Next week Turdtowns returns. But as always let me know where we should visit!

so basically the entire UK is now just a student let?

I went to see a friend of a friend's band in Bristol back in March. Was delayed because a neighbour was in hospital, so I spent approx 3 hours there and missed half the set. SatNav got me lost because of all the roadworks and after the gig I had to walk my friend back to her hotel because of all the druggies she encountered on the way to the gig. I was booked into a different hotel but decided it was quicker to drive home than navigate the roadworks. Shortly after my "visit" I got a letter saying I'd strayed through a "bus gate", whatever that is, and was going to be fined for doing so. Don't know what a bus gate is, didn't see any signs. Or buses. Pic shows my car on an empty road. Appleal failed because it's my "personal choice" to use SatNav, like it's wierd thing to do when driving in a city for the first time. Then I got a ULEZ fine, which is nonsense because my car is Euro 6. But the database they use doesn't have my car's registration in it. They don't even know what car it is, so "unknown make/model" means non-compliant and more fines. I appealed again, citing several websites, including the manufacturer and a forum posting which explained that the emissions were so low that a bug on the DVLA site prevented the figure being entered because it was rounded down to zero. Nope, not good enough. I have to get a letter from the DVLA saying my car is compliant. They could look this up in seconds. So, went to see a band, was late so missed half the set, got lost on the way, friend accosted by druggies, (I saw a couple but they didn't approach) and hit with £120-£300 in fines. Will I go again? Will I fuck.

I was born in Bristol and left for London at 17. Broadmead in the late 70s earlier 80s was amazing for shopping as a teenager. There was so much choice. Clifton was a very good area for shopping too. We were thinking of moving to Bristol but it's just ridiculously expensive now. My poor old home Town!

I’m an American actor and last year I did a 10 month tour of a musical in the UK. We moved to a different city every week. And Bristol, perhaps oddly, was one of my favorites places throughout the whole experience! Like I thought it was one of the places that I’d move to. But then again I don’t really care much for high streets, it had plenty of nice coffee shops and a good enough theatre scene with Bristol Old Vic there

I worked in Bristol for 11 years. The real problem with the place is the very high cost of housing. I was simply priced out.

Bristol just emulates what the whole of Britain is like.

My uncle moved to Bristol (from Manchester) in the early 60s. This caused us to be regular visitors to the city and what a fantastic time we had in (and in the area of) that great city. From grimey M/chester to Bristol it was like a different world.... But, over the years I've seen how Bristol has gone downhill and even my relatives down there have all moved out.

My experience of Bristol is the walk from Temple Meads to the office in Queens Square or spending time in Clifton (also for work). I took my daughter on one visit. She enjoyed visiting the museums, bookshops and sitting in one of the parks reading. If you’re not into shopping it’s not as bad as you make out.

I’m a Bristolian who has lived here my whole life and you’re spot on with everything in this video. The local council are destroying this City.

Visited Bristol this weekend and got stung by the clean air charge. Stayed at a Premier inn that recommended parking at Broadmead NCP but didn’t mention the clean air zone. I stayed one night and had to pay £19 for the parking and £18 in clean air charges. Sadly I won’t be visiting Bristol again due to feeling ripped off.

I work in Bristol City Centre. Have done for 22 years, I've seen the decline, under falsely declared 'progress' as 'development'. It's heartbreaking, I consider myself an honorary Bristolian, I love everything about the area and it's history (I'm a railway fan, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and all that for those that don't know.). Your video has hit the nail on the head, sadly. Get in your car travel 35 odd miles up the M5 to Gloucester to see how to REALLY finish off a City. That place is DONE.

I love visiting Bristol, the people are always friendly for a big city. It has a good vibe going on as well.

The Galleries has sadly been a ghost town for years. But it always looks clean and well maintained! It’s like walking through a huge conservatory.

I live in Bristol CC. It is very much how you describe it and it smells. Broadmead is stuck in the late 90s - early 00s. It REALLY is a stinky turd. Only to add - pedestrian infrastructure is in staggering state of decay all over the city. I feel really sorry for people with disabilities having to use Bristol pavements every day! There is very little investment in public infrastructure for the city of 500,000 people it feels like a crime on humanity! 100m of cycle path near Old Town took 2 years now to be completed, it's absurd (still not ready to use). I recently visited my city of Poznan in Poland. I was in shock, how it changes! It really makes you realise how stuck and lazy Bristol council is and how city lacks a decent public transport network too.

