Bristol Neighbourhood Guide: Totterdown

Bristol Neighbourhood Guide: Totterdown

Posted on: 14 Jun 2023

We’re back with our guide to Bristol’s diverse and vibrant neighbourhoods – with some cherrypicked spots to showcase just how much is going on in each corner of the city.

 

This week, we’re back in South Bristol, taking a look at the hilly area of Totterdown. While perhaps best known for its steep slopes and colourful houses, the neighbourhood is also home to a vibrant array of cafes, restaurants, and popular community boozers as well as various community groups and projects.

 

Read on for our guide to all the nightlife, food, shopping, cultural and historical highlights of Totterdown… 

 

Nightlife:

 

‘Speare’-heading our rundown of Totterdown’s nightlife spots is The Shakespeare. The first of a nightly packed web of atmospheric community pubs, The Shakey is friendly, warm and always lively with amazing food (including Sunday roasts), regular music events, a weekly pub quiz and a fantastic selection of ales. Expect local art on the walls, a vintage Star Wars arcade machine, a suntrap of a walled beer garden and guaranteed good vibes!

Another pub with a tight-knit community of locals is The Oxford. The pub is famed for excellent music nights (including organising the much-loved Totterdown Music Festival), a weekly quiz complete with a winner’s cup, and extensive outside seating as well as wacky inside décor. Don’t be put off by the human legs dangling from a hole in the ceiling above the stage, they’re not real!

Situated in between the previous two pubs right in the heart of Totterdown is The New Found Out. Recently refurbished, this one bar local is one of the few in the immediate area that screens live sport, making it a popular destination for South Bristol’s drinkers. With a pub garden and good beer to boot, what more can you want?

Moving up Wells Road we have Southside Bar & Kitchen. A less traditional venue, this is a small bar with an independent spirit that provide an extensive beer list as well as a menu that features a range of comfort food classics, think pizzas, burgers and loaded fries.

The Knowle Constitutional Club is Totterdown’s best-kept secret. A hidden haven, this is an unassuming, underground venue that can’t easily be spotted from the bustling Wells Road. The club consists of a small entrance hall, a main room with plenty of comfortable seating and a 2-table snooker room. Boasting cheap and cheerful prices and an intriguing clientele, this is the perfect spot to organise a small event!

Finally on our nightlife list is one of South Bristol’s only live music hubs, The Thunderbolt. A restored, Grade II listed toll house with regular music events and a sizeable beer garden, this is a local institution with a dedicated following. Legendary names such as John Cooper Clark, Don Letts, John Parish (PJ Harvey), Wreckless Eric, Ian McLagan (Faces/Small Faces) and Dr Feelgood have all played this gig circuit staple in the past, making it a true Bristol favourite.

Food:

 

Totterdown is also home to a thriving network of fiercely independent eateries. First on our rundown is Italian favourite, A Capella. Creating award-winning pizza since 2007, the family-run business is proud to be included in the prestigious Pizza Association’s top 6 UK pizzerias and their delicious creations are loved by foodies all over Bristol. With traditional ingredients dough-proofed over 48 hours, this is one of the city’s top destinations for pizza.

If you’re looking for a top-quality Italian restaurant on a tight budget, then Florence with its vibrant, colourful interior may be the place for you. Located just opposite The Oxford, customers can expect a range of Italian food highlights featuring homemade stone-baked pizzas and pasta dishes along with fresh salad. 

 

Situated just opposite The Shakespeare in a beautiful red brick corner building is The Sundial Kitchen. This vegan-orientated cafe is known for its seasonal delights, serving breakfast, lunch, coffee, freshly baked goods, cakes and pastries, using local and organic produce wherever they can. Sundial also features a charming events space, hosting gigs, private parties and weddings, yoga, art and music classes as well as a monthly comedy and magic night.

Yet another award-winning hidden gem, Eat Your Greens is a Wells Road restaurant that provides thoughtfully sourced vegan and gluten-free comfort food dishes and drinks all served up in a tiny, charming space in the heart of the Totterdown community. Known as one of the city’s best vegan eateries, EYG is run entirely by one person – we recommend the breakfast, it’s one of the best in South Bristol!

Another key local breakfast spot is The Totterdown Canteen. Boasting a classic (and cheap) selection of breakfast staples, The Canteen is nothing fancy and it’s all the better for it. It’s the perfect spot to munch on a hungover bacon bap and sip on a milky brew while watching the world go by through the large glass front overlooking Wells Road.

