Random Stuff!

[Jerry]

Thinking about it surely it makes more sense for the Border Force to have more automation especially at smaller airport's as their resources are spread less thin.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The brs and cwl threads are so quiet with no postings,wonder where every one has gone.I just wonder with the airports starting the summer season that every one has gone on vacation.

I suspect the answer is that there isn't much to discuss. Ironically, if either airport was experiencing a downturn with routes scrapped and airlines pulling out the posts would be flooding in. With them both in their own way going along very nicely and with nothing spectacular to report (now that we've pretty well put to bed the CWL v BRS Qatar thing) we can only comment on how things already announced are faring, eg the first TOM transatlantic B787 routes from BRS.

Perhaps we could speculate in an appropriate thread how the two airports are likely to continue their growth after this year; whether there is any news about likely takers for a minority stake in BRS as OTPP was reported earlier in the year as wanting to cash on some of their investment at BRS and BHX; the likelihood of CWL being privatised or perhaps part privatised and timescale. Lots of things that could be chewed over but not a lot of concrete news to get teeth into now that the main airlines have announced their programmes for next winter and in some cases for next summer.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Many congratulations to Forest Green Rovers FC who have been promoted to the EFL, League 2, for the first time in the club's history after winning today's play-off final at Wembley.

Forest Green Rovers play in the small town of Nailsworth, population circa 6,000, which is situated in Gloucestershire between Gloucester and Bristol, not far from the Cotswold town of Stroud.

It's very good to have another West Country club in the Football League. There aren't many.

FGR's owner is an interesting character. Some years ago he introduced a ban on all red meat being sold at the club, on health and ethical grounds.

 

[superking]

Yes well done to FGR they been knocking on the door for a few seasons now.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The Quiet City

The opening to a RoutesOnline piece this week about BRS (In its own quiet way Bristol Airport has been on the rise for some years now) led me to reflect that this applies to the city of Bristol itself.

Compared to some conurbations in the country it's a mid-sized city with a population of around 450,000, although that is slightly misleading as the unbroken urban 'city' is home to well over 600,000 people. It's just that for the past 50 years the city boundary has not expanded (mainly because of local political sensibilities) but the urban area has - into neighbouring local authorities, primarily South Gloucestershire that houses a town approaching the population of Swindon tacked onto Bristol's north and north-eastern urban borders.

In the late 1700s only London and Bristol of English cities had a population in excess of 50,000, but since then the great industrial cities of the North and Midlands have appeared and dwarfed Bristol. Bristol though has always been the most individualistic of cities.

John Betjeman, whose favourite English city was Bristol, wrote in the 1950s that Bristol 'is a city that keeps itself to itself'. Still is. When the Sunday Times chose Bristol as the UK's most liveable city last year (second time in three years) there were those in local government who didn't want it talked about too much as even more people would be looking at moving there there and housing was already at a premium.

For many, many years the Office of National Statistics has shown that Bristol is usually in seventh place in a league table of overseas visitors to UK cities (occasionally it will swap with Oxford and drop to 8). It gets more overseas visitors than Bath, albeit the numbers are not broken down into leisure and business and it's likely that Bath gets more of the former than Bristol. Nevertheless, Bristol is now one of the leading UK destinations for short breaks and is one the Rough Guide's ten world cities to visit in 2017 - again something not wholly welcomed by all in local government. I said it's an individualistic place.

Even the former elected mayor (someone who is not a fan of airports) suggested that perhaps there might be a more equitable division of passengers between BRS and CWL, clearly with an eye to getting rid of some of those nasty, noisy aeroplanes that fly over his city.

The Great Western Railway, sired by the most individualistic of railway engineers (Brunel) was a Bristol birth, and quickly became a cat that walked by itself. It favoured the broad gauge, a safer and more flexible system than the universally adopted standard gauge but, as with Betamax a better system than VHS, usage eventually forced out the broad gauge. The GWR's drivers drove from the opposite side of the cab to everyone else; clear signals dropped instead of raising as was the case with most other companies; most important of all the GWR was by a huge margin the safest of the railway companies because of its AWS system (brakes automatically applied if a distant signal was passed at danger accompanied by cab bells/buzzers to confirm clear or danger distant signals). It took well over half a century for other companies to see the light.

