# Bristol named best city to live in in Britain



## strung out (Mar 23, 2014)

It's official! http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/homes_and_gardens/best_places/article1390298.ece 

Non-paywall article http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristo...Sunday-Times/story-20843128-detail/story.html 

Please don't come here and ruin it thank you.


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## RedDragon (Mar 23, 2014)

> The Sunday Times Best Places to Live Part 2 profiles each one of the 64 cities in Britain, but does not rank them.


  

Anyway, whatever floats your boat.


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## strung out (Mar 23, 2014)

Well once you've decided which one's the best, why bother ranking all the others? I don't think it would be fair to everyone else


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## wiskey (Mar 23, 2014)

No, it's awful. Sunday Times readers need not come.


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## ChrisFilter (Mar 23, 2014)

I like Bristol. Considered moving there but work situation changed. 

It is very grubby though.


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## stavros (Mar 23, 2014)

It must've been me leaving 18 months ago that sent it up the rankings.


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## Hocus Eye. (Mar 23, 2014)

So that's it then, right lads let's up sticks and all move to Bristol. That should stop it being the best place to live in if the readers of the Sunday Times all decide to move there.


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## William of Walworth (Mar 23, 2014)

Would love to move to Bristol, but definitely not for Sunday Timesish reasons -- I don't have Sunday Times type money anyway, so it's not happening any time soon ......


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## JTG (Mar 23, 2014)

ChrisFilter said:


> I like Bristol. Considered moving there but work situation changed.
> 
> It is very grubby though.


Your mum's very grubby

Anyway yeah, stop going on about it or everyone will want one


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## ChrisFilter (Mar 23, 2014)

She is, tbf.


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## Onket (Mar 24, 2014)

strung out said:


> Please don't come here and ruin it thank you.


I have tried to ruin it most times I have visited, tbf.

I'll be on my best behaviour in future.


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## strung out (Mar 24, 2014)

Onket said:


> I have tried to ruin it most times I have visited, tbf.
> 
> I'll be on my best behaviour in future.


People like you add to the charm.


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## Onket (Mar 24, 2014)

strung out said:


> People like you add to the charm.


Me & the missus did actually briefly consider Bristol as a place to move to, from London.

Would have been nice to be close to where I grew up and maybe get a bit of my accent back.


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## strung out (Mar 24, 2014)

Well you're always welcome!


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## Manter (Mar 24, 2014)

Bristol is a fantastic city. One of the few UK places outside London I'd want to live. Bristol and Sheffield fwiw.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 24, 2014)

> Wake up in this city and you can soak up lungfuls of salty air by the sea


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## moody (Mar 24, 2014)

Isn't Bristol full of hippies on ketamine?

And what about stapleford road, considered by many as one of the most dangerous streets in the UK due to the large scale crack dealing that goes on there?


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## moody (Mar 24, 2014)

Oh, and st pauls?

Hippy ghetto.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 24, 2014)

moody said:


> Isn't Bristol full of hippies on ketamine?
> 
> And what about stapleford road, considered by many as one of the most dangerous streets in the UK due to the large scale crack dealing that goes on there?


Stapleton Road.

Apart from that, some heroically desperate attempts at trolling there


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## strung out (Mar 24, 2014)

moody said:


> And what about stapleford road, considered by many as one of the most dangerous streets in the UK due to the large scale crack dealing that goes on there?


Considering you can't even get the name of the road right, I don't think we need bother with any more of your nonsense


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## moody (Mar 24, 2014)

Lol , I would consider moving to bristol, I have actually heard many good things about the place, the best being the vibrant music scene.

Plus the surrounding countryside is supposed to be very nice


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## gentlegreen (Mar 24, 2014)

> Wake up in this city and you can soak up lungfuls of salty air by the sea





DaveCinzano said:


>



If you stand beside the tidal Avon when the tide is right and the wind is in the right direction you can get a tantalising whiff sometimes.
It's particularly disappointing though - given the vast distance you have to travel to get to the first proper bit of sea - Ilfracombe ?


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## King Biscuit Time (Mar 24, 2014)

The Mash is spot on.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...ou-can-smoke-weed-in-the-street-2014032484960


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## strung out (Mar 24, 2014)

> The Sunday Times also praised Bristol for having all its rich people live together on a big hill, in a weird kind of segregation that gives it “an interesting science fiction feel”.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 24, 2014)

The ‘think tank’ quoted in the ST article above, Centre for Cities, is the same one being used by millionaire mayor George Ferguson to promote himself and his own, self-important high income/high culture view of the city in places like _The Guardian_'s Local Leaders Network pages.

qv

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Bristo...-despite-job/story-20502248-detail/story.html
http://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/2013...mariana-mazzucato-tony-travers-save-the-date/
http://www.centreforcities.org/blog/2013/11/25/interview-bristol-mayor-george-ferguson-part-1/
http://www.alexsarchives.org/george-fergusons-vision-for-bristol-a-response/

Centre for Cities is run by Cambridge graduate Alexandra Jones, who has never worked in a proper job - only in think tanks like CfC, the Work Foundation and the IPPR - or (briefly) as a minor policy wonk in the Civil Service.


