Bristol Neighbourhood Guide: Windmill Hill

Bristol Neighbourhood Guide: Windmill Hill

Posted on: 21 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 carrying on in South Bristol with Windmill Hill - a neighbourhood surprisingly devoid of a windmill. Despite its size, there are an array of highlights to enjoy here including Victoria Park, two popular pubs, a 4.5-acre farm and much more besides.

 

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

 

Nightlife:

 

Reopened back in 2019 by the team behind Redcliffe’s The Golden Guinea and North Street’s The Steam Crane, The Rising Sun is a quirky pub perched at the top of Windmill Hill with an interior decorated with ornate mirrors, flock wallpaper and upcycled furniture in addition to a covered beer garden to the rear. The venue also features a whopping selection of beers, ciders, and spirits as well as an afterschool club and regular live music events – a proper community pub!

Named after one of the area’s star attractions, The Victoria Park offers patrons a relaxing, friendly space with a top selection of wines, spirits and beers. The two-tiered beer garden boasts a spectacular view of the surrounding area thanks to its advantageous position atop Windmill Hill, making it perfect for eating and drinking with friends. Speaking of eating, The Victoria Park also serves one of the city’s best Sunday roasts.

Food:

 

Moving onto our food highlights, we’re taking a look at St. Johns Lane. While perhaps technically Bedminster, we’ve decided to include these venues in our Windmill Hill guide. With an original shop located in Totterdown in 2017, Fox & West have opened two new venues in recent times, one being St Johns Lane’s Corner Stores. Combining the best of the two other stores, customers can purchase gifts and homewares all while enjoying top-notch coffee and fresh food daily.

Also on St. Johns Lane, The Park Bakery has long been a favourite of the neighbourhood, serving up everything from simple sandwich loaves to sourdoughs, and pasties to expresso-based coffees. The bakery has recently expanded to a sister site just over the road. Specialising in deli goods, The Park Deli offers an al fresco dining experience with exceptional local produce.

Just up the hill in Victoria Park is a real community favourite in the shape of Stuffed. Serving from a quaint little orange van, this café-on-wheels is a regular at events throughout Bristol. However, it’s the leafy surroundings of Victoria Park that are Stuffed’s true home, pumping caffeine into dog walkers, joggers, and families alike.

Culture and Lifestyle:

 

First opened as far back as the 1880s, Victoria Park is a massive 51.5-acre park that links the neighbourhoods of Bedminster, Totterdown and Windmill Hill with an expansive area of grassland. The park has a glut of outdoor features and activities to keep both children and adults amused. The perfect spot for a BBQ or picnic in the sun, there are tennis courts, wooded areas, football pitches, a small basketball court and even a school on its grounds!

Another spot that is technically classed as Bedminster despite its name, Windmill Hill City Farm is a 4.5-acre green space right in the heart of South Bristol. The farm offers educational, recreational, and therapeutic facilities for the local community with a range of farmyard animals, community gardens, picnic areas, an award-winning café, a farm shop, play areas and a community building with meeting spaces, a 5-a-side football pitch, workshops and more. There’s even a nursery on site!

History:

 

Originally a rural somerset parish before evolving into an industrial hotspot, Windmill Hill got its name from a mill which stood in the area until the early nineteenth century. 

 

The Malago is certainly Bristol’s forgotten river. Five miles long, the river rises from Dundry Hill in Somerset before joining the New Cut of the River Avon, which it is a tributary of. While much of the river is culverted (and therefore not visible), there are areas where it can be seen in all its glory – particularly at the bottom of Windmill Hill. The Malago is expected to be partially restored as part of the council’s Bedminster Green regeneration.

St John’s Burial Ground, located just off St Johns Lane once housed The Church of St John the Baptist, one of the first churches commissioned by Ethelred the Unready in 1003. It was burnt down in 1645, rebuilt in 1663 and demolished in the mid-1800s so it could be rebuilt. Gravestones were cleared from the site when it was turned into a park in the mid-60s – 242 people are believed to still be buried there. Today, the small, sloping park is a quiet haven popular with local dog walkers.

So, there it is, 365Bristol’s guide to Windmill Hill. 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.