Bristol was European Green Capital in 2015, something that sits well with its philosophy, as does the choice of it as Britain's First Cycling City, despite it being one of the hilliest cities in the country.

Perhaps more surprising is another Bristol accolade: UK's European City of Sport for 2017. Given Bristol's less than impressive record with professional sport over so many decades people might be forgiven for wondering how the city was chosen. It seems that local participation in sport is an important factor and Bristol apparently is very good at that.

So, a bit like its airport, Bristol sails serenely and quietly on, in the city's case not bothering too much what the rest of the world thinks of it.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

'Bristolese'

I was reading a football article just now in which supporters from other clubs were discussing a Bristol City player who is rumoured to be a target for several of these other clubs. The article contained social media comments from some of them and they, like so many others, always seem to refer to Bristol City (or Rovers for that matter) as 'Brizzle'.

I've lived in and around Bristol all my life and I've never heard a Bristolian refer to his or her city as Brizzle. They just don't. Derek Robinson, local author of a well-known book on Bristolian accents and idioms (as well as being an accomplished writer of both fact and fiction - Goshawk Squadron for example) suggests it's closer to 'Bristle', but I think that many home-grown locals say something that resembles 'Burstawl', with the emphasis firmly on the rhotic r.

It amuses me to a degree, but also annoys me because of the lack of research and application, that the default West Country/South West accent in so-called drama productions on television is simply a requirement for actors to follow the 'ooh ar' path. A Cornish accent is light years away from a Bristolian one, and people with local accents from North Somerset sound nothing like people with Bristolian accents. The only common feature within these accents is that rhotic r, and even that is stronger or lesser depending on which part of the West Country/South West the speaker is from.

I bet the telly wouldn't get away with actors speaking in a Mackem accent in a drama set in Geordie Newcastle.

 

[Jerry]

Brizzle

I have heard Bristol being called that in South Wales so maybe that's where the person heard it.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I have heard Bristol being called that in South Wales so maybe that's where the person heard it.

I think it's a general misconception.

 

[rollo]

I remember years ago the Blues (Birmingham City )were playing Bristol City and the Bristol fans referred to us as spanners, never was sure why.
I suppose all us provincial types get stereotyped in some way ie scousers, yorkies, yam yams etc.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I remember years ago the Blues (Birmingham City )were playing Bristol City and the Bristol fans referred to us as spanners, never was sure why.
I suppose all us provincial types get stereotyped in some way ie scousers, yorkies, yam yams etc.

Bristol City fans get particularly annoyed when the press or commentators refer to them as 'Bristol'. They point out there is a Bristol Rovers, and the Bristol Football Club plays with an oval ball.

I find it annoying and slightly patronising when the national commentators invariably speak of the Manchester clubs simply as 'City' or 'United' as if there are no other clubs with the appendage City or United. If Manchester City is playing, say, Norwich City the tv commentators usually refer to one as 'City' and the other as 'Norwich', when they are both City.

On a related theme, when I was a kid West Bromwich Albion was always known as the Throstles. Now the club's nickname seems to be the Baggies. I don't know what brought the change.

The same applies to Bristol Rovers who were the Pirates for many years but now seem to be known as the Gas. It seems the name Pirates stems from Bristol's nautical heritage, although Bristol Rovers have always been an east now a north Bristol club and further away from the old city docks than Bristol City in south Bristol (you can see the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge from Ashton Gate). I do know the origin of the Gas. Their old ground at Eastville Stadium (now no more, it's the site of a retail centre these days) was cheek by jowl with a gasworks and Bristol City fans started to use the term as one of disparagement. Bristol Rovers fans turned it around and and began adopting the name as a badge of pride.

 

[rollo]

I hope I didn't offend you by referring to the Bristol City fans as coming from Bristol it certainly was not my intention it's like Nottingham Forrest being called Notts Forrest.

As far as The Baggies go the best theory I know of is that many years ago they were playing Villa in the days when everyone played on Saturday afternoons and a large group of Albion fans finished their Saturday morning shift at a foundry walked to Villa Park in their work clothes which consisted of baggy overalls and when people saw them arriving said "here come the baggies. "

I've no idea if it's true but does have a certain logic given the industrial heritage of the area.