Constructing Cribbs Causeway was the first nail in the coffin of Broadmead.

I worked in Bristol 23 years ago when I first arrived in Britain. I come from a similar size city in Northern Italy Brescia. I have been there for a conference 5 years ago but being on the outskirt I didn't realise the change you have shown in this video. Sad and depressing, the place is unrecognisable, and I truly feel for the many nice people I have met and worked with. Bad administration is one thing BUT 15 millions (did I get it right?) spent on surveys it's downright criminal

Homebuyers flooded into Bristol a few years ago. They must be mortgaged up to the hilt without much disposable wealth. Renters are stuck in expensive and poorly maintained property. You can actually smell the musk from damp homes off people's clothes there. My impression overall is that Bristol is a city of accommodation costs approaching London's but with West Country wages. With not much disposable wealth, whether it is because of a huge mortgage or poor wages, there is not going to be much support for high street businesses.

I went to Bristol as a young copper in 1975, it was a vibrant and lovely city to live and work in. Today? I don't go near it, the charges and parking are ridiculous, there are homeless people everywhere and as you say agressive, there was a time when Bristol looked after it's homeless and mentally ill people, that's just gone. The police forcew is decimatyed in patrol numbers and run by tossers with degrees who have no concept about policing because the were never police officers. The city has gone to the dogs and I'm gladf I moved away, I make my Bristol friends and family visit me and they admit it's a horrible place to live now whereas it used to be a terrific place to live.

I'm from Newcastle and I'd always wanted to visit Bristol because of the music scene, culture etc and I'd heard great things. I had the chance to work there for a couple of weeks earlier this year and agree with everything said which is a real shame because it's obvious the place has a vibe and could be a great city. It was dirty, empty shops everywhere, a lot of homeless and too much graffiti and no real centre as such, also transport is appalling. I travel a lot with work and northern cities are far better atm - Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool etc. Hope Bristol gets back on it's feet, so much history and culture there.

The shopping part has certainly has changed, I remember before Cabot opened you would rarely see a closed down shop. If you go to the centre now to see the dormant fountains you will notice thousands of students, go there after 10pm and its drunk people and seagulls fighting over half eaten chicken. The bus lane/congestion charge signage is terrible as mentioned and it’s not even worth trying to appeal. I see no reason to go into the city (especially as my clubbing days are over), there are so many nice pubs and restaurants in the towns away from the centre so there’s no need to want to go there.

Town centres are doomed because the council say (first hand knowledge) look at the 300k we made this year in parking charges and fines, ignoring the 2 or 3 million they lost in business tax for the businesses closing down because people do not want to pay parking or be fined. So they up the parking charges to try and offset the loss (when they figure it out) and it becomes a vicious circle.

Let's be honest: the UK in general is in decline. Yes, there might still be some beacons of hope around - but that hope will be snatched away from us. Now, as far as I see the problem of derelict town centres, the first nails in the coffin were the retail parks. In theory, they were a great idea but they sucked the life out of town centres, replacing retail shops with ever more cafes, bars, restaurants, betting shops, and replacing shoppers with chavs and homeless people. And once those nails had been hammered in, town centres were always going to be on a downward spiral to oblivion. So, how do we bring back life to town centres? Well, it seems that we deter shoppers by having no-car zones, poor public transport and allowing the homeless and the chavs to thrive in the city centres.

Councils always seem to apply restrictions which end up killing their towns. I remember when I was studying in Sheffield, Meadowhall (big shopping centre) had recently opened - free parking, all the shops you could want including Savacentre supermarket, just as the council put in City Centre parking charges, one-ways and pedestrian areas. For people without a car, they could get to town but all the shops had closed for lack of custom!

I spent a few days in Bristol about five years ago. My first and last human interactions were with pushy beggars, and encounters with pushy beggars were over half of all my interactions. I've been to Romania, and the begging there was less of an issue there than in Bristol. Bristol has some wonderful attractions (I'd take the Steamship Great Britain over the Cutty Sark any day), some great pubs and could be a really good place to visit. For me though, the constant hassle on the streets and the pervasive "Banksy-ism" was just too depressing.