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## Thora (Mar 24, 2014)

DaveCinzano said:


>


There are seagulls.


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## gentlegreen (Mar 24, 2014)

I believe Bristol has a scientifically significant population of gulls.


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## Thora (Mar 24, 2014)

It's like being at the seaside!


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## Onket (Mar 24, 2014)

Thora said:


> It's like being at the seaside!
> 
> View attachment 50758


All the worst bits of the seaside without the actual seaside!


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## butchersapron (Mar 24, 2014)

gentlegreen said:


> If you stand beside the tidal Avon when the tide is right and the wind is in the right direction you can get a tantalising whiff sometimes.
> It's particularly disappointing though - given the vast distance you have to travel to get to the first proper bit of sea - Ilfracombe ?


Depends what you mean by proper sea.


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## Thora (Mar 24, 2014)

I've been to Weston many times and not yet seen the sea...


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## butchersapron (Mar 24, 2014)

It does exist! High tide currently around 12, so any time in the afternoon at this time of year you can see it.


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## gentlegreen (Mar 24, 2014)

Storms too  :-



Spoiler








Odd that the tide was always out whenever I went ...

PS - is that what the pier looks like these days ?


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## JTG (Mar 24, 2014)

DaveCinzano said:


>


Having grown up in that part of town which was nearer to the sea than anywhere other than Avonmouth, I can testify that whatever it was I got huge lungfuls of as a nipper, it wasn't the salty sea air

Oh, and I've lived most of the past couple of years on or near the "Stapleford Road". My middle name is Danger


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## el-ahrairah (Mar 24, 2014)

Proper Sea is theft


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## butchersapron (Mar 24, 2014)

gentlegreen said:


> Storms too  :-
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Nah, that's Knightstone island development - the "best redevelopment project in the world 2008." My sister used to live in the tall one you can see that was built on top of the old swimming pool. It's in between the pier and birnbeck pier - which is the original and real weston pier. But not the one that caught fire.


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## JTG (Mar 24, 2014)

butchersapron said:


> Nah, that's Knightstone island development - the "best redevelopment project in the world 2008." My sister used to live in the tall one you can see that was built on top of the old swimming pool. It's in between the pier and birnbeck pier - which is the original and real weston pier. But not the one that caught fire.


Torched by the extremist supporters of the Campaign for Real Weston Piers


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## butchersapron (Mar 24, 2014)

_They haven't gone away, you know_


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## JTG (Mar 24, 2014)

Nipped south of the border to safe houses in Burnham-on-Sea


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## sim667 (Mar 24, 2014)

I like bristol and did think about moving there, but decided it will be the new brighton in about a decade, vegan society meetings at local cafes and trustafarians going to gigs for bands "that you won't have heard of".

I may be wrong, but I may also be right.


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## butchersapron (Mar 24, 2014)

You're also 30 years too late!


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## sim667 (Mar 24, 2014)

butchersapron said:


> You're also 30 years too late!



What in my comments about brighton or bristol?

Brighton is still very like that, painfully so at times, people go to uni, grow dreads, drop out and spend the next 10 years sniffing ketamine like its going out of fashion.

I'd still live in brighton though


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## butchersapron (Mar 24, 2014)

sim667 said:


> What in my comments about brighton or bristol?
> 
> Brighton is still very like that, painfully so at times, people go to uni, grow dreads, drop out and spend the next 10 years sniffing ketamine like its going out of fashion.
> 
> I'd still live in brighton though


Bristol. Been like that for yonks already.


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## sim667 (Mar 24, 2014)

butchersapron said:


> Bristol. Been like that for yonks already.



Oh right.

I've only visited a couple of times.

I fully intend on going to St Paul's this year though.


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## JTG (Mar 24, 2014)

Yup. Brighton just serves as a barrier to lure the very twattiest people away from moving to Bristol. It can never be wholely successful though and we have plenty of nobheads

I noticed someone's posted a video on vimeo that's getting shared of Bristol's 'highlights'. Yes, the harbourside and bridge are terribly pretty but there was very little else on there save some balloons and a brief bit of stop motion footage of the carnival parade (and none of the entertaining carnage of the rest of the day). Sort of said something to me about a certain sort of 'creative' type who never strays much beyond Town and Clifton.