 

[Ray Finkle]

On a related theme, when I was a kid West Bromwich Albion was always known as the Throstles. Now the club's nickname seems to be the Baggies. I don't know what brought the change.

One of the theories courtesy of Baggies.com. The link below is quite an interesting read

http://www.baggies.com/faq/

From Tony Matthews, Official WBA FC historian:

"Most people imagine WBA are nicknamed the Baggies because of the Baggie shorts they wore in their period of glory around the turn of the century, but baggy shorts were worn for many years before fans started calling their team by this nickname.

"When the club was formed in 1878 it was known the The Albion. In its first 22 years the teams was based at five different grounds around West Bromwich before settling at The Hawthorns in 1900. The new ground bought with it the team nickname The Throstles, the Black Country word for Thrush, commonly seen in the hawthorn bushes from which the area took its name.

"In its early days The Hawthorns had only two entrances, one behind each goal. On match days the gatekeepers would gather up the takings at each end and be escorted by policmen along the sides of the pitch to the centre line where their was a small office under the stand. The gate money, mostly in pennies, amounted to a considerable sum and was carried in large cloth bags. It wasn't long before some wag in the crowd started shouting "here come the bag men!" at their appearance in front of the main stand, and this developed into a chant of "here come the Baggies!", giving the team its unnofficial nickname"

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I hope I didn't offend you by referring to the Bristol City fans as coming from Bristol it certainly was not my intention it's like Nottingham Forrest being called Notts Forrest.

I think the Bristol City fans reserve their annoyance for professional sports journalists and commentators. Good point about the Nottingham clubs - some Forest fans get quite agitated on football forums when people refer to their club as 'Notts'.

 

[superking]

That was brian clough when manager of forest insisted no one calls them notts forest,it had to be Nottingham forest.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Bristol's Planners

I've been reading and looking at pictures with great interest in the relevant threads in recent months of the transformation of Birmingham (and Manchester).

I know that both are larger cities than Bristol yet the profusion of cranes on building sites is massive. I thought that Bristol was doing well in this regard with many new buildings being constructed or brought back to life in different guises in the central areas. Indeed, in the past 20 years the three-mile stretch of Harbourside from Temple Meads to Hotwells has become lined with offices, apartments/flats, eateries and museums, most of which are either new builds or refurbished.

Nevertheless, there are many prominent central sites that have lain derelict and unused for decades, despite attempts by developers to secure planning permission for many of them. Bristol is very conservative (with a small c) when it comes to planning matters and has been for many years.

Although after WW2 the then council embarked on a near crusade of demolishing old buildings in preparation for what it thought would be a second half twentieth century renaissance (some contend they wreaked more havoc than Hitler's bombers although mercifully no-one was killed so far as I know), since the 60s/70s the strategy has reversed, although mentioning strategy and Bristol City Council together might be regarded by many as an oxymoron.

Getting any major planning application past the council has long been seen as an exercise in persistence with a negative outcome the likely result. Part of the reason is Bristol's distaste for high buildings, although the city's elected mayor said recently that he could not see why this attitude should continue. Currently the highest structure is the top of the steeple of the 12th Century St Mary Redcliffe Church at 89 metres. The highest commercial building is 80 metres (19 floors) with only ten buildings at 60 metres or higher, three of which are churches.

Given that Bristol is an ancient and hilly city with many old buildings, despite the best efforts of the post-war council to knock them down, the reluctance to permit sky scrapers everywhere is understandable but there seems no will to compromise. I was reading the latest publication of the Bristol Civic Society's magazine, an organisation with a default mechanism of no when important planning applications are made, and unsurprisingly it is objecting to several high profile planning applications for sites that have lain empty for decades in some cases. Its main objection to them all is the scale, ie the height, which they say would undermine neighbouring buildings.

So it seems that Bristol will continue to be plagued by these void areas for years to come. I describe Bristol to people who don't know the city as a beautiful woman (or a handsome man as one has to be extremely careful these days with such references) but with unfortunate spots on her (his) face.

