-based wholefood producer and wholesaler Essential Trading is celebrating its ruby anniversary in 2012.

The business was borne out of two local co-ops in the 1970s, Harvest and Nova.

The two came together in the 80s, to become Essential Trading. Based in Fishponds, it employs 85 people.

Essential supplied organic and fairtrade food long before it was trendy to do so, for ethical reasons. Essential supplies only the independent health food stores - including Bristol's Harvest shop in Gloucester Road, Bishopston that will shortly be renamed to mark the anniversary.

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the longer he was unemployed, the harder it was to find work. He approached The Prince’s Trust after his mother suggested turning his hobby for bikes into a business.

The charity runs an Explore Enterprise course which provides practical advice and mentoring support to give unemployed young people the skills and confidence they need to set up a business.

Frank said: “I would never have been able to set up my business without the help of The Prince’s Trust. I am pleased with the success of Re-Cycle Bristol and I hope to see the business grow in the future.”

Hospital upgrade

LATEST BUZZ

Countdown to splash down The new Hengrove Park Leisure Centre is on target to open on Wednesday, 29 February. The centre will be the third, brand new pool and leisure centre to open in Bristol in recent years, and is expected to double swimming in the city and significantly increase the number of people taking exercise. The new south Bristol centre will have a ten-lane 50 metre pool, a 150-station gym, a climbing wall, exercise studios and a four-court sports hall. It is funded by £35.06m private finance initiative credits from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

BRISTOL BUSINESS news & views

A round up of achievements and events from the city’s business community

Work will begin this spring on the redevelopment of Chesterfield Hospital, Bristol, which is run by healthcare charity Nuffield Health.

Nuffield has appointed VINCI Construction UK Ltd to carry out the work, in a contract worth £11m. The redevelopment represents a £20m investment into the local economy; safeguarding 95 jobs and potentially creating up to 50 more. The upgraded hospital will include three operating theatres, 12 consulting rooms and space for up to 30 in-patients.

VINCI Construction UK has started work at the Clifton site, including weatherproofing the Grade II listed Georgian merchant’s house which fronts the site and which will be sympathetically restored as part of plans welcomed by English Heritage.

Ashley Livesey, hospital director for Nuffield Health, said: “The redevelopment of the hospital will enable us to bring state of the art technology and techniques to Bristol, improving the patient experience and building on our 50 year-strong reputation for healthcare excellence.”

Steve Vorres, regional director of VINCI Construction UK, added: “We look forward to working with Nuffield Health and the community of Clifton to deliver a hospital of clinical excellence through collaborative working.”

Team are never knowingly under-generous The Shine Together charity at Southmead and Frenchay hospitals is celebrating a milestone thanks to the support of staff at John Lewis Cribbs Causeway.

John Lewis staff have raised in excess of £12,000 in the last four years. Projects have included bereavement rooms, a garden makeover at Frenchay hospital, children’s ward, and support for the hospital’s maternity unit appeal.

Trevor Reid, head of fundraising at the hospitals said: “As a hospital charity we have a varied programme of work and the staff at John Lewis have been incredibly supportive, making significant donations in our bereavement rooms and on our children’s ward.”

THANK YOU: hospital staff meet the John Lewis team

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Punch drunk!

Clevedon Salerooms recent Specialist Sale was the most successful in the firm’s long history.

The previous sale record established in 2006 included a Regency drum table sold for £235,000 which remains the most expensive drum table sold at auction across the globe.

This time the sale record was not down to one exceptional item, demonstrating the volume of quality items on offer.

Victorian silver punch bowl

£19,600 If you have items that you may be thinking of selling why not bring them to one of Clevedon Salerooms

Free Valuation Days 9th 10th 11th & 23rd 24th 25th January 9am - 1pm & 2pm - 5:30pm Next Specialist Sale: 23rd February

www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

Marc Burridge, Managing Partner at Clevedon Salerooms commented on the new record stating ‘We have recently taken on new staff and also a Fine Art Consultant in Sheena Stoddard, Former Curator at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery and this result is confirmation of our standing in the West Country and Bristol region. It is important for vendors to Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers have confidence in an auction houses The Auction Centre, Kenn Road, Kenn ability to achieve the highest possible Clevedon, BS21 6TT price whilst offering the highest level Tel: 01934 830111 of service’. www.clevedon-salerooms.com

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FAMILYfun

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i t h th music w G orge’s l a ic g a Enjoy m Buskers at St e C la s s i c Bristol

Put on your w oo l l i e s Cribbs and h Cause ead to T way fo he Mal r som a win l at e ou try settin

g

tdoor ice skatin g in

WINTER WONDERFUL There are plenty of family events on offer to beat the winter blues this month, from ice skating in a winter wonderland to musical capers at St George’s Bristol. Here’s a round-up of the fun and games the city has to offer in January

Winter Wonderland

Fun on-board

The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol.

Book tickets at www.mallcribbs.com

ss Great Britain, Great Western Dockyard, Bristol. Tel: 0117 926 0680 or visit: www.ssgreatbritain.org

with imaginative activities. Get star struck in the Little Stars Planetarium Show and go wild in AtBristol’s under eights areas, Fossils and Funnybones and In the Jungle.

New Steamship Gallery

Musical entertainment

Ice Skating, until Sunday 8 January A magical place to skate and soak up the winter wonderland atmosphere on the south west’s largest outdoor rink. There’s plenty of room to show off your skating skills and with ‘seal’ skating aids available to help the youngsters, it’s a fun activity for the whole family.

Festive theatre The Brewery, Tobacco Factory Theatre, Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol.

Box office tel: 0117 902 0344 www.tobaccofactorytheatre.com

Bath Time, Until Sunday 8 January, 10.45am & 2.15pm

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Family laughs

January 2012

St George’s Bristol, Great George Street, Bristol.

Box office tel: 0845 40 24 001 www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk

We’re All Going to the Zoo! Sunday 29 January, 3pm

Bristol Old Vic Studio, King Street, Bristol. Box office tel: 0117 987 7877 www.bristololdvic.org.uk

Entertainers extraordinaire the Classic Buskers present a fun-filled musical caper, featuring a magical menagerie of sound-creatures. Who knew classical music could be so fun?

Good Clown, Bad Clown, Until Saturday 7 January, please contact theatre for times

Get close to nature

Good Clown Bad Clown is a highly visual, comic tale of high jinks and heroics, suitable for anyone aged four and over.

Oxford Playhouse presents this magical, perfectly silly show about the games we all play in the bath. With words, music, dance and puppets, there are lots of chances to join in.

A real treat for children aged two to five.

52 The Bristol Magazine

Explore the ships’s Victorian kitchen – feel the heat from the oven, smell the cooking fish and smoky bacon, see the pots boiling on the stove and listen out for the scratching rats.

Discover science Explore At-Bristol, Harbourside, Bristol.

Tel: 0845 345 1235 www.at-bristol.org.uk

Toddler Takeover: Crazy Creatures Friday 13 January Let your little ones unleash their creative side

Slimbridge Wetland Centre, Gloucestershire.

