Bristol is a city known for its love and abundance of independent stores and high streets, supposedly boasting the longest independent high street in Europe, Gloucester Road.
More recent shopping quarters, such as Wapping Wharf have also been cemented as city-favourite shopping destinations as an emphasis is placed on local, high street shopping following the Covid pandemic.
But Bristol has changed immeasurably as a city over the years, with Park Street the latest street set to undergo an overhaul.
BristolWorld has put together a collection of postcard images from Know Your Area which allows us to peer into the past at 10 of the city’s high streets. Some areas may be unrecognisable while others will have shops still trading today, perhaps under a different name.
Here are the 10 high streets we have chosen (credit: BCC/Vaughan Postcards):
9. Wapping Wharf, 1924
In the left of this image is what would become one of Bristol’s most recent shopping quarters, Wapping Wharf. Dockyard commerce gradually declined during the 1950s and 1960s and the area became home to the Arnolfini gallery, the Industrial Museum and the cargo containers where businesses now operate. | BCC/Vaughan postcards
10. Old Market, 1930s
This image was taken looking East along Old Market Street. Old Market Street has always been a market place developed immediately outside the walls of Bristol Castle on what was for centuries the main road to London, now the A420. | BCC/Vaughan postcards
11. Christmas Steps, 1920s
Another iconic Bristol location, here we can see a number of business signs hang above the Christmas Steps. | BCC/Vaughan postcards