 

[tpm]

I think by and large, Bristol planners get a lot of things right. It's not just about individual buildings, but about the cityscape, connectivity, walkability, cyclability, cohesion in general. The most prominent "new" high-rise in the city scape, the Harvey Nichols tower just looks cheap. Can do well without more of those, thank you very much. The New Bridewell tower - meh. The high-rise planned as part of Redcliffe Quarter was pretty rubbish to start with and even the revised version.., well I guess we'll just have to see how it turns out (love the rest of the scheme though). Those student flats opposite Cabot Circus - please. Personally I think densifying the city and inner suburbs in general with, say, 5-9 stories is just fine and is much more important than very tall buildings. Not that I would mind more of those, but it seems difficult for Bristol planners to actually demand sufficiently high design quality. Doesn't have to be very tall either, just some variety would be nice. The Temple Quarter area next to the Friary is a good example of what not to do in future.

I look forward to seeing the masterplan for the new university quarter next to Temple Meads and the Arena site, though proximity to the station may mean no talls there either (re. The Eye in the Temple Quarter the height of which was reduced and now it looks a bit too short).

It should also be noted that many of the best cities in Europe have a distinct shortage of high-rise buildings, or cluster them in one or two areas, and otherwise achieve high density with medium rise buildings.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Bristol University has announced proposals for public consultation today regarding its new £300 million digital technology campus to be situated around Temple Meads and, at long last, includes demolition of the derelict Royal Mail sorting office block.

It's due to open in 2021 but as this is Bristol we're talking about expect that date to slip.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/first-glimpse-bristol-universitys-300-117620

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Metrobus

First Bristol named today as the operator of the route between Temple Meads and Ashton Vale. No subsidy according to the newspaper article which had thought to be the sticking point between potential operators and the local authorities. Operators for the other routes are yet to be announced.

After the huge disruption of the last 18 months with at least another year of it (Temple Gate is next, starting next week) it's to be hoped it's all worth it. Trams would have been better but Bristol lost that when the city council and South Gloucestershire council could not agree on the location for the northern terminus and the government of the time withdrew its promised funding.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/first-bus-bristol-named-metrobus-123092

 

[TheLocalYokel]

If it's any relief, I've never heard anyone think that, nor do I know why anyone would think that. I think it's pretty clear that Bedminster is 'suburbs' in my opinion. Not that half of Broadmead is much better, arguably.

Perhaps for the historically-minded. Chatterton's house just looks weird and out of place, like some building they forgot to tear down. And only the frontage is really any good, the rest just looks like a cottage from some village in the Cotswolds, helicoptered in. St Mary Redcliffe can look quite majestic from the right angle in the right light, but most of the time it just looks in urgent need of a wash, and it's not exactly flattered by its surroundings (roundabout, Redcliffe Way, and last but not least the ugliest building in the vicinity, the Double Tree Hilton Hotel).

Likewise Temple Meads Station. It could be gorgeous. It's certainly historic and beautiful in many ways, but currently it just looks pretty run-down and unloved really (hanging flower pots aside), like no one has done any serious work on it since the 60s. Add to that again that it's also being let down by its surroundings (Holiday Inn, the station ramp, temple circus roundabout, island site, old petrol station, the sorting office, luckily they demolished some of the more hideous bits next to the ramp; the car park on plot 6; there is/was a car park in the old shed!!); the ticket office; the roof; the underpass; the platforms outside the main shed). The only redeeming feature in the vicinity is the old beautifully refurbished Bristol&Exeter House. Don't get me wrong, I love Temple Meads, but I also think it's easy to overestimate the first impression an unbiased new arrival to the city might have. I'll get my coat now.

Luckily, things are looking up: The old sorting office will be demolished and replaced with a new university campus; if we're very lucky the arena might still go ahead; there will sooner or later be new entrances to the station, at least a new one towards the Priory plus redevelopment of all the empty plots on that side of the station; temple circus is going away, the island site and free space around it is going to be redeveloped into the Engine Shed 2 + plaza + other things; Temple Meads is about to get a new roof (I believe). Temple Meads is getting a lick of new paint here and there and some 'capacity enhancement measures' apparently. Sadly a full and proper redevelopment of Temple Meads station is not funded yet (as far as I know anyway), but who knows what's in the planning there. The expansion of the Enterprise Zone was given the go-ahead, and I think some of the money raised from the retained business rates was supposed to go towards the redevelopment of the station and area around it. There's apparently an "aspiration" to open up lower levels of the station and open up a new south-north passage with a new entrance towards the new university campus, but again I suspect it's probably not funded yet. Fingers crossed. Not sure what happened to the plan to re-open the original passenger shed and turn it into platforms for the (back then thought electric) trains to London. I reckon it might still on the cards, just waiting for the resignalling project to finish. (I hope someone in the know will correct me if that's no longer the case).

