Bristol is known for the three ‘Bs’, balloons, the bridge and Brunel. But there is something else that brings people to Bristol in their thousands every month - street art.
From Banksy, Cheo, Inkie and Tuco to Andy Council, the Paintsmiths and Gemma Compton, Bristol has produced, and is still producing some of the world’s best graffiti artists.
Most visitors to the city will go to two or three of the most famous spots to see examples of Bristol’s street art - there’s always at least one photograph taken of Banksy’s ‘Well Hung Lover’ at the bottom of Park Street, for example.
But for those of us with the privilege of actually living in Bristol, with more than an hour or two snatched during a weekend visit to the city, where should we go to sample the best of Bristol’s street art, beyond the tourist hot-spots?
North Street, BS3
Is it Southville? Is it Bedminster, is it Ashton Gate? It doesn’t matter because North Street is the home of Upfest
There are more than half a dozen regular spots that are among the most prized among street artists, including some of the biggest in the city.
Start in Ashton Gate, at the ‘Bristol City Jesus’, which may or may not be an example of a very early Banksy on the side of Signmarket at the front of the Rising Sun, and then head east, taking in several of North Street’s biggest walls.
Perhaps the most famous is the side of the Tobacco Factory, facing the Aldi car park, which currently is an image of environmental activist , painted by artist Jody Thomas, but this and most of the other walls change every summer with the Upfest street art festival.
One that’s stayed so far is ‘Bristol Born and Bread’, by Inkie on the side of Parsons Bakery - see what he did there - and Mr Bingle also has a rather natty Brunel on the side of someone’s house just up Sion Road.
But most corners of North Street have street art on them - and it's worth definitely checking out the side of the Hen and Chicken too.
Quay Street and Nelson Street
Hugging the Old City Wall, Nelson Street and Quay Street are filled with some of the best (or worst?) examples of Bristol Brutalism architecture, which somehow seem more strikingly brutal given they are right up next to the city’s medieval heart.
But a few years ago, some of these giant walls were given over to street artists, and there are some astonishing pieces to view on this road. Duck under the gateway into the Old City at St John’s Church into Broad Street and there’s even some more within the walls too.
Check out El Mac’s Mother and Child, and Conor Harrington’s Cavalier swordfight.
St Paul’s
St Paul’s has always been fond of a mural or three, but right now this area is still buzzing following the completion earlier this year of the Seven Saints of St Paul’s project.
This was a major project which saw the seven founders of the St Paul’s Carnival immortalised with large murals on the gable ends of streets dotted all around St Paul’s.
It’s had quite an impact, and there’s now an app you can download to follow a route around St Paul’s to see each one, with a bit to tell you more about the person and what they did to benefit the community back in the 1960s and 70s.
The full list of who is where, is here.
West Street/The Chessels, Bedminster
Off North Street and sort of part of the Upfest area, West Street and The Chessels are away from the main drag, but full of unexpected street art wonder.
A few years ago, Bedminster’s finest Andy Council was given free reign to fill West Street with his distinctive creatures created out of buildings and streets - the galloping horse of BS3, opposite the Mutty Professor, is a particular joy.
Ashton Gate Stadium forms the torso of the horse and when the stadium was redeveloped, Andy got up there and repainted it to match.
Head just off West Street into The Chessels, there’s a stunning work by Dank - Dan Kitchener - on the junction of The Nursery with Pearl Street, and that’s just yards from Jody’s work at the other end of the same row of terraced houses.
A short hop across South Street Park and on the climb up British Road away from East Street, you’ll be welcomed to the area by the lovely ‘Hug’ by My Dog Sighs.
Stokes Croft
For years, Stokes Croft, the main road from the city centre up to Gloucester Road, has been the , and has long been an ever-changing gallery of street art, thanks, in part to the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft.
All visits to check out street art should start at The Full Moon pub, near the Bearpit, which is a galactic work of art. Then, of course, you have to take in the two works at either side of Hamilton House.
On the southern end is Banksy’s iconic Mild Mild West, while opposite it is the Breakdancing Jesus, painted in 2013 by Cosmo Sarson, but vandalised earlier this summer (2019).
St Werburgh’s/M32
The city farm at the end of the road through St Werburgh’s is filled with colourful street art, but there are murals dotted all around the Mina Road area.
Paintsmiths’ on the side of the Miner’s Arms in St Werburgh’s too.
It’s not too far to the M32 either - under the flyover, and along the northern side of the motorway is where generations of Bristol’s street artists first made their mark.
Park Street
Of course, everyone stops to see Banksy’s Well Hung Lover at the Park Street bridge over Frogmore Street, which is probably his most famous work in Bristol.
But head up Park Street and there’s more - Jody’s stunningly hyper-real artwork is on the side of The Florist - and it’s a lady holding a bunch of huge flowers.
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