Your final comment about student accommodation and flats replacing Broadmead was spot on! Every empty office block on the periphery of the shopping area has been converted to studentland so it stands to reason that Broadmead itself will follow. The CAZ effectively cuts south Bristol off if you have a non-compliant vehicle, therefore no one ventures over the river unless you have to. But surprise surprise the main hospitals fall within the CAZ so you're forced to pay. The underground will always be a non-starter as Bristol is built on mine workings .The sooner Rees goes the Better

A painfully accurate breakdown of my home city 😢

As a Bristolian, born and bred, we have lovely green spaces near the centre, interesting history, and beautiful landmarks. The fact that you ignored Gloucester Road (longest stretch of independent shops in Europe) is an oversight. HOWEVER, the public transport is appalling (you basically have to go into and out of the centre to get anywhere), the centre is dead and the council really need to work on making the city much more visitable

I work in Bristol and it's really run down, covered in graffiti and homeless people. Lots of campervans parked everywhere permanently too. Was going to move there to be closer to work but I've decided against it!!

The first thing I've noticed when I moved to UK (back in 2011) was that every town and city has the same shops, cafés and restaurant chains so no matter where you go in the UK, you end up going to the same shops. UK high street is very repetitive so I'm not really surprised that many of these shops and restaurants are closing down. High streets are ''doomed'' because they are repetitive so you have no reason to travel to another town and the fact that cities are actively banning cars doesn't help them either...and you mentioned that many of these empty buildings are going to be converted to student accommodation...Bristol already has a large student population so I'm surprised they want/need to bring more. I understand that paying students bring money to the system but aren't those universities overcrowded already? Where do all those students go? I've heard from many people that it is hard to get to uni in Bristol so many young people end up going north as it is easier to get accepted but there seem to be unlimited number of spots for overseas students and they keep building more accommodation to bring more. Something doesn't sound right I moved to Bristol in 2016 after living in West Sussex. Bristol is a lovely city with many independent business but you need to go out of city centre to find them. I used to work in the city but I don't go there anymore. There is literally no reason to go there other than catching a bus to London which btw only costs £7 return (compared to £150 for the train). If you want to do some shopping, you are better off going to London for the day or Clarks Village (outlet). Bristol is a pretty walkable city and I love all those hills with stunning views but I have no desire to drive here. Traffic is slow with insane number of bus lanes that are pointless as buses are useless. They would be better off getting rid of those bus lanes and get the regular traffic moving. Just look at Bath Road...2 ''regular'' bus services but the lane takes 1/2 of the road. What's the point of having bus lanes on every street when they are in use maybe 10% of the time? Bristol wants to be ''green'' on paper but in reality it is not green at all. I'm not surprised that e-scooters are so popular in Bristol. You'll get to your destination faster vs driving/taking the bus and it's also a lot cheaper, too. I mean £84/month for the bus in Bristol and those buses often don't show up at all so you can't rely on them to get to/from work. I gave up on buses as I could never get anywhere on time (I often had to use Uber because the bus never showed up).

I was a student in Bristol 25 years ago, recently returned for the first time to drop my child back there to study. I was shocked at how little the city had developed in those 25 years, it was virtually the same as when I had left except more run down, dirty and graffiti ridden. I don’t know who your city leaders are, but you better get rid of them quickly as they are not serving you well. I’ve moved around a lot and never seen such stagnation in any other city, my advice to my child is going to be as soon as the studies are over get out quick.

I’m from Bristol but left over 30 years ago when I was in my teens. Broadmead used to be a great shopping area but is now a shadow of itself. Unfortunately, it is not only down to the cost of visiting the city but also the rents. Business are being pushed out by greedy landlords and this is happening all over the UK. I know live near Reading and have noticed a big decline in the shopping centre there. The place is full of alcoholics and homeless people. This is a nationwide issue, not just the odd “turf town”. My visits to Bristol are usually for cultural visits (the museums are good, especially the M Shed) as well as the lucre around the harbour. It’s bustling with indie shops and eating establishments. Up the road from the centre of Bristol is Stoke Croft and the Gloucester and Cheltenham Rds, which are a couple of miles long and are full of independent traders. It’s a bit manly in places but worth a visit.