I'm sure in 10 years it it will be beyond recognition (in a good way).

Temple Meads is one of the few major stations in the UK not to have been given a major upgrade in the past 10-20 years. It’s due one and Network Rail keeps saying it will happen - but when?

It’s an impressive structure in my eyes with Brunel’s Tudor Revival original station - for so long a car park and I can remember before that when the Jubilee-class steam locos brought in terminating trains there from the Midlands and North - sitting unloved and for a long time almost neglected (criminal!). The GWR directors’ offices at the Temple Gate end are now used for conferences and corporate events and there was talk of the electric trains using the old station. That would have meant a permanent scissors conflict with trains leaving the main station for north Bristol, the Midlands and beyond though. Sadly, the outside of the building in Temple Gate looks dirty and somewhat scruffy.

Temple Meads evolved in stages with the main Gothic building the result of a later Digby Wyatt design, with the station expanded further between the wars to the east with extremely underwhelming platform designs. My favourite bit is the B&E (Bristol & Exeter Railway) building constructed in Jacobean style and currently exposed to its full majesty from Temple Gate following the demolition of buildings in front of it.

For all that Temple Meads is to me a wonderful example of the nation’s early railway history- the birthplace of the only UK railway to keep its original name right up until the end of 1947 when nationalisation took place. To think that unloved and unwanted (in Bristol anyway) First Group now has the neck to use such an iconic name for its franchised railway.

The two derelict hotels in Temple Gate need demolishing, although one is listed so I suppose it won’t be, and the former petrol station should be redeveloped. As for that dreadful block that incorporates the Holiday Inn Express amongst others, the city council bought it a year or two ago and there is talk of it being pulled down and redeveloped. I suspect that talk is as far as it will go - in my lifetime anyway.

The city council is about to embark on 18 months of traffic mayhem at Temple Gate as if the last two years’ MetroBus work haven’t slaked their thirst for bringing the city to a grinding halt. They are to return the Victoria Street/Temple way junction to a traffic light controlled crossroads (or nearly so), a return to what was there in the 1960s, although in the meantime they tried a temporary flyover that lasted 30 years - and was the most efficient means of working that junction - and the Temple Circus gyratory that lasted for a considerably shorter period and is about to disappear.

In 10-20 years time it is to be hoped that the Temple area will be transformed with the impetus of the enterprise zone (reputedly already one of the most successful for generating jobs) that will include the new university campus and, hopefully, that arena (the Bridge to Nowhere, part of £11 million already spent on preparatory work looks so incongruous). For a number of years the the transference of much of the city’s office-based commerce has been to the Temple area off Temple Way and Avon Street and that continues.

So not all is lost but until the renaissance occurs the railway gateway into the city will remain a slightly tarnished beautiful woman completely surrounded by ugly and physically challenged handmaidens (or male versions, to remain pc).

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I always wondered how a £10 open top bus tour of Bristol woul provide any sort of satisfaction to a tourist. Apart from the views around the cumberland basin and the bridge.....what else is there?

As for a Parisian or Bath open top tour……

Where do I start? I will agree that the tour bus misses out many of the city’s attractions, but that is probably inevitable given the traffic flows and especially the current MetroBus building site which is most of the central areas at present and which has caused more tour bus diversions.

Even so it gives a good view of the western end of the Harbourside around to the Great Britain before entering the Avon Gorge under the Suspension Bridge and climbing onto the magnificent Downs where it usually slows or stops briefly at the Sea Walls for passengers to enjoy a spectacular view.

The trip back to the central areas transits the edge of Clifton Village (a small version of Bath on a hilltop) but it doesn’t cover all the best bits and may not now pass Clifton College. The eye-catching Victoria Rooms, City Museum and Art Gallery, and University Tower are next on the list after which I think it still descends Park Street past the Cathedral, College Green and Council House (I refuse to use the new name, the American-sounding City Hall). After that the problems begin: it cannot currently use the wonderful King Street past the country’s longest continually-open theatre, the historic pubs (and some are historic rather than merely historical with both actual and fictional pedigree) and alms houses.