Located within a beautiful former (you guessed it) bank building, BANK is another neighbourhood restaurant that has had a real boom in popularity in recent times. With almost 20 years of kitchen experience, head chef and co-owner, Jack Briggs has created a menu that is perfect for light lunches or leisurely feasts, all cooked over live fire and designed for sharing.

Finally, we have a dog-friendly gastro pub that has seen various ownership changes in recent years. Formerly known as The Cumberland Hotel, The Star and Dove is a beautiful mid-19th-century building in the heart of Totterdown. Customers can expect a classic pub menu with an authentic modern British menu and a carefully chosen wine list in addition to a selection of local ales.

Culture and Lifestyle:

 

First up on our culture and lifestyle rundown is a real Totterdown institution, The Banana Boat. The much-loved fruit and veg shop were established all the way back in 1987 and has been run by the same family ever since 1996. With a strong community following, the greengrocers offer a top-quality range of fresh products from local farmers and more.

Little Kitchen is a Totterdown-based specialist cookery school next door to Florence Italian restaurant. Offering a variety of workshops suitable for all ages as well as private parties (perfect for team building exercises), aspiring cooks can expect a relaxed, well-equipped environment – the perfect space to improve your culinary skills.

 

Totterdown is also a multicultural community, home to a range of different nationalities as well as various religious faiths. Bristol Jamia Mosque is the oldest in Bristol, being converted from a disused church in 1968, and currently the largest in the South-West. The area is also home to Totterdown Baptist School, Totterdown Methodist Church and the Church Of The Holy Nativity with its instantly recognisable green roof.

Each year, the neighbourhood also hosts Totterdown Art Trail. Bristol’s longest-running arts trail, the event has run for more than 20 years, gaining traction as the years have gone by. Running over a weekend in November, Bristolian artists, makers, and creatives open their doors to showcase their art. This is the perfect opportunity to meet your neighbours and witness the creativity of the local community.

If you’re looking for a view, then Perrett Park is one of the best spots in Bristol! A steep, naturally formed amphitheatre, the flat terrace at the top is the perfect observation platform to view much of the city, including the magnificence of Clifton Suspension Bridge. As a result of its advantageous landscape, the park is a popular spot for balloon spotting during the world-famous Balloon Fiesta as well as sledging on a snow day.

History:

 

With a roughly 22-degree gradient incline, Vale Street in Totterdown is said to be the steepest street in England. Indeed, the street is so steep that cars are parked perpendicular to prevent them from rolling downhill. The street is also home to an annual Easter egg race and was briefly home to the Banksy piece, ‘Aachoo!’ before it was removed in March 2021.

If you’ve ever approached Totterdown from central Bristol, you may have noticed the three lamps on the signpost at the junction of Bath Road and Wells Road. Dating back to the early 19th century, the beautiful piece has two fingers with pointing hands and pierced lettering pointing in the direction of both Bath and Wells.

Next is a green oasis so large that it could probably have been included in three separate Neighbourhood Guides. Arnos Vale Cemetery is a beautiful Victorian Garden Cemetery featuring 45 acres of green space as well as an on-site café. This is truly one of Bristol’s true hidden gems, a unique and historic heritage site nestled within the heart of the city.

We’re ending this list with a rather dark detail of Totterdown’s history – be warned this is gruesome. Amelia Dyer, or “Angel Maker” is the most prolific female serial killer in UK history, killing over 400 infants in the late 1800s. A nurse by trade, Dyer took unwanted children in exchange for a fee and killed them.

 

Dyer’s crimes began in her native Bristol and she set up her first ‘house of confinement’ (where she took in desperate unmarried pregnant women) in Totterdown. She got away with her crimes for years due to the frequency of stillbirths. Dyer was eventually brought to justice in 1896.

So, there it is, 365Bristol’s guide to Totterdown. Please note that we have had to be loose in terms of neighbourhood borders to fit everything that’s amazing about Bristol into these guides. It’s also impossible to sum up everything that’s great about our city in such a short article, but please get in contact with us here and let us know your favourite neighbourhood highlights.

 

Images: Patrick Bate

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Article by:

Stanley Gray

Stan is a born and bred Bristolian, recently graduated from studying English Literature in Sheffield. His passions are music and literature and he spends the majority of his time in venues all over the city, immersing himself in Bristol’s alternative music scene. A lifelong Bristol City fan, Stan’s Saturdays are spent watching his team both home and away.