I used to live in Bristol 25 years ago: Broadmead was pretty awful then, I would never consider going there now. The infrastructure and roads are terrible, just try taking the airport bus from Temple Meads to Lulsgate (probably the worst rip-off airport in the UK) to see what I mean. If you are thinking about public transport alternatives to using a car, forget it. For example, it has taken them decades to get around to thinking about reinstating the railway to Pill and Portishead, which of course will now cost £ millions. Sorry, but the answer to city centre rejuvenation is NOT to make life expensive and unpleasant for motorists - people will just go elsewhere.

These are strange times. Society (apparently) wants and expects shops but we don't want to pay their prices, thanks to the convenience of ordering online and having home deliveries. Towns and cities are having to reinvent themselves with dwindling budgets and no blueprint on the possibilities. I'm not defending the dereliction of town centres but the solutions aren't patently obvious. How DO we rebuild our town and city centres if resorting to student housing, countless chain coffee shops, art installations and whatever a "community hub" is, isn't enough?

I live in Bristol. Your absolutely right the city of Bristol is almost dead it's the most boring place to go. The shops are closed and the homeless are everywhere here. I go to broad mead every week with my daughter all we do is sit in the food court and walk around the closed shops. After 2 hours we are on our way home. Thinking what a waste of time this day was.

You’re so spot on! Visited Bristol about a month ago and I was shocked at the amount of homeless begging, taking drugs and passed out in the middle of the centre everywhere. Never seen so many druggies on a Saturday afternoon.

I lived in Bristol from 2008-09. It wasn't much different back then. Being harassed on a daily basis by aggro homless squatters and crackheads. Stopped going out in the city centre on weekend nights because I got tired of watching people being kicked in as well as being started on by drunk local dickheads. The council were always incompetent for handling waist collection to public transport. Never witness so much crime from first hand because there's not enough police there. I thought it was dying then tbh.

as a local HGV driver in the Bristol area the Bristol CAZ has hit small hauliers hard, if you cant afford a new truck its going to cost you £100 a day to enter doesn't seem like much but the answer for us right now is to add a £100 charge onto every load that takes us into Bristol and just keep on driving the extra miles to skirt around the CAZ, its the same with bath too having ordered 2 new trucks in the last year to replace our older trucks will allow us to renter the zone charge free it will become less of a problem but for things like our spare truck that is better suited to tight access work like in urban areas there just isn't the work to pay the cost of a new £300,000 truck car wise i have a old land rover and its not exempt from the zone plain and simple we just don't visit the centre of Bristol at all any more got to pass through Bristol or bath i just drive around adding more miles to a journey burning more fuel and producing more emissions end of the day Bristol is just got a bunch of conditions forced upon it that's killed the centre, the next step will be it being regenerated into a area of very expensive high rise property

I live in the West Country. I used to visit Bristol every so often, either for shopping, or for a show/gig - was quite fond of it. I drive an older car, and the parking situation around Broadmead was already ridiculous - slap me with a £9 surcharge on top of that, and I see no reason to go out of my way to spend time or money there unless there's a particularly special event on. Sorry to hear things are headed downhill there.

I'm a Bristolian born and bred, i moved away 5 years ago. Bristol has changed so much and has become a slum i'll never move back

You are correct the Green Party now has the greatest number of City Councillors but not a majority. Even if they did have a majority it would be irrelevant because the City is run by a Labour Mayor who can override any decisions made by full council. The CAZ has been implemented by the Labour mayor not the Greens. :-)

It kinda says something that the centre has a river running under it. But they covered it over and put a fountain thing on top. That doesn't work. Wouldn't it be nicer just to have a river?

Bravo! You are so right about this... I am from Bristol and have seen the steady decline of the city due mainly to those in charge. Broadmead was already struggling before they build Cabot Circus but they still went ahead with the construction... and they're are always building student housing and offices despite the amount of disused offices they already have there!! Glad I left the city before the crackpot green air charge came in....

As a northerner; in my youth, I always imagined the south-west of the uk to be some sort of rural, merrie England style paradise (Arthurian legends, folk music, pop festivals, etc). A bizarre fantasy I held for some years..