Tel: 01453 891900 www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/slimbridge

Floodlit Swan Feeds, 1 January – 26 February, Saturdays & Sundays, 6.30pm See Slimbridge’s beautiful Bewick swans in a whole new light with a floodlit bird feed. Enjoy the warmth of the heated Peng Observatory as you learn about the amazing journey these swans make to reach us. Cost: £5 adults, £3 children.

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EDUCATIONnews

Music, art and drama encourage boys to express themselves Talented young musicians have the chance to apply for a music scholarship to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School (QEH), which prides itself in having a strong musical tradition.

With over 150 pupils taking instrumental lessons during the school week and many more receiving tuition on an instrument outside school, music has never been stronger at QEH. The school offers a number of music scholarships to those who show promise.

Pupils have the opportunity to perform in venues such as Bristol Cathedral, Clifton Cathedral, the school’s theatre, or in the more informal setting of the music school.

News in brief ■ All Hallows School in East Cranmore has launched a new Saturday Enrichment Programme for its pupils, which includes a range of activities to inspire and engage. With a 95 per cent take up, the feedback from children, parents and staff has been positive for the ‘new feel’ Saturdays. For more information email: info@allhallowsschool.co.uk or tel: 01749 881600.

■ Badminton School has appointed Mrs Rebecca Tear, pictured, as new head teacher, to succeed Jan Scarrow who is retiring in the summer after 15 years as headmistress. Mrs Tear is currently deputy head of Wycombe Abbey School in Buckinghamshire. She read chemistry at Exeter University, before undertaking a PGCE at The Institute of Education, University of London, where she is now completing an MA in Educational Leadership. Mrs Tear is passionate about helping girls to develop a broad and balanced set of skills and interests.

She has run a sixth form boarding house, has boarded herself and her children board at their prep school.

In addition there are regular tours to Europe, the United States and an expedition in conjunction with The Red Maids’ School to China is planned.

The school’s 220-seat purpose-built theatre is equipped to professional standards. For many boys it is a place where they learn to communicate and express themselves. So many are involved on stage, in the technical crew or as part of the front of house team, and all benefit from the wide range of productions.

Arts of all kinds are valued at the school, with students also enjoying use of an excellent art department and a design technology centre.

Flying the flag Pupils have extended Bristol Cathedral Choir School’s long-standing links with Africa by raising funds to safeguard a well in Uganda.

Everyone at the city centre academy was invited to abandon their uniform for one day and instead wear clothes in the colours of the Ugandan flag – black, yellow and red – and make a donation to the school’s Uganda Link. Money raised is being split between funding scholarships for disadvantaged students at St James’s School, a secondary school in the city of Jinja, and paying to protect the well in Masaka, 120 miles south west of Jinja.

Principal Neil Blundell said: “We’re very proud of our partnership with St James’s, which dates back to 1987 and is one of the earliest links between a UK school and a school in the developing world. “It’s now exciting to be able to expand our Ugandan charity work by supporting a project that will ensure 3,000 people will have access to clean, safe water – something which will undoubtedly improve the quality of many

people’s lives.”

The day was organised by Will Davies, the new chaplain at the cathedral school.

He said: “Most young people are very concerned to help those less fortunate than themselves and it’s been very encouraging to see our students here make an effort to support people in Uganda. I’m excited to see how today will inspire our students to get involved and make a difference.”

University pioneers sleep study A group of willing volunteers are helping with a sleep study, part of a pilot project being carried out by the University of the West of England in Bristol.

The human guinea pigs are wearing sleep monitors which measure brain waves and the levels of REM and deep sleep. Their results are uploaded on to a website where factors such as

light, heat and air quality can be taken in with the data. The idea behind the project is to empower individuals to take control of their own health through their environment and behaviour.

UWE has teamed up with a Professor of Robotics from the US and At-Bristol under the title Body Track Project.

Sixth formers aim for all-round achievements Choosing a sixth form is an undertaking not to be treated lightly by parents and students. At St Brendan’s Sixth Form College, Brislington, the staff endeavour to make sure students stand out from the crowd, through their qualifications and their skills, experience, hobbies and volunteering, gained outside and inside the classroom.

The college is holding an open evening on 9 February from 6pm, so prospective students can look at the diverse range of achievements by the college.

Two students, Adam and Brett Williams, have just completed a trek in Nepal climbing over 54 The Bristol Magazine

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4,000 metres to deliver school books, uniforms and playground equipment to a primary school.

Golf enthusiast Will Mullins is combining his AS business studies and BTEC sport at St Brendan’s with an England Future Regional Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE), while drama and art students have been chosen to take part in the National Theatre’s Connections project, working on a new play with directors from the Old Vic and the National Theatre.

During the autumn term students at St Brendan’s raised more than £2,000 for charities

including breast cancer research, prostate cancer research, Children in Need, and World Aids Day, through events they organised themselves. In the run-up to Christmas, presents were bought for children, and contributions made to hampers for families coping with difficult circumstances. At a Tea and Tinsel party more than 100 senior citizens were entertained by students.

Visit the website: www.stbrn.ac.uk or on www.facebook.com/stbrendanssixthformcollege to sign up for a digital newsletter. Students can apply now for a place for September or visit the open evening, on 9 February, from 6-9pm.

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DO YOU HAVE A SPARE ROOM? FRIENDLY HOSTS WANTED FOR OUR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS We are looking for welcoming, hospitable hosts to accommodate our international students.

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HEALTH&FITNESS

BORN TO RUN Coaches at The Bristol Running School are helping athletes at all levels achieve their potential. Georgette McCready went to see how they get results

H

ead out on to the Downs any Sunday morning and you can watch runners of all abilities going through their paces. Some pound past, their legs a blur, looking like Olympic hopefuls, while others seem to find it all a bit of a struggle, staggering from step to step and puffing along like a steam train. It’s enough to make one observe that maybe some people just aren’t made for running.

That’s where the team at the newly established Bristol Running School would shake their heads in disagreement. The school’s three trained sports coaches are confident they can improve anyone’s running style and speed – from the absolute beginner to the elite athlete looking to gain themselves a new PB (personal best).

It’s at this time of year when people decide it would be a great personal challenge to get fit by running, or maybe take part in the Bristol Half Marathon. There are plenty of months to train for this autumn event, they confidently think as they begin training. But, for a number of reasons, many of us find it hard to run as well or as fast as we’d like, or we’re beset by niggling pains in knees, back or hips.

The Running School concept was started in Chiswick more than a decade ago and has proved so successful that there are now around a dozen more schools across the UK. Bristol physiotherapist Richard Bricknell uses his professional skills in his work at the Bristol Running School, which is based on the same site as the Bristol Lawn Tennis Club in Redland. Head coach Chris Kay and fellow coach Amy Hiller, both keen runners, decide the best way to demonstrate how the Bristol Running School works is to get me to pull on my trainers and give a demonstration of my running style. The runner is then filmed from the side and behind so the coaches can look

www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

closely at their gait, posture and arms. This is known as biomechanical analysis, but it’s not as daunting as it sounds. Chris explains that problems with the way runners move can cause aches and pains in other parts of the body: “We look at everything else in the body before we look at your feet,” he says. It seems runners generally fall into types, including the Bouncer, the Octopus, the Thumper and the Twister. I, it seems, am a Shuffler.

