Bristol

For other uses, see Bristol (disambiguation).

Bristol is a city and ceremonial county in England. It is home to nearly 430,000 people. The River Avon runs through it to the Severn estuary.

Bristol
City
City of Bristol transcription(s)
Clockwise from top: Bristol Skyline, Wills Memorial Building, Clifton Suspension Bridge and Cabot Tower
Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Virtute et industria (With courage and industry)
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	South West
Royal Charter	1155
County status	1373
Status	City, county and unitary authority
Government
• Type	Unitary authority
• Governing body	Bristol City Council
Area
• City and county	110 km2 (40 sq mi)
Elevation	11 m (36 ft)
Population  (2017)
• City and county	463,400 (Ranked 10th district and 43rd ceremonial county)
• Density	3,892/km2 (10,080/sq mi)
• Urban	724,000
• Metro	1,006,600 (LUZ 2,009)
• Ethnicity[1]	84.0% white (77.9% white British) 6.0% black 5.5% Asian 3.6% mixed-race 0.3% Arab 0.6% other
Demonym	Bristolian
Time zone	UTC+1 (GMT (UTC))
• Summer (DST)	BST
Postcode	BS
Area code(s)	0117, 01275
ISO 3166 code	GB-BST
Website	www.bristol.gov.uk

Geography

It is between the counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset. In 1373, King Edward III ordered that it should be a county itself forever. However, it lost county status in 1974, the year after its 600-year celebrations. It became the largest district within the new Avon county. Avon was never popular and was abolished in 1996, when county status returned to Bristol, which became a unitary council.

History

The Bristol name means "the place where the bridge is" in Old English. It has been a port for 800 years. Now, ships are too big to reach it. It has a new seaport at Avonmouth.

Historical sites

It has many historic churches and other buildings. The Clifton Suspension Bridge crosses high above the river. The University of Bristol is also in Clifton.

Bristol was a centre for the slave trade.^[2][3] During the 2020 George Floyd protests, a crowd pushed down the statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and threw it in the harbour.^[4]

Bristol was badly damaged during World War II. It now has many new factories and offices. The Concorde supersonic airliner was made here.

It is also the birthplace of the music genre trip hop,^[5] with 3 trip hop bands originating there: Massive Attack, Portishead (named after a North Somerset town) and Tricky.^[6]

Notable people

Some of the most notable people who are currently living, or who are from the city include:

• Banksy - graffiti artist ^[7][8][9]
• Stephen Merchant - writer and comedian
• Russell Howard - comedian and television presenter