I was born in Bristol. I lived there 52 years. Had to move out because couldn't find affordable housing. Now living in Dursley Gloucestershire. Which is lovely. But miss being close to family and friends.

Looking forward to this one. You are doing a great service to us by capturing this footage in such a great way. I take my hat off to your sir.

I've lived here all my life and you're right about everything. I didn't really see it until an outsider pointed it out. Bristol is place to enjoy expensive food/drink. It's shite for everything else.

When I was in UK. I saw empty boarded up streets under a constant grey sky, litter everywhere. Homeless people sleeping in doorways. Opioid addicts out of their mind and women so drunk they urinated on the streets. It's a sad declined country

The last time I was in Bristol was over 10 years ago when I worked on the refurbishment of a sheltered accommodation block for recovering addicts. Even given the nature of the brief and the fact it was in a rougher part of the city I never felt unsafe walking across from BTM station (about a 20 min walk), quite depressing to see what Cabot's circus looks like now as a wander around there after a site visit was my little treat to make up for the 6 hour round trip from Manchester. If you are considering another episode of 'Posh Towns' Bath has the most beautiful shopping center now with all the fancy brands, its a bit crowded but again a place I've not visited for a decade but was blown away at how nice it is now.

I lived in Bristol for two years in the late 80’s. I made a return visit a few years ago and could barely find my way around. The feeling driving into the city centre from the M32 was mainly confusion and claustrophobia as the lovely, open roundabout I remember had become a nightmare of traffic control cameras, incomprehensible road markings and lane management, surrounded by new and very overbearing buildings. The car parks were poorly signed and I ended up in a privately-run car park by mistake, which charged me a fiver when I left two minutes later. It was called Broadmead Shoppers, but what shoppers want to pay a fiver for up to 30 minutes. Trying to find Broadmead shopping centre among the monstrosities of the new(er) buildings was surprisingly difficult and my overwhelming impression was “you’re not welcome here”.

I must admit that I really like Bristol, it has a great arty vibe and punches well above its weight culturally. The main issues are: poor transport network, some poor housing (even in the posh areas like Clifton), it’s very expensive and the shopping areas are spread out in a disparate way. The video focused on the shopping ‘centre’ but Bristol offers a lot more than this.

London has already done most of these things - congestion charge, ultra low emission zone, street closures, high parking costs. With the exception of department and chain stores closing (mainly because of the shift to online) the city centre is doing just fine. But the key difference is public transport - lots of it, in all directions.

I’m so sad…my city. The last time I went into town was to the eye hospital. We left there and walked through to the centre to the bus stop on the harbour side. The centre was dirty, and the electric scooters darting everywhere was frightening. It’s lost it’s warmth.

I was last in Bristol around 2002 for 6 months. I live in Sheffield, which is an industrial, not so beautiful city. But Bristol scared me at times. I was in Temple Meads in a hotel, and decided to walk to a cinema 1.3 miles away. Not a good idea, as I encountered burned out cars on the way, and wished I had paid for a cab. I was also assaulted at random, outside a Tesco, near St Pauls, on my lunch break. I just happened to get in someones way, and I was shoulder barged to the ground, before the attacker ran off. This is the only time in my life I have been attacked at random. My two memories of Bristol, although to be fair took place in 2002.

Though on the plus side of the clean air zone, you can now get into Bristol for hospital appointments for nine o clock and actually leave around thirty minutes before. Bristol's shopping area has been written off many times, to be fair Broadmead is a 1950s relic. It last had anything done to it in the 90s and only needs to be half the size in the days of internet shopping.

excellent video, I'm in Preston their solution to unused buildings is for them to accidentally burn down. It's amazing how planning is denied, it sits empty for a few years and then burns down. Preston is a sea of cafes and student flats. It's only a matter of time before they catch on to the clean air thing. What amazes me is.. you can see the problem, I can see the problem but the council either can't or has a different agenda than what it says publicly.

I grew up in Bristol. Glad i left. I visited recently. Its a hole! Its really dirty. It reminded me of some slum in downtown Rio. The night life is fine. You can always find a decent band to see. The Downs Festivial is the other highlight in early September.

Spot on assessment, Bristol centre is dying a slow death with the clean air zone being the final nail in the coffin.