The classic Shuffler simply doesn’t pick their legs, and therefore, heels up high enough to achieve an effcient cyclic movement of the legs. People sign up with the running school for six sessions, working with a trainer on improving their style and carrying out running sessions on their own to change bad habits into good ones. A Shuffler, Amy assures me, can be taught to become a more efficient, and faster runner.

Their technique has been so successful so far, especially working on runners with injuries, that Amy and Chris now intend to use their research to write a scientific paper on their work. The goals vary for each person.

Some are veteran runners plagued by injury and keen to get back into their stride, others are young athletes anxious to pick up the best technique to up their game – and then there are those who just want to run faster and smarter. Six sessions are £260, with a free half-hour introduction. ■ Tel: 01179 738 319 or email: bristol@running school.co.uk

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HEALTH&BEAUTY

BRISTOL IS WARMING UP Bristol Therapy Rooms has expanded its range of Ayurvedic and traditional Indian treatments to include warming Ayuryogic Massage and Chavutti Thirumal Indian Rope Massage. Clients can now enjoy therapies to soothe the mind, detoxify the body and ease tight and tired January muscles.

Ayuryogic Massage, or Ayurvedic Yoga Massage, is a system of yoga-based assisted stretching that opens and realigns the entire body in a complete and balanced way with synchronized breathing.

Chavutti, or Indian Rope Massage, has a history spanning thousands of years and is translated as ‘massage by foot pressure’. The massage includes rhythmical strokes performed on the client’s body with one foot, whilst balancing on the other with the aid of a rope.

Both of these treatments are known to enhance skin tone, improve circulation, boost the immune system, and help with chronic pain or musculo-skeletal problems.

Other warming treatments available include the Ayurvedic Massage – a combination of warm sesame oil and rhythmic, sweeping strokes revitalises the body, mind and spirit; and the Lava Shells Massage – self-heating shells are worked over the body to ease knots in the muscles. Perfect for a cold January day.

Bristol Therapy Rooms offers treatments seven days a week in two locations – Stokes Croft and Bishopston. For further information contact Bristol City Yoga on tel: 0117 924 4414

NEWS IN BRIEF ■ The College of Naturopathic Medicine is holding an open evening on Tuesday 24 January at Trinity College, Stoke Bishop, Bristol, from 6.30pm – 8.30pm. The evening is free to attend and will provide an opportunity to learn about the basics of naturopathic nutrition and find out how to turn your passion for nutrition into a career. To reserve your place contact tel: 01342 410505 or email: info@naturopathy-uk.com ■ Skin therapist Grace Emmerson has launched a new online shop selling organic skincare range Dr.Hauschka. The online shop offers speed and convenience as well as personal skincare advice. Visit: www.graceemmerson-online.co.uk ■ Redland based therapist and hypnotherapist Chris Forster has harnessed his many years’ experience helping clients with anxiety and stress to develop a deep relaxation technique he calls PsychoMuscular Release. He has produced a CD for home use which is now on sale in independent chemists across Bristol, price £9.99. Visit: www.psychomuscularrelease.co.uk

NEW YOU The latest health and beauty news to help you kick start 2012 looking and feeling good

True Beauty It’s cold and dark outside, the over-indulgence at Christmas has taken its toll and the January blues have set in. But, help is not far away, in-fact it is nestled in the heart of Clifton Village.

At Candice White Beauty Salon on the corner of Royal York Crescent, you’ll find a warm welcome from the experienced team of beauty therapists as well as the latest beauty treatments on the market – the perfect place for a new year reinvention.

The salon is the only one in Clifton to offer the world famous CACI Non-Surgical Face-lift treatment. The principle of the treatment is muscle re-education, lifting and toning of the face or body contours to remind the muscles of how they used to be. CACI softens lines, wrinkles and reduces sun damage whilst hydrating, tightening and toning the skin. The results are impressive and the treatment has attracted a celebrity following.

The salon also offers pedicures, manicures, tanning, waxing, facials and massage and is open five days a week with two late evenings. Visit www.cwbeauty.co.uk or tel: 0117 9730727.

Dance yourself fit

■ If you’re looking at 2012 as a year

to achieve your goals, dreams and desires, you may want to enlist the help of the Theatre of Dreams spiritual direction and life coaching.

Whether you’re striving for your dream career, the perfect relationship or the development of your company, Theatre of Dreams can assist you in manifesting your goals and dreams.

For further information visit: www.anthonylewischurchill.com

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Following TV shows like Strictly, dancing has become the latest way to get fit and lose weight – and have fun at the same time. The Argentine tango is one of the most popular dances to learn and there is plenty of opportunity to do so in Bristol. Try the Introduction to Argentine Tango course with Tango-y-Tu on Saturday 7, Sunday 8 and Saturday 14 January. The course takes place at Westmoreland Hall, Redland. Tel: 07767733948 or visit: www.tango-y-tu.com/bristol.htm for further information. Or try the Tango West absolute beginners classes on Sundays, from 8 January, 7-8pm or improvers classes on Sundays from 8.30–9.30pm, at the Redland Club. For further information visit: www.tangowest.co.uk ot tel: 07981 756965.

LOSE WEIGHT FOR THE LAST TIME Many people start a diet or exercise programme in January. It is a time of resolutions and determination to get things right this year. And The New Start programme offered by The Bariatric Group is just that – a chance to embrace a fresh beginning. It is a concentrated personalised package of advice, activity and support to help you achieve your weight goals. It combines personal fitness programmes, training, dietary supplements and simple yet effective tools to allow to make a lasting difference. Managing director Mark Gorton says: “We wanted to offer a medical solution to obesity, to give the people coming to us for help a choice. So we introduced New Start: our 12-week intensive medical weight loss programme designed to get weight loss off to a quick start when people’s motivation and will to succeed are at their highest.” Patients on the programme have one to one support at weekly sessions led by an experienced health educator and follow a food plan and an exercise programme. For more information contact The Bariatric Group on tel: 0808 128 00 22

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dance dance movement

voice

therapy centre

BRISTOL B ASED MASTERS PROGRAMME IN DANCE MOVEMENT PSYCHOTHE RAPY Validated by Canterbury Christ Church University INTERVIEWING NOW for October 2012 intake and NATIONAL CERTIFICATE IN DANCE MOVEMENT and the THERAPEUTIC PROCESS (BTEC) 1 year programme starts September

Ffi: Dance Voice, Quaker Meeting House, Wedmore Vale, Bedminster, Bristol. BS3 5HX tel: 0117 953 2055 e-mail: admin@dancevoice.org.uk www.dancevoice.org.uk

THEBRISTOLMAGAZINE THEBESTOFBRISTOL PERFECTLYCOVERED BRISTOLSBIGGESTMAGAZINE PERFECTLYDELIVERED TOADVERTISETEL: 0117 9742800 www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

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FIT&FABULOUS

RADIANT YOU Even when we stick religiously to our skincare routine, skin can sometimes still feel dry and look tired and we may feel the need to wear makeup before we leave the house. But according to local holistic beauty therapist, Grace Emmerson, it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Our skin wants to be healthy – it is after all a living, breathing organ – and it can look radiant at any age,” she says.