It has never been able to access the Old City - original Bristol from nearly a millennium ago - or the magnificent Queen Square. It does find its way past the ageless Bristol Bridge in a loop to Temple Meads along a journey where many buildings are either being built, renovated, or there is open land following recent demolitions, before driving back to the Centre (a geographical inexactitude) via St Mary Redcliffe and the area of the Harbourside around The Grove.

Betjeman’s favourite English city was Bristol which he believed was England’s most beautiful large city; he also like its character where Bristolians kept themselves to themselves - they still do to an extent. I’ve been to most and I would not fall out with him over that. Pepys said much the same thing centuries before. Bristol's cityscape is superb in my opinion, draped over seven hills (like Rome), with many other hills further out in the suburbs. It used to be England’s second largest city and second most important port, both after London, and much evidence of this place in history remains despite Hitler and the the worst excesses of the immediate post-WW2 council.

Clifton Village is home to superb crescents - Royal York the king - which may not be quite as grand as Bath’s in design but are arguably in a more spectacular setting high up on the hillside. Old Clifton generally is full of grand houses and buildings, a monument to Bristol’s wealthy past and its merchant venturers (I don’t deny that much of it came via the Slave Trade and that’s a part of Bristol’s and the country’s history that no-one take a pride in).

The old city based on the ancient carfax with its superb ancient buildings (including the site of The Bush that featured in Pickwick Papers) was once the heart of Bristol’s legal, banking and commerce but is now largely given over to restaurants, cafes, hotels although the celebrated St Nicholas indoor market remains - part of the old Corn Exchange - as do several ancient churches and pubs.

There aren’t many squares in the country more impressive than Queen Square and and the city is full of buildings from medieval to 20 Century ‘brutalist’.

Bristol has some hidden or little-known gems, unknown even to many Bristolians, such as Cabot Tower, Camera Obscura by the Suspension Bridge, Underfall Yard (another fruit of Brunel’s brain though less well-known) at Hotwells end of the Harbourside with its new museum, and marvellous river walks along the Trym at Coombe Dingle to Blaise, along the Frome from Eastville to Frenchay, even the along the oft-lampooned Malago at Bishopsworth, not to mention the many walks alongside the Avon itself.

Then there are some of the quirky features: Stokes Croft with its gaudily painted buildings and ‘attitude’; Banksy’s work dotted around the city; Montpelier and neighbouring St Pauls with their artists’ quarters; Tobacco Factory Theatre complex on the southside at Ashton; the exotic food quarter in Easton centred on St Marks Road; Gloucester Road with reputedly the largest concentration of privately-owned shops in the country, some say in Europe. I could go on.

Bristol is a city you have to get to know to derive the most benefit from it. It has no recognised central district, but several linked ones that stretch for a a couple of miles from Temple/Redcliffe to Queens Road on the edge of Clifton with Old City, Harbourside, Centre (comes from the old Tramway Centre name), West End, Broadmead (including Cabot Circus and Quaker Friars sub districts) all in between. Unless you are a good walker it’s not easy to visit all and the bus services are difficult and not easy to get the hang of when it comes to delineating routes.

The 8 service from Temple Meads to the Zoo on the edge of the Downs passes a number of Bristol's best-known locations and like TfL's route 11 that does the same thing in London is cheaper than the tour bus, albeit there is no commentary.

Much of outer Bristol still has the feel of a village which it once was. Its no coincidence that several districts within the city call themselves a village: Clifton Village, Shirehampton Village, Avonmouth Village, Westbury (-on-Trym) Village, Brislington Village for example.

I believe that there is much to see and do in Bristol and I’ve only touched on some. It really is a pity that the tour bus can only reach small parts of it.

I’ll end by saying that Bristol is a versatile place as tv and film makers have discovered over many years. It regularly features, sometimes as itself, sometimes as a stand-in for London or other places and sometimes as a fictitious town or city. Fools and Horses was filmed in Bristol with Mandela House a tower block at Ashton Gate near Bristol City FC ground, and Bristol has also stood in for Amsterdam (Welsh Back) and the Ruhr (Crews Hole Road along the Avon) amongst many other places in tv and cinema films. It even recently doubled for Rotherham in a tv docu-drama about sex abuse.