John Hedley had a good poem about Bristol. 'If you catch the train from Preston to Bristol Temple Meads, you don't have to change your underwear, but you have to change at Leeds' I use the poem regularly when I meet people not only from Bristol, but Preston and Leeds too.

The answer to every old city centre seems to be vehicle driving and parking charges and restrictions and ...... STUDENT ACCOMMODATION! The entire centre of Exeter is now student accommodation and empty cycle lanes, which is why I don't go there. Bristol used to be the flagship shopping centre of South West England. I gave up the 90 mile drive from Devon to Bristol years ago after spending an hour trying to find a parking space. It's online shopping for me now.

This is a refreshingly honest video. It never ceases to surprise me how so many people heap praise on Bristol, it's a city which has managed to get a reputation for being a 'great place to live' - people from other parts of the UK probably fall for the delusion of it being a city 'on the up', because of the crazy house prices. When in reality, it's been falling behind England's other big cities in so many respects. The fact that it's got many thousands of students, a massive drug culture and very 'trendy/urban' politics (similar to London) seems to a big part of it's appeal, whereas for most 'once proud Bristolians' we can see exactly what kind of no-go dump its becoming.

I lived In Bristol in the early 80s, It was a lively and interesting place. When I visit now I get to see it from a different perspective. The dock area is certainly a massive improvement, shopping centers are in decline the world over so that’s a bit of an unfair example. The problem is that so many parts near the city are dirty and graffiti filled, maybe it just seems more visible to me. There are nice parts and grim parts, but that just about sums up every city in the UK.

Honestly student accommodation is a death writ for a town/city at this point, It means less jobs for locals, a spike is users of local NHS services, land being eaten up by university of more accommodation and facilities and worst of all pushing up prices as more people 'move into' the area. But even then it sounds like the Bristol council couldn't organise a piss up in brewery after watching this vid and doing some more reading about it. Sad to see Bristol suffer.

I moved to Bristol in 2018 and you are spot on, the centre is dying.

Even the pigeons fly upside down cause there is nothing worth shitting on.

I used to visit there regularly in the 2000s, then lived there for a year in 2015 and was shocked by the explosion in homeless, at the same time as house prices exploded too. I actually left because of the overpriced houses.

I was in Bristol a few weeks ago and I had never really explored the city before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I can now sum up the city in one word: decay. The heart of the city was filthy, covered in graffiti and crappy 'murals' giving the place a sinister feeling. There were many homeless people who intimidated passersby for change. I saw one unfortunate soul being resusitated on the street by paramedics after he overdosed. The old Georgian buildings were mostly well maintained on the outside, though it was sad to see too many of these beautiful period houses in disrepair with the tenants leaving their rubbish piled up in front of their doors giving off an air of squalor. Having said all that the Clifton suspension bridge is simply stunning with fantastic views of the gorge. Just try to ignore the signs for the Samaritans phone number at either end of the bridge so you don't leave feeling depressed.

Good video and well done . Your right in your analysis of a lot of town centers ,but it"s been a while since I visited Bristol . My old Uncle used to travel around a lot of markets in the North of England from a Sheffield base for many years & sometimes I went with him ,it"s also surprising how alike most of these towns are . We used to do a lot of markets in South Yorkshire but no matter how popular the markets were the Council had to interfere ,Barnsley was a particular case ,always busy and people came from miles but they reduced the amount of parking spaces ,so it declined ,in Sheffield they knocked down the old market that was always busy and built a new one - off the town center that didn"t have the same atmosphere or shops and that has proved a flop .Plus all the parking is by mobile phone and a app only and the charges are as you would expect - high . We used to go to Wakefield market ,a nice quiet town that had a shopping center punching way above it"s weight and the council made the same mistakes there ,demolishing the massive market ,building an indoor one to get more money ,then within 3 years have it fail and eventually demolished . We used to arrive at the market at 3 a.m. spend over an hour unloading our large van and start selling to the night shifts in the area [shelf stacking the supermarkets nearby] and stay there till the following afternoon - all gone and the area is practically dead . The councils for some reason think if they renew the buildings ,accommodation and shops it improves the area and the class of people living and shopping there ,the high street is probably a dead duck and deserves to be ,we voted our local politicians - in ?. Keep up the good work .