Grace suggests using the Dr.Hauschka Radiant You cleansing routine, which has been designed to restore a healthy vibrancy. The unique press and roll movements work with the skin’s natural functions, removing surface dirt and congestion without damaging the outer, protective skin, leaving you with a healthy radiant complexion.

Grace favours the natural yet luxurious approach to health and beauty that is achieved with Dr.Hauschka skin care. “Our skin really does look and feel better when the natural rhythms are followed,” says Grace. “The skin care range doesn’t overpromise yet it only takes 30 days for the skin to adjust and the benefits to be obvious and newfound confidence is one of the first things people notice.”

Dr.Hauschka Radiant You kits are available from www.graceemmerson-online.co.uk.

Grace is holding a Radiant skin masterclass on Saturday 21 January. For further information contact tel: 0117 904 2296.

SKIN DEEP

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Skin cells have the natural ability to repair themselves and they do this best when we sleep. So bareMinerals skincare has developed a skin-revitalising serum to aid the skin’s replenishment during its crucial renewal phase. The Active Cell Renewal Night Serum (£38 from House of Fraser) is a clinically proven formula that helps to accelerate cell turnover and boost moisture levels in the skin. You’ll wake up to remarkably firmer, beautifully radiant, younger looking skin that’s more resilient and supercharged. It’s one of the best night products on the market at the moment and you’ll certainly notice the results

Whether it’s full or phenomenal that you’re after, you can now build lash drama with weightless volume thanks to Estée Lauder’s new Double Wear Zero-smudge Volume & Lift Mascara (£19.50 from House of Fraser and Boots). The latest addition to the Double Wear line of products, this innovative mascara is specifically designed to maximise and lift lashes for a striking look that lasts all day without flaking. The nutrient-rich ingredients condition lashes and the formula resists heat, humidity and sweat during use. Ladies, it’s a handbag essential this season

▲

January is the time of year for detoxing and making yourself feel good again.

And what better way to help you feel rejuvenated and ready to take on the year than with some beautiful products full of fresh ingredients from Lush? It’s so easy to create your own unique home spa with the help of Lush; so light some candles, relax and enjoy a pamper – you deserve it.

Lush’s Steamer Tabs (£2.50), pictured above, are a brand new invention designed to benefit the skin as well as the mind. Drop into a bowl of hot water, watch the tab fizz as it infuses a blend of aromatherapy essential oils into the steam and inhale the vapour to clear the mind and cleanse pores. When the water cools, it can also be used as a toning water.

And no spa experience is complete without soothing music... try the Lush Validation CD (£10) to recreate an oasis of tranquility with folk music and birdsong.

▲

Samantha Ewart tests the latest health and beauty products on the high street and discovers winter skin care secrets

Protect your lips from the harsh, cold winter winds with Eve Lom’s Kiss Mix (£14 from www.evelom.com): a super rich moisturising lip balm that relieves and softens lips whilst at the same time leaving a kissable sheen and a unique cooling sensation. A great long-lasting hydration fix for lips that keeps them in tip-top condition day and night

▲

CREATE A HOME SPA

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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

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New Year – time for a new career!

What better way to start the year than to look at a new career?

Ami Gilder, a student studying Nutritional Therapy at The College of Naturopathic Medicine (CNM) explains why she chose to radically change her career two years ago – and hasn’t looked back since! was living a fast-paced life working in the media, partying hard and feeling stressed. I knew I needed a change of both lifestyle and career. My health was suffering and I was increasingly frustrated with getting constant prescriptions but no long term solutions. I decided to embark on a personal quest to find natural remedies to ease my conditions.

“I

“After a personal consultation with a course consultant at CNM I knew that I had to just go for it! It was daunting making that level of commitment but I know it’s worth it for what I’m going to achieve and the opportunities available to me once I graduate.”

“After doing some research online I attended a CNM student clinic.

These are weekend clinics open to the public at a discounted rate where anyone can have a health consultation with a CNM student practitioner.

Following a supervised nutritional therapy consultation I was given a personal treatment plan and soon saw a drastic improvement in my health.

“The first year of studying was demanding and fascinating, it’s a challenge to juggle a full-time job and studies but it’s just a matter of being very organized and disciplined. I enjoyed meeting my course mates who come from all walks of life including personal trainers, a lawyer, and mums with young children who are training for a new career where they can earn a good income and have flexible working hours.

“The clinic experience really piqued my interest in nutritional therapy and I thought this could be the career change I was looking for so I went to a free CNM open evening where I learned more about the course.

Beforehand I was worried that at 31 I was too old to change my career. I thought I’d need a degree or some sort of qualification in science and would have to give up my job whilst studying, meaning I couldn’t manage financially. To my surprise, I discovered that I could study at weekends and learn everything I needed to on the course, it was the perfect solution.

“I looked into other courses but the thing that really stood out about CNM to me was the fact that you gain so much handson experience. This really builds your knowledge and practical skills to become a confident practitioner after graduating. www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

Ami successfully completed her first year of the Nutritional Therapy course and is now in her second year.

“There are so many options open to me once I graduate and the great thing is that I don’t have to decide on a career path right now. Other than opening my own practice, I could work as a consultant for a private clinic, a sports centre or in a health spa, I could get into food writing or work as an advisor for a health food company – the opportunities are endless!”

While continuing her studies Ami was thrilled to get a job as a course consultant at CNM’s head office. She now advises other people looking to start studying for a new career as she did. Call her on 01342 410 505 to find out more about the Nutritional Therapy course.

If you’d like to find out more about training for a new career as a Nutritional Therapist, come along to CNM Bristol’s next free-to-attend Open Evening on Tuesday 24th January 2012 6.30pm-8.30pm. Book your place now, call Ami on 01342 410 505.

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Established in 2001, we offer a wide range of beauty treatments and services in a relaxed friendly yet professional environment.

As a [comfort zone] and caci appointed salon Candice and her team of highly skilled beauty therapists, are always available to offer free consultations or advice you on any queries you may have.

Open five days a week with two late evenings, we hope that our opening hours will offer a convenient appointment time to suit your busy life.

Drop-in clients are most welcome.

The only salon in Clifton to offer the amazing Caci Non-Surgical Face-Lift!!

CARLO hair&beauty M

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Tel: 0117 968 2663 • www.carlohairandbeauty.co.uk 6 Rockleaze Rd, Sneyd Park, Bristol BS9 1NF

ADVERTISING SALES Basic + Good Commission = £ Excellent The Bristol Magazine is Bristol’s biggest premium lifestyle magazine.

The Bath Magazine is the city’s biggest monthly, glossy title.

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Please send your CV and covering letter to: Steve Miklos, The Bristol Magazine, MC Publishing Limited email: director@thebristolmagazine.co.uk www. thebristolmagazine.co.uk

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Please telephone or come into the salon to arrange your next beauty appointment.

A - 52 Royal York Crescent, Clifton.T - 0117 9730727

www.cwbeauty.co.uk

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REVIEW

A FRESH START Georgette McCready starts the new year with a detox massage at the Sanctuary Spa Bristol, designed to encourage the body into healthier good habits

O

K, it’s time to get that lardy body into healthy shape for 2012, to knock all those unhealthy habits on the head and put the spring back into my step. I guess it was all too predictable about what would happen to my waistline after so many blueberry muffins – and did I seriously think I’d get away with all those extra snacks over Christmas without having something unpleasant to show for it?

