Castle Street
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Between the wars, throughout the Twenties and Thirties, it could more than hold its own as one of the best places to shop in the country. Many retail chains, small local businesses and residential properties existed cheek by jowl in a delightful mix of medieval, Georgian, Victorian and Art Deco buildings.
On Saturday nights, it was the place to be seen, with young people taking a tram to the area to visit the theatres, cinemas, music halls and pubs – or just to wander around the brightly lit shops with friends. Castle Street was so busy that it was closed off to traffic, while some shops found it worthwhile to stay open as late as 10pm. People were absolutely devastated when, at the start of World War II, a concentrated bombing raid featuring incendiaries razed the entire area to
the ground.
In just one night all was lost, including such well-loved landmarks as the timbered Dutch House and St Peter’s Hospital. There are few signs today of that devastating night of 1940 – just the bombed-out medieval churches of St Peter’s and St Mary-le-Port. Everything else has been swept away.
Despite unofficial wartime promises that the traders would be allowed back, the corporation decided that, as part of a brave new world, a brand new shopping area would be built in Broadmead instead. It now looked more and more unlikely that, whatever the views of Bristolians, any of the old shops would ever be replaced.
They never were, although offices at the High Street/Wine Street end were erected in the early Sixties. As the years went by, so the old, much missed Castle Street/Wine Street shopping area became nothing but a buddleia-filled car park. Grandiose plans for a civic and cultural centre there, complete with museum and art gallery, came to nothing, and 20 years ago it was decided to turn the area into a park – a green lung for the city.
So for 50 years Broadmead, like it or not, was where you shopped.
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