My partner is disabled and uses a wheelchair so a 15 min walk from the station to the shops would be a huge deterrent for us but having said that I cant see much to make us want to go. What's happening in Bristol is also happening in Croydon. It used to be full of shops and busy but since the council setup the failed Westfield deal they have destroyed the town centre. Some shops were compulsory purchased and businesses were basically destroyed only for the properties to sit empty for years and the Whitgift centre is slowly emptying out of any shops you would want to go to. To make it better our new idiot mayor has setup a new deal with Westfield so they can really kill off the rest of the shops that are left and remove any reason anyone has left to visit the area. They shutdown the Fairfield halls to refurb it and went millions over budget and took several years for it to open just as the country went into lockdown. The box office will only open if they have an event on during the hours of the event so you cant even nip in to buy a ticket for something and its impossible to buy the easy access seats for the disabled unless you can dig through a few layers of website to find a phone number to talk to somebody. When I did they surprised I had found the number. The day after I booked the ticket I was emailed to say they had cancelled the show and gave me a refund. I'm not sure if you have covered Croydon yet but if you haven't you should, Its a huge turd!

To be honest, the best thing that can happen to Bristol and many other towns and cities is to massively decrease the size of the shopping area, which will forever more have empty shops and homeless people sheltering, and to replace them with flats and apartments, which does at least guarantee people being in the centre of town. Bristol's biggest problem by far is the awful public transport, and the fact that many of its residents do like a riot or two!

I love Bristol, but the buses aren't very reliable. The trains aren't great either. It is quite easy to get around the inner city on foot though. Most of the other points against Bristol in the clip are accurate, but this city is still one of my favourite places in the UK.

If Bristol is classed as a Turdtown then effectively the UK is finished as this is one of the richer cities outside of London!

I really like Bristol. My relatives there complain about the clean air zone. I think such initiatives are a good idea in principle. However, they don't work well because, with the exception of London and Manchester, public transport in British cities is poor compared to in places like Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

I think the south of the UK is in dire need of an econmic do-over, its wayyy too expensive compared to other parts of the country and you dont even get much better living other than a few nice beaches not too far away and a slightly warmer summer. Ive been thinking of heading up the country so I can actually afford to live and afford to actually indulge in local shops, pubs and restaurants.

I lived in Bristol from 03 to 2019, back in the naughties housing was cheap and the culture and vibes were great. As time went by London money totally changed the face of the city pushing up residential prices and developing the old quirky remnants of old Bristol. Now the culture is weak the vibes are small as everyone is so broke due to the huge houseing costs. If your looking for arty counterculture head north to Leeds or Sheffield, Bristol is over.

Bristol is a lot more than its shopping streets. The charm of it is that a lot of space is given to independent stores which actually offer something interesting other than just shoving more Primark, H&M, HoF in your face. I think it actually gives the city an identity, and either way there's a lot more to a city than its shops...

A once great city, now an anarchic dump. I vowed never to return there years ago. The same goes for Brighton, though I wouldn’t have gone there anyway.

I remember when you used to hear Bristolian accents in Bristol.

Bristol has been my home since 2008 and watching the city centre die has been very sad to see. It needs major regneration everything just feels grotty and unmaintained but even if you look back just 10 years ago it used to be so much cleaner

Such a brilliant video - and absolutely spot on. I live there, but never go into central Bristol - why would you? The centre of Bristol is a student ghetto, that no real Bristolian ever goes to. There is no real public transport worth speaking of. This is what happens to cities, when you have crazy mayors, controlled by cycling pressure groups. People move out, students move in, city dies. Bristol RIP.

I just drive past Bristol, using the ultimate bypass, the M5 motorway. To Weston Super Mare. After seeing this video, I am pleased to say, I have not missed much. See ya Bristol.

The roads are dreadful here. So much traffic congestion. I always go to Cribbs Causeway now as you mentioned. It's much newer and free to park.

I’m filled with sadness that my birth City is dying from the inside out. The Waterfront, Park St and Clifton are still vibrant thankfully

I've been living here for about 18 months and the city centre feels like it belongs to a much shabbier and smaller place, like Wrexham or Darlington or something. There are little nooks and crannies that are cool, and new venues popping up, but on the whole Bristol is just super localised anyway - if you live near Glos. Rd., Clifton, Whiteladies - you're just not going to the city ever. I know people who live in Stokey or St Paul, which is 5 mins walk away, and they never bother either.