After a session of giving myself a damn good talking to, I decided the quick-fix solution for January is going to be a short, sharp introduction to healthy eating, with a seven-day detox programme. Basically this involves giving up all my favourite things – tea, cheese, cake and wine – in order to see visible results. Sticking to a menu which excludes all processed food, red meat, caffeine, dairy and wheat should do the trick. When hungry there are handfuls of unsalted nuts, a banana or some oatcakes to keep the body going and the mind wakeful. Plenty of water will make me feel suitably virtuous too. I’ve done it before and although it can make you feel a bit irritable at first, it’s a great way to shift a few unwanted pounds.

One way to give that sluggish system a kick-start is a good massage. The Sanctuary Spa in Quakers Friars offers a range of massages, including its own Sanctuary massage, an aromatherapy massage and a deeply enjoyable aroma bliss treatment. But for the purposes of this detox programme, I decided to try the hot lava shell massage.

Using shells as massage tools might sound a bit strange but it’s actually very soothing. The masseuse uses two hands and two perfectly smooth shells – one icy cold and one piping hot – to stir the circulation and get the body going. Combined with an invigorating aromatherapy oil, this is a stimulating process. After a while you genuinely have trouble working out which is the cold shell and which the hot.

To get the best results, the stomach is gently massaged with hot stones.

Because this is quite an intense treatment people can have a variety of responses to the tummy massage, some feeling the detox effects quite quickly and effectively but gently, while others have an emotional response as their tensions are released. If you’re the kind of person who has held all your problems in check for a long time, you may become tearful or giggly.

Just as yoga practitioners believe in working the tummy muscles to relieve tension and emotions, so the people in the Philippines who developed the shell massage generations ago believe similarly that this is a good way to sort out the body’s tensions.

The Sanctuary staff really look after their clients, pampering them with a chance to relax in the Lavender Lounge, while wrapped in a soft white robe before and after using the private treatment rooms. You’ll come out feeling a a little brighter and ready to face the world again.■ For further information or to see a list of treatments and services, visit: www.thesanctuary.co.uk/bristol-spa or to book, tel: 0117 370 2791. Hot Lava Shell massage, £39 for 25 minutes, £65 for 55 minutes www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

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OUT&ABOUT

THE LOST GARDENS The gardens of a long demolished mansion and a herd of wild goats are among the unusual sights along the way as Andrew Swift explores the Avon Gorge

O

ur new year’s walk follows the Avon Gorge south from Sea Mills, ends in the city centre and takes in some surprisingly untamed countryside along the way. You will see lost gardens and wild goats, clamber down a gully and climb a zig-zag path, before threading your way through Clifton and Cliftonwood to the World’s End, where a flight of steps takes you down to the floating harbour.

The lost gardens are those of Bishop’s Knoll, a Victorian mansion demolished in the 1970s. Acquired by the Woodland Trust in 1986, the seven-acre site on the slopes of the gorge has recently undergone a £13,000 restoration. Steps leading to the terraces, along with retaining walls and a Gothic gazebo, have been made good, but the magic of the long-abandoned gardens, with their hidden paths and secret gates, remains.

The goats are a new feature, introduced to the wooded slopes of the gorge in June in an attempt to control scrubby undergrowth and give the wildflower grassland, home to several rare species, a chance to re-establish itself.

Directions: To get to the starting point take the Severn Beach Line to Sea Mills. On leaving the train, go under the railway and, at the old signal station, turn left alongside the river. After 350 metres, go up a flight of steps. Cross the Portway (carefully) and go up a path to the right of a flight of stone steps. Continue up the path until another path, with wooden steps, branches off to the right. Go down it and carry on downhill, ignoring a path branching up to the left. Follow the path as it curves down to the right. At the bottom, with the railway line ahead, turn left.

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and through another kissing gate into Bishop’s Knoll.

Head up the path, go past a gate, turn left and then right through a gateway. Take the path forking right downhill and at the bottom turn left alongside the railway. Walk up through the old arboretum (passing a flight of steps on the left) to the terraced gardens of the great house. After climbing the steps to the gazebo and exploring this extraordinary lost world, head back to the flight of steps you passed earlier, climb it and turn left at the top. When you come to a short flight of steps on the right, turn up it, carry on and turn right when you reach Bramble Lane.

Carry straight on along Knoll Hill, which eventually becomes Seawalls Road. After 500 metres, when the main road swings right, carry straight on along Seawalls Road and go through the gate at the end. Bear right across the grass, past the public toilets, to the road. Follow the road as it curves along the edge of the gorge. As the road heads east away from the gorge, bear right when the pavement forks and, when it ends, head down through a kissing gate and bear left alongside the perimeter fence. This area, known as the Gully, is where the goats have been introduced. (If you don’t want to head down the gorge and climb up again, continue along the road, eventually bearing left along Fountain Hill, crossing Bridge Valley Road and rejoining the walk on Clifton Promenade.)

After passing more kissing gates you come to a broad path leading down through the Gully, passing a ventilator shaft for the Clifton Down railway tunnel halfway down and going through a kissing gate at the bottom.

Cross the Portway and turn left along the pavement for 750 metres. After passing the quarry faces so popular with climbers, look out for a stone viewing platform above the road with a

PLENTY OF INTEREST: start the new year with a walk which takes in the iconic suspension bridge over the Avon Gorge

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OUT&ABOUT

RESTORATION: the gardens are all that remain of the Bishop’s Knoll estate – the mansion, right, was demolished in the 1970s

path leading up to it. Look out for the bottom of the path, cross over and head up it.

At the top, where the path forks, bear right, cross the road and go up another path leading to Clifton Promenade. Walk along the Promenade for 300 metres, before turning right along a tarmaced path which leads past the observatory – originally a windmill – and down to the suspension bridge.

Cross the road, take the path straight ahead and carry on along Sion Hill, past the entrance to the Clifton Rocks Railway and the Avon Gorge Hotel. Just after passing the Portcullis Inn on your left, continue past the turning into Royal York Crescent, and turn right downhill at the T junction. Take the first left along Cornwallis Crescent and at the end turn left up Goldney Avenue and right down Goldney Road. Turn right down a flight of steps at the end and left along Ambra Vale East. At the T junction, carry on along Argyle Place. At the crossroads, carry on along Clifton Wood Crescent. At the end,

turn right along Southernhay Avenue. When you reach World’s End House (with a view over the docks), turn left up an alleyway and right down another alleyway to White Hart Steps, at the bottom of which an archway leads onto one of Bristol’s busiest junctions, with the SS Great Britain straight ahead.

From here, you have a choice: head up Jacob’s Well Road to the Triangle, carry on along St George’s Road to College Green, or follow Anchor Road towards Millennium Square. ■

FURTHER INFORMATION Length of walk: 4½ miles Map: OS Explorer 155, a street map of Bristol may also be useful ■ Approximate time: 2½ to 3 hours ■ ■

Bookable“Respite” for Carers I n an earlier feature on Cote Charity we highlighted Cote House, a residence providing retirement apartments and independent living for the elderly.