Bristol's great for the picturesque bits but also the estates, the inner city, the football (yes really  ), the views from the parks that hipsters don't get to etc etc

The bits you never read about in other words


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 24, 2014)

JTG said:


> Nipped south of the border to safe houses in Burnham-on-Sea


Some houses there safer than others in these flood-happy times of ours


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## JTG (Mar 24, 2014)

I mean, I love my city. It's genuinely brilliant. It's just there are certain areas/streets that need to be nuked from orbit


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## xenon (Mar 24, 2014)

Hipsters or hippies, which are worse. Bristol has a few. But they stay in their zones.


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## JTG (Mar 24, 2014)

xenon said:


> Hipsters or hippies, which are worse. Bristol has a few. But they stay in their zones.


Is this one of those 'you only have one bullet' questions?


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## wiskey (Mar 24, 2014)

gentlegreen said:


> Storms too  :-
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Wow! Every time I've been it's just been mud as far as the eye can see... So much so I'd kinda forgotten it has wetness


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## JTG (Mar 24, 2014)

wiskey said:


> Wow! Every time I've been it's just been mud as far as the eye can see... So much so I'd kinda forgotten it has wetness


It has Brummies and Yam Yams as well and their tide is rarely out


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## xenon (Mar 24, 2014)

JTG said:


> Is this one of those 'you only have one bullet' questions?



One bullet... Each.


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## xenon (Mar 24, 2014)

I've still never been to Weston. Whilst young and marginnely stupider, I thought Bristol was quite near the sea. As in I thought you could walk from the city centre to a beach. Don't ask where I thought Slough was...


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## dervish (Mar 24, 2014)

JTG said:


> Yup. Brighton just serves as a barrier to lure the very twattiest people away from moving to Bristol. It can never be wholely successful though and we have plenty of nobheads
> 
> I noticed someone's posted a video on vimeo that's getting shared of Bristol's 'highlights'. Yes, the harbourside and bridge are terribly pretty but there was very little else on there save some balloons and a brief bit of stop motion footage of the carnival parade (and none of the entertaining carnage of the rest of the day). Sort of said something to me about a certain sort of 'creative' type who never strays much beyond Town and Clifton.
> 
> ...



You mean this one? Yeah, it struck me that the filmmaker was good at making pretty videos and was just using Bristol as a subject rather than making the video about Bristol. 

Very pretty video though.


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## wiskey (Mar 24, 2014)

JTG said:


> It has Brummies and Yam Yams as well and their tide is rarely out


Err no, never noticed them either.

Mind you most of the time we go it's rather inclement weather.

I've never been on a hot Saturday.


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## JTG (Mar 24, 2014)

dervish said:


> You mean this one? Yeah, it struck me that the filmmaker was good at making pretty videos and was just using Bristol as a subject rather than making the video about Bristol.
> 
> Very pretty video though.


That's the one. All Carboot Circus and Millennium Square n that.


wiskey said:


> Err no, never noticed them either.
> 
> Mind you most of the time we go it's rather inclement weather.
> 
> I've never been on a hot Saturday.


Hordes of people in West Brom shirts whenever I go


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## gentlegreen (Mar 24, 2014)

Methinks I will be using that as my test video from now on.
I couldn't play it in a browser.


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## wiskey (Mar 24, 2014)

dervish said:


> You mean this one? Yeah, it struck me that the filmmaker was good at making pretty videos and was just using Bristol as a subject rather than making the video about Bristol.
> 
> Very pretty video though.



Tedious mainly, but pretty ... However there were some nice bits, the red arrows, the Portway going from day to night, and the stars over the bridge were worth watching it for.


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## jakethesnake (Mar 27, 2014)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03ynt6k
Radio 4 programme - Costing The Earth - about how Bristol is going to be a Green Capital City in 2015... they still seem to not have much of a clue about what to do with all the cars and the mayor comes accross as a bit of a plank.


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## JTG (Mar 27, 2014)

Well it's good to know that he's projecting an accurate image of himself anyway


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## dervish (Apr 14, 2014)

jakethesnake said:


> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03ynt6k
> Radio 4 programme - Costing The Earth - about how Bristol is going to be a Green Capital City in 2015... they still seem to not have much of a clue about what to do with all the cars and the mayor comes accross as a bit of a plank.



I really don't understand how we can be the green capital and the most congested city in the UK.


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## Gerry1time (Apr 14, 2014)

dervish said:


> I really don't understand how we can be the green capital and the most congested city in the UK.



The judging criteria for the award are all a bit odd. In some of the criteria around transport, IIRC it's about air quality rather than car volumes.


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