The way in which councils have worked hard to stop people driving into city centres in the name of clean air has just destroyed retail in cities, I live 20 minutes outside of a city centre and haven't bothered for 6 years now driving in as it is just so tedious to try to with all the changes that have been made, I buy virtually everything online now, even my weekly groceries are online and delivered, I have a nine year old car that has only done 22,900 miles because of this.

Went to school in Bristol in the sixties. It was a wonderful, thriving, busy city. What a shame it's on its knees now.

Have politicians ever been more out of touch with the lives of normal people..?

I have lived in Bristol most of my life. Now I live just outside so I go to Yate shopping centre and all it needs is a Primark .... Bristol used to be kicking now it's a bit of a joke. Marvin Ress and his bunch of goody goodies have killed Bristol. There is nothing for the kids now . No ice rink no night club's only student accommodation and a few undesirables. RIP Bristol

I'm from Bath. When I was a kid my mum would take us to Bristol as a day out. Even used to go to Bristol supermarkets and it would feel like we were off to the big city. I still love going, it's great, so much more going on than where I'm from. The pubs, the clubs, the venues, the atmosphere. Don't knock it too much, you could live in Bath where we have the polluter charge and absolutely fuck all going on other than bloody tourists.

I remember when Marvin Rees was first campaigning to be mayor, he said, or implied, that he was going to be car friendly and reverse the 20mph speed restrictions!

Lived in Bristol my whole life… you summarised the city centre perfectly!

Yup I visited the shopping centre last weekend and it is unrecognisable from even 5 years ago. The fashion chains are all gone and the combined loss of M&S and Debenhams has decimated the place. Were it not for Primark it would feel like a wasteland.

Good video, not seen bristol for 9yrs, Thank you

I work in broadmead and it’s genuinely depressing. waiting to open this morning i got wished cancer upon me, i have not been anywhere where the homeless people are so aggressive.

I lived in Bristol from the 1960's until I left in 1999. I loved the city back then and knew its streets like the back of my hand after years of being a service engineer. I still have family there and have visited on occasions, but every time I go back I am more disappointed with it. The last couple of times I have been annoyed by the massive 20mph zone that seems to encompass most of the city. Absolutely no good reason for such a big zone. I haven't been back since, but at least the last time I went there it didn't look like it does in your video. Fortunately, if I do decide to visit my family there, I can get to them without passing through the city, though I don't know if they're in the ULEZ zone.

Hells bells what a dump Bristol has become. Six years ago due to divorce I moved from Bristol to Blackwood, Caerphilly. Much better quality of life here. Lovely friendly happy people, quiet and peaceful. Amazing views from my house over the hills and valleys. I would never return to Bristol to live under any circumstances. Fifty years ago Bristol was a nice place to live but not anymore.

Everything is fine, as long as the council personnel can retire at 55 with a gold plated index linked pension, which 50%+ of your council tax pays for then all is good and you should be happy with the demise of all services, the slow collapse of cities and towns across the UK, the absolute 'third world' state of our roads etc etc, the UK is slowly dying.

I used to live and work in Bristol and even in the 1990’s Broadmead could be violent in the daytime, one of my female colleagues got punched by a homeless man in the Center, he just walked up to her and punched her and then walked away and no-one stopped him. He was later arrested for stabbing someone, obviously punching was enough. It has always had a violent side to it. All the lads from the surrounding towns used to come in on the weekends, and it would kick off. I think since I left 13 years ago the council has accelerated the demise of the Center of Bristol, I blame the people of Bristol for this. Bristolians consider themselves as the most woke and environmentally friendly people in Briton. There are consequences to this. The most obvious is that it destroys the center of the city, makes the place incredibly expensive to live in, has the highest percentage of private school, and crime is increasing. Well the people voted for this and still support it, so you reap what you sew. Until the voters work out that the mayor is corrupt and incompetent things will not change.

The only reason Oxford has managed to survive its stupid council is because of the university otherwise it would be empty.

I lived in Bristol for 30 years and left in 2018. I now live by the coast. It was dreadful when I left and under Marvin Rees I expect it got worse and worse.