The sister-home is Katherine House, built in the grounds of Cote House in 2009 and opened in 2010. This care home has 40 individual rooms with en-suite facilities, all meals and 24/7 on site care from qualified and friendly staff.

One of the services that Katherine House offers is residential care for those needing respite. This includes the ability to come in to Katherine House for a period of time when the person’s carer has to be away for any reason and no substitute can be found.

Normally this happens on an ad-hoc basis, where the person or their carer just rings round care homes for a place. Katherine House are now offering respite rooms for planned absences – such as when the person’s carer is planning to be away for a period of time.

Katherine House will have two rooms available for this service. These may be reserved in advance of the actual period when the room is required.

For more information, please contact the House Manager: 0117-9873540 Cote House, Cote Drive, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, BS9 3UP Visit: www.cotecharity.co.uk e-mail: info@cotecharity.co.uk telephone: 0117 987 0105

Registered Charity No: 257237

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the directory

to advertise in this section call 0117 974 2800

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BRISTOLproperty

T

his period maisonette is situatued centrally within the Royal York Crescent, in the heart of Clifton. A well proportioned courtyard apartment, it has retained many elegant period features, with shuttered sash windows, a cast iron fireplace, and high ceilings. The airy drawing room overlooking a flagstone courtyard, welcoming inner hallway, and granite-topped kitchen are just some of the highlights of this property. Accessed via wrought iron gates, the maisonette is approached by the private front courtyard. Leading off the wide hallway is the drawing room, kitchen, cloakroom/WC and the second and third bedrooms. The master bedroom is situated on the lower ground floor, with attractive arched sash windows and direct access to the family bathroom. A natural stone floor, sunken Vilroy and Bosch bath and corner shower make for a contemporary and practical bathroom. The bespoke kitchen features an open arch overlooking the drawing room, providing an element of openliving, with maple units. In addition to the private south facing courtyard to the front, and paved courtyard at the rear, residents can enjoy a delightful communal garden that runs almost the length of the terrace, with an expansive lawn, deep borders and mature trees. This attractive property presents a fantastic opportunity for a variety of lifestyles, combining period features and contemporary fittings to charming effect.

Viewing and full particulars are from agents Knight Frank.

33 ROYAL YORK CRESCENT • Period apartment • 3 bedrooms • Contemporary family bathroom • Cloakroom/WC • Courtyards at front and rear

Guide Price: £395,000

Knight Frank, Regent House, 27A Regent Street, Clifton, Bristol. Tel: 0117 317 1999

www.thebristolmagazine.co.uk

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The Bristol Magazine 73

Bristol & Clifton’s premier Commercial Property Agents IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO RELOCATE OR ESTABLISH A NEW BUSINESS IN 2011 PLEASE PHONE THE BURSTON COOK TEAM FOR ALL TYPES OF COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

(0117) 934 9977

A stunning family home in prime Clifton location 7, LITFIELD PLACE, CLIFTON Offers invited iro £1,950,000

Spectacular views across Clifton A fine Clifton house extending to c 10,000 sq ft, of excellent proportions. Occupying one of Clifton’s most sought after locations and with large rear gardens and wonderful views. The property has been very well maintained with the flexibility for the new owner to fit our to their own design and layout.

Quite simply a superb opportunity.

Guide only £1,950,000

0117 9349977 Bristol

0117 317 1999 KnightFrank.co.uk

Burston Cook January.indd 1

Between 24th December and 4th January Phone Julian Cook FRICS on 07802 786633 Or email julian@burstoncook.co.uk

(0117) 934 9977

19/12/2011 16:08

Bristol & Clifton’s premier Commercial Property Agents IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO RELOCATE OR ESTABLISH A NEW BUSINESS IN 2011 PLEASE PHONE THE BURSTON COOK TEAM FOR ALL TYPES OF COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

(0117) 934 9977

INVESTMENT – INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

23 GREAT GEORGE STREET

Current gross rent £146,000 per annum, with potential rent of £185,000 (fully let).

A stunning period office HQ of 5,560 sq ft with parking. Would suit other uses.

Freehold only £995,000.

Comprising 18 units on 4.3 acres plus a residential house.

Freehold - £950,000

BROADMEAD LANE, KEYNSHAM 25/27 CLARE STREET, BS1 Landmark office HQ of 2,645 sq ft to be fully refurbished.

A new lease at £12 per sq ft.

INVESTMENT

APSLEY ROAD, CLIFTON

Fully let shop with 3 bed maisonette – current rental income of £15,400 per annum, exclusive.

A fine HQ office building in prime Clifton location. c. 5,200 sq ft with 18 parking spaces. New lease available.

Freehold offers IRO £180,000 invited.

DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL

WATERFRONT OFFICES Within a unique landmark building.

Contemporary offices of circa 1,958 sq ft.

A large community hall in Windmill Hill – potential for 4/5 flats and 2 mews houses.

New lease available.

Only £195,000.

We can help you

• Sales • Lettings • • Valuations • Rent reviews • • Acquisitions advice • Investments • • Development advice • Landlord & tenant • For more about who we are... www.burstoncook.co.uk Julian Cook

Jayne Rixon

Andrew Oliver

David Ball

*Winner EGI most active Local Agent in Bristol 2008 & 2009* *EGI Top 5 Regional Agent in Bristol, Bath & Swindon 2010 & 2011*

Please telephone Julian Cook FRICS Jayne Rixon MRICS or Andrew Oliver MRICS or David Ball BA MSc (Hons)

Burston Cook January.indd 2

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BRISTOLpropertyNEWS BRISTOL AGENTS’ SUCCESS AT THE ESTATE AGENCY OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2011 CJ Hole was awarded as Best Medium Estate Agency in the South West at The Estate Agency of the Year Awards in association with The Sunday Times and The Times and sponsored by Zoopla.co.uk.

B

ristol agent CJ Hole joined more than 500 leading estate agents and conveyancing lawyers at The Lancaster London Hotel opposite Hyde Park for The Estate Agency of The Year Awards ceremony. The winners received their awards from celebrity guest, Ben Fogle who charmed the audience with inspiring tales of his adventures.

The awards ceremony was the culminating event of a rigorous and thorough judging process carried out over a four month period by a panel of industry experts who assessed initial entry submissions before conducting an extensive review of the entrants which included hundreds of telephone interviews and mystery shopping exercises. The whole judging process was overseen by The Property Ombudsman; Christopher Hamer.

For the past nine years, the awards have become increasingly competitive with the standard of entries rising ever higher. These awards are firmly established as the most sought-after and difficult to win in estate agency.

Over 5,000 offices were represented this year, but only the very best of the best were crowned as winners.

CJ Hole, winners of the Best Medium South West Estate Agency were delighted to receive the award.

A website listing all the winning companies with comments from the judges as to why they won can be found at www.estateagencyoftheyear.com

Chris Hill (centre) and Matt Gregory receive their award from Ben Fogle Peter Knight, Chairman of the event organisers Estate Agency Events commented “At a time when the property market throughout much of the UK continues to struggle, choosing the right estate agent has never been more pertinent. The winners of these awards represent the top 10% of an industry where standards are hugely variable. Consumers should have confidence that a firm displaying a winner’s medal from these awards are a cut above the rest.”

