MAY 2025 · ROAM
Old town
Central Bristol
The Old City is the part of Bristol that didn't get rebuilt. Medieval street plan, Georgian facades, the occasional Roman footprint under the cobbles. It's not presented as heritage. It's still in use — loading bays, bin stores, double yellow lines on ancient stone sets.
That's what drew me to it. Not the medieval church but the double yellow lines at the base of its Gothic doorway. The structure that appears in the background of the curved street shot, the twenty-first century visible behind the eighteenth. Nothing has been curated here. The age shows because nobody's been paid to hide it.
The age shows because nobody's been paid to hide it.
Old City — May 2025
The arcade column is the best example. It's in a 1970s covered walkway off one of the main streets — a support pillar painted in vertical stripes of red, orange, yellow and green, with cartoon figures and polka dots. Still vivid. Not faded, not ironic, just there, the same as it was when whoever painted it thought that was the right thing to do with a column.
Nearby, a loading bay. Rows of wheelie bins on metal casters arranged under fluorescent ceiling lights. It reads like a photograph of storage, which is what it is — but the composition holds. The bins are organised, the light is institutional, the image is black and white.
The alleyways have graffiti going back years in layers. A large paste-up of an infant with RUCK-A-TU on a brick warehouse wall. Scrollwork tags below it. Around the corner, a Georgian facade with an arched doorway, the shutters tagged, the stonework worn.
A white tarpaulin covers something mechanical between two brick buildings. The cobbled alley narrows toward a street lamp and an arch at the far end, double yellow lines leading you in.
Black and white — stacked wheelie bins with metal casters arranged in rows inside an industrial loading bay with fluorescent ceiling lights
Painted brick corner pillar with bold vertical stripes of red, orange, yellow and green, narrow cobbled lane and storefront visible left
Black and white — narrow graffiti-covered Bristol alley with double yellow lines and white dashed road markings, street lamp and archway at far end
Curved street with medieval church's ornate Gothic stone doorway on right and post-war brick building on left, double yellow lines in foreground
Large black and white paste-up artwork of an infant with 'RUCK-A-TU' text on brick warehouse, red brick building with scrollwork graffiti below
Painted support column in 1970s shopping arcade with rainbow stripes, cartoon figures and polka dots in orange, white and blue tones
Black and white — narrow cobbled alley with double yellow lines beside a hair salon storefront, converging brick buildings and flyover support above
Black and white — curved empty street with medieval church's Gothic doorway on right, brick building and modern flyover structure in background
Black and white — white tarpaulin covering service equipment between two industrial brick buildings with metal window grilles and concrete yard
Black and white — Georgian brick building facade with graffiti, arched doorway and graffiti-tagged shutters, storefront window reflection visible