King Street remains largely unspoiled today despite being one of Bristol's oldest areas. It's home to around ten pubs, a theatre, an Indian restaurant and a Chinese restaurant that occupy some of Bristol's most historic buildings.
King Street became the economic epicentre of our city after it was first developed in the 17th century. Queen Square later became the place where the richest people in the city lived in Georgian times, although this was short-lived, explained King Street connoisseur, Harriet Wilson.
Harriet is Heritage Participation Producer at Bristol Old Vic, is part of a heritage lottery-funded project celebrating the theatre's past that explores its connection to King Street and Bristol as a whole. The theatre's fascinating history shows it has occupied many different buildings in the process.
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In its first year, up to 1,000 theatre-goers would walk through the front room of a man known as Mr Gill until the theatre bought the housing surrounding it. The Coopers' Hall, built 1743–44, was incorporated as the theatre's foyer during 1970–72 and together, they are Grade I listed by Historic England. Daniel Day-Lewis, who walked the boards of the Bristol stage, once called it "the most beautiful theatre in England".
But there was a time when King Street wasn't so appealing. “In the latter half of the 19th century, as the Floating Harbour was built and Bristol didn’t have good sanitation, so it was really smelly, the wealthy moved up to Clifton," Harriet said.
A new theatre was built in Clifton to cater to the social elite which almost bankrupted the Bristol Old Vic, known at the time as the Theatre Royal. Despite these hard times, the theatre always fought back and even remained open during the Bristol Blitz between 1939 and 1943.
Tom Morris, Bristol Old Vic's outgoing director who is bowing out after the production of The Meaning of Zong, spoke to The Guardian earlier this year to publicly highlight the slave trade riches that financed the theatre’s construction. He has been urging the city to face up to slavery’s legacy, a conversation that has accelerated since the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in 2020.
Six of the original 48 founding proprietors were slave traders. "One shipped slaves, six owned slaves, three traded in sugar. A further six were merchants participating in transatlantic slavery, one was a banker who looked after money from plantations," Harriet clarified.
But the Bristol economy is so enmeshed within slavery that the theatre's proprietors who may not have played an active role in the transatlantic slave trade were still connected by the profession. Magistrates, merchants and pottery makers in Bristol were all linked to slavery in some way.
The theatre has committed a lot of time and resources to make the public aware of these links. “It’s really important to us that people know about it and that it not only informs our programming, but you can go to Bristol Old Vic and see it referenced in our front of house space. We’re really lucky that we have such incredibly detailed archives and partnerships in particular with Bristol Archives, one of the best archives in the country."
Harriet likened Bristol Old Vic to King Street as a whole, both a symbol of change and continuity. Even after inescapable modernisations, the purpose of the street remains the same.
“The artistic intention behind the 2018 renovation was to connect the street and the theatre. That was our goal, and that is part of a broader thing of opening ourselves up to the city, which is what we want to do and for Bristol Old Vic to be a community space.”
One of King Street's many pubs has barely changed since it opened more than 350 years ago. Most of the ten pubs that line either side of the road carry a rich past but none go as far back as the Llandoger Trow, dating back to 1664.
The historic pub closed its doors back for the first time in 355 years in April 2019 after repair costs to the building were estimated at £2million. Current owners Whitbread decided to sell up casting the future of the black and white drinking hole in doubt.
Fortunately, plans were put in place for a takeover. General manager Craig Wright and the team were handed the keys at the tail end of the final UK lockdown back in 2021 after the necessary repairs and modernisations were completed. He managing the lease on behalf of the Bloomsbury Leisure group.
Speaking on the grand reopening, Craig said: "It had been left for two or three years, it needed some TLC. Brand new lines, all the electrics needed redoing, we had to put POS systems in we had to get internet running. It was a bit of a shadow of a place really.”
The building itself carries its fair share of tales. It is widely said how Daniel Defoe met Alexander Selkirk, his inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, in the pub, and it was Robert Louis Stevenson’s inspiration for Admiral Benbow in Treasure Island. Legend has it Blackbeard enjoyed ale or two in the Llandoger.
After surviving the war mostly unscathed, with some damage on the Good Friday Raid of 1941, it had a brief stint as a Berni Inn steakhouse. In more modern times, the pub featured as one of three locations on the reality show Most Haunted Live! alongside Blackbeard’s houses and Redcliffe Caves. The programme claimed a total of 15 ghosts haunt the Llandoger.
Craig said many people come into the pub saying they have walked through the tunnels that lie beneath. So far he has not been able to find access to the cellars, which may be as many as four of them.
“We get people asking a lot to do ghost tours. At the minute, we’re not even up the next floor, it’s in the works. Until that’s signed off we can’t have people up there for health and safety reasons.
“People ask if we’ve seen or felt anything and truth be told it feels like they’re happy if there is anything, that the pub is back open after such a long time.” Craig said he has heard the first floor of the pub is the most haunted, with reports of tables and chairs moving around.
These days, the Llandoger has established itself through its unusual offerings on tap. “Our selection of beers, at least half of our beers rotate from one week to the next week. My boss puts the beer list together, it was his vision when we got the opportunity to have an extensive list.”
Craig explained how there is a neighbourly sentiment between each of the pubs that line the street. “It is very much a case of we’re all doing our own thing and it’s not detracting from the other places. It doesn’t build up anything other than a positive relationship.”