The main awards were sponsored by Zoopla.co.uk, the UK’s most comprehensive property website whilst the specialist categories were sponsored by some of the industry’s leading suppliers including Audio Agent, ARPM, Clear Conveyancing, FWBS, Key Agent, Law Firm Services, Moneypenny, Mortgage Talk, MoveWithUs, MyHomeMove, Ravensworth, Reapit, Roomservice by CORT and WhatHouse.co.uk For More information contact CJ Hole Estate Agents; Tel: 0117 962 9221 or visit: www.cjhole.com

THE

BRISTOL

MAGAZINE

Blenheims offers the full range of block management services and excels in delivering outstanding service with a personal touch.

We work closely with our clients to devise an approach that works for their building and the way in which they would like it to be run.

• Professional property management for blocks of flats of all sizes • • Outstanding Accounts support for collecting and managing service charges • • ARMA members •

We deliver to over 24,000 addresses every month. But if you live outside our distribution area or would like us to send a copy to friends or family then we are able to offer a mailing service for only £15.00 (6 issues) or £25.00 Euro zone; £30.00 (12 issues) or £50.00 Euro zone World Zone 1 £95.00 World Zone 2 £120.00

To subscribe just send a cheque payable to MC Publishing Ltd 2 Princes Building, George Street, Bath BA1 2ED or Telephone 0117 974 2800 for card payment

Subscription FORM Mr/Mrs/Ms ................Forename ..............................................

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28 Chandos Road, Redland, BS6 6PF T: 0117 933 9560 E: Bristol@blenheims.co.uk W: www.blenheims.co.uk

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76 The Bristol Magazine

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www.maggsandallen.co.uk

0117 949 9000 60 Northumbria Drive, Henleaze, Bristol, BS9 4HW

Commercial Sales & Lettings

Very well presented double fronted corner shop unit with warehouse (approx. 2,500sqft gross) situated in a prominent location on Zetland Road just off Cheltenham Road. Arranged as ground floor retail space with additional storage to the rear. New lease available.

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High yielding freehold investment consisting of 2 shops (Bristol Gold & the £1 Store) and 3 one bedroom flats above fully let producing approx. £43,320 per annum gross. Situated in a busy trading position on Lodge Causeway, Fishponds.

Early enquiries recommended.

High yielding freehold investment consisting of 2 shops (Bristol Gold & the £1 Store) and 3 one bedroom flats above fully let producing approx. £43,320 per annum gross. Situated in a busy trading position on Lodge Causeway, Fishponds.

Early enquiries recommended.

Rare opportunity to acquire this centrally located freehold investment property. This building is arranged as 2 commercial units fronting St Stephens St, with additional residential accommodation above comprising 25 student lets fronting St Nicholas St. The property is ideally located in the city centre and is fully let producing approximately £118,500 per annum.

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Freehold end of terrace property arranged as a recently renovated ground floor cafe (approx.

680sqft) and a well presented self-contained 2 bed flat above. Situated in a popular rank of shops within close proximity to Gloucester Road and Henleaze Road. The cafe is to be sold with vacant possession.

Very rare opportunity to purchase a freehold property situated in one of Bristol’s most sought after locations.

Currently arranged as a ground floor restaurant with basement. Let to ‘Prosecco’ with additional first floor office unit, studio flat & 3 bed maisonette. Let producing £32,400pa

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Opportunity to purchase a freehold commercial investment situated in a prime location in Cotham, just off Whiteladies Road. The property consists of a ground floor shop with 2 self-contained, well presented one bedroom apartments above and is fully let producing £22,950 per annum.

Estate Agents

Lettings & Management

Auctioneers

Rare opportunity to purchase a freehold investment property arranged as a ground floor shop unit with a very spacious and well-presented two bedroom maisonette above. Situated in a prime location in Clifton. Currently let producing a gross income of £26,340per annum.

New Homes

Chartered Surveyors

Modern ground floor city centre office unit within close proximity to Broadmead and Cabot Circus.

Currently let to ‘Interaction Recruitment PLC’ at approx. £12,000 per annum. 2 further vacant units also available for sale.

Commercial/ Investment

Energy Assessors

For a commercial valuation or to view please call us on 0117 949 9000 Maggs & Allen January.indd 2

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Westbury-on-trym

速

www.oceanhome.co.uk

73 Westbury Hill, Bristol, BS9 3AD

0117 962 1973 LD11 O S N 20

LD11 O S N 20

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I

Westbury on Trym - Similar properties required

Westbury on Trym - Similar properties required

An imposing elevated three storey Victorian Townhouse which is situated in the very heart of Westbury on Trym village which offers excellent local amenities and schools right on the doorstep. The property boasts many original features and has been superbly decorated throughout. The accommodation comprises bay fronted living room, dining room, a wonderful family kitchen/day room which was recently fitted by local craftsmen and then four bedrooms and two bathrooms over the upper two floors, the bedrooms of which will all take a double bed. The property features a West facing landscaped rear garden and lawned garden to the front.

This lovely four bedroom property sits in a favourable location close to WestburyOn-Trym schools and amenities. Extended to the ground floor giving a large kitchen diner and family room whilst keeping the front living room separate. Two pairs of french doors open onto the decking to the rear with a good sized lawned garden beyond. The kitchen is fitted to a high standard with integrated appliances. There is a ground floor WC. Tot he first floor are three bedrooms and the family bathroom, stairs then rise to the Master Bedroom in the loft with it's own ensuite shower and WC. A fantastic property in a lovely location. No Onward Chain.

LD11 O S N 20

LD11 O S N 20

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Stoke Bishop - Similar properties required

Westbury on Trym - Similar properties required

Set in this often overlooked location just off Coombe Lane and Parry's lane and only a short walk to the shops and amenities of Stoke Lane is this remarkable three bedroom semi detached house. Fully refurbished to an exacting standard, the property is one of a kind. To the ground floor there is an open plan kitchen/dining room opening into an underfloor heated double glazed conservatory room. The kitchen is fitted with modern high gloss units with woodblock work surfaces and chrome fittings, all underlit. To the hallway there is a downstairs WC. Upstairs can be found three bedrooms and the family bathroom. The bathroom is underfloor heated and has a separate shower cubicle and bath.

This charming chocolate box cottage in the heart of old Westbury-On-Trym has been decorated and furnished beautifully. 42 Church Road is country-village style living with all the amenities on your doorstep and the city just a short journey away. To the ground floor is the living room complete with feature fireplace and door to the picturesque courtyard decked garden. An archway leads through to the fully integrated dual aspect kitchen with breakfast seating area. To the first floor there can be found two double bedrooms and matching white suite bathroom. There is ample storage in the full length boarded loft with pull down long ladder.

oceanhome

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wills and probate

European legal services

property lawyers

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oceanhome

Clifton

®

www.oceanhome.co.uk

187-189 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2RY

0117 946 6007

Clifton £329,995

Redland £449,950

This charming Quarryman's property was built in 1817 for the workers of the local quarry, it later became an alehouse named 'The Silver Key' and remained this until 1930 when it returned to its original use. This unique property has been carefully restored and cared for by the current owner and offers a superb mixture of old world charm and contemporary style tucked away in a quiet backwater. Presented over three floors the accommodation offers some far reaching views and consists lounge opening to a modern 'shaker' style kitchen, two double bedrooms, bathroom and cloakroom. There is off street parking external storage sheds and a sunny courtyard garden area.

Tucked away in this secluded cul-de-sac just off Hampton Road is this three storey modern townhouse with a good size single garage and off-street parking for two cars. Living accommodation is on the first floor with a 17' fitted kitchen with granite work surfaces and sliding doors leading to a spacious L-shaped living/dining room with double doors leading to a decked terrace. From the terrace there are steps leading down to a landscaped rear garden. There are four bedrooms in total, two of them en-suite and one with direct access to the rear garden.

Waterfront £450,000

Redland £599,995

Capricorn Place is a superb development of quality apartments, this hall floor apartment has one of the most beautiful outlooks in Bristol, the terrace and some of the rooms overlook the SS Great Britain and a fantastic view straight down the floating harbour. This fabulous property has accommodation consisting of two spacious bedrooms with fitted wardrobes and en-suite bath/shower rooms, impressive lounge/diner with door to the terrace, separate kitchen with many appliances, spacious hallway, cloakroom and a laundry room. The apartment offers an allocated underground parking space and access to the communal garden.

A magnificent Victorian semi detached home in the delightful location of Ravenswood Road in Redland. This sizeable home offers an enviable location that is convenient for Whiteladies Road, Redland train station, Bristol university and the Bristol Royal Infirmary. The accommodation is presented over three floors with split level landings and consists lounge, study/reception 2, dining room opening to a modern kitchen with integrated appliances, utility room, four bedrooms, bathroom, ensuite bathroom, useful storage area on the first floor and a restricted head height dressing/storage area on the 2nd floor. Externally there is a two tiered garden at the rear, and a lawned area at the front.

oceanhome

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estate agents

letting agents

surveyors

mortgage brokers

Sneyd Park

Stoke Bishop

Westbury Park

Positioned on Durdham Downs. Offering central hallway , 2/3 reception rooms; dining room, conservatory, office, downstairs bedroom / 4th reception, modern kitchen and downstairs shower room. First floor has central landing, four additional rooms with bedroom 2/sitting room and master bedroom overlooking The Downs. Private gardens, ample parking and modern heating and lighting.

This mid-1930s detached family home offers hallway, three receptions; living room, dining room, breakfast room and modern kitchen creating a kitchen/diner. First floor comprises; four bedrooms, modern family bathroom and contemporary style en-suite shower room to master bedroom. A South Westerly facing garden, modern brick paved ‘in and out’ driveway and an extended garage.

A detached double bay fronted bungalow offering vast accommodation, 11m hallway, three reception rooms, conservatory and kitchen. Four double bedrooms, bathroom and separate shower room. Separate annexe flat offering open-plan living and bedroom with en-suite. Also benefiting from detached garage, and within close proximity of the Redland Green secondary school

Price Guide £825,000

Price Guide £625,000

£499,995

Bishopston

Bishopston

Montpelier

Located on a picturesque Georgian tree lined crescent, this three storey, 1930s family sized five bedroom semi detached home has an array of original features, including cornicing and stained glass lead inset windows. Being within the Redland Green APR, this property also benefits from off street parking and a garage, and boasts a 75 foot rear garden.

Situated in one of the prime Bishopston locations, on a quiet backwater near St Andrews Park. This substantial five bedroom semi detached property boasts a tandem garage and off street parking for two vehicles. Retaining many of the original features, this property perfectly compliments modern living with original styling and features.

A truly magnificent and unique residence.

This four storey semi detached period property offers very versatile accommodation, and is currently arranged as a five bedroom, three receptions, and two bathroom property. Many of the rooms offer original style features, and the property boasts a large southerly facing garden with views across Bristol.

£525,000

CJ Hole January.indd 1

Price Guide £460,000

£500,000

19/12/2011 14:59

6 1 A P S L E Y ROA D C L I F TO N B R I S TO L B S 8 2 S W

0117 974 1741

LEESE NAGLE E S TAT E A G E N T S

www.leeseandnagle.co.uk

Bishopston £599,950

Classic Four double bedroom Victorian semi detached family house situated in a popular location within walking distance of Gloucester Road and Redland Green School. Attractively presented and well maintained the house offers 3 well proportioned reception rooms, kitchen, utility and cloakroom leading to a reasonable sized garden. Off street parking and the potential for a loft conversion.

Stoke Bishop £535,000

Extended modern five bedroom executive detached house situated at the head of a quiet culde-sac within a few minute’s walk of Stoke bishop shops. Three reception rooms, newly fitted kitchen/breakfast room, utility and cloakroom. Five bedrooms upstairs the master with en suite and family bathroom. Double garage and off street parking, secluded garden to the rear.

Stoke Bishop £499,950

This is a beautifully presented 1950’s Stride built with contemporary styling. Arranged over two floors with central hallway opening into a spacious sitting room. To the rear is a very large kitchen/dining room with doors opening onto the rear garden. Useful utility room and a cloakroom. On the first floor there 4 good size bedrooms, master with an en suite, family bathroom and a cloakroom. Good size rear garden, garage and off street parking.

Westbury-on-Trym £399,950

A 1930’s built, bay windowed 3 bedroom semi detached house offering opportunity for extension (subject to necessary consents). The property is situated on a popular Westbury side road within walking distance of Elmlea school and Stoke Lane shops. Two reception rooms, rear garden laid to lawn, garage and off street parking.

Clifton £399,950

A splendid 2 bedroom hall floor apartment in a handsome period building in a sought after Clifton location. The property benefits from its own entrance into a lobby and dining hallway.

Drawing room to the front with marble fireplace and window shutters. Contemporary fitted kitchen, two bedrooms to the rear. Front garden.

Redland £299,950

An outstanding hall floor flat located in central Redland. The roomy accommodation which boasts impressive ceiling heights and many period features briefly comprises: Large Dining Hall, Sitting Room with feature fireplace, Smart Kitchen/Breakfast Room, 2 Double Bedrooms and Bathroom.

Here to accommodate.

Leese & Nagle January.indd 1

19/12/2011 13:58

Sneyd Park

Offers in Excess of ÂŁ370,000

Three Bedrooms | Own Entrance | Living Room | Well-equipped Kitchen | Master Suite with Dressing & En-suite Shower Room | Family Bathroom A beautiful three bedroom apartment in this prestigious development. The property is detailed to a very high standard with ample built-in storage, well-equipped kitchen, master suite with dressing area and en-suite shower room, family bathroom and spacious living room with Juliet balcony. The property comes with two allocated parking spaces and secure visitor parking.

The Apartment Company Jan.indd 1

20/12/2011 13:07

Clifton

Offers in Excess of ÂŁ300,000

Ground Floor Apartment | Two Bedrooms | Spacious Sitting Room | Kitchen/Breakfast Room | Bathroom | Private Rear Garden | Off-street parking available A lovely two bedroom garden apartment on the ground floor of a substantial Victorian building. The property retains many original features and has a private rear garden with an off-street parking space available. A very convenient location situated between Whiteladies Road and Clifton Village with good links in and out of the city. The expanse of The Downs is just a few minutes walk away.

The Apartment Company Jan.indd 2

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