Naked Plug For The Naked Guide To Bristol

Soaked in history, rich in diversity and culture and with more vistas of an eye candy variety than is possibly really necessary, Bristol is a patchwork eiderdown stuffed with the fluffiest of feathers and filthiest of grit. Little surprise, then, that the local knowledge shelves of the city’s book shops groan under the weight of Bristol related tomes. To borrow from somebody else’s musical, “It’s a hell of a town / the Downs are up/ and Bedminster’s down”. So, it’s a place worth shouting about, that’s a given. Yet given the number of trees sacrificed to print those boasts, few books about the city really ‘get’ the place, nail the nitty gritty, expose your actual true Bristol soul. Possibly because the really interesting parts of the city are off the tourist trail, certainly because few books about Bristol are written by Bristolians. Of course there are exceptions. Veronica Smith’s ‘Street Names Of Bristol’ for example is a seriously researched and bona fide classic, the late, much missed, local writer’s labour of love. At other end of the spectrum are two comic and slightly educational masterpieces that could only have been written by locals: Derek Robinson’s (aka Dirk Robson) ‘Krek Waiter’s Peak Bristle’ and the similarly linguistically themed A Dictionary Of Bristle by Harry Stoke and Vinny Green.But for an over and under view of Bristol, one that capture the glorious contrariness of the place, bookshelves have been left wanting. Until, that is, the publication of Gil Gillespie’s ‘Naked Guide To Bristol’ in 2004. Part guide book, part history, part diatribe, all love letter it’s a full, frank and funny account of the city from Hartcliffe through Henleaze. And there’s no questioning the provenance of its writer - he’s Bristol through and through (we’ll forgive him the fact he was born over the bridge and technically Welsh for a couple of months), and something of a local legend himself.A journalist, writer and Henbury School alumni, Gil was already a well known face on the club and music scene in the city at the tender age of 14 and his fast and furious copy for magazines and newspapers locally and nationally have consistently captured the spirit of the city. Little wonder, then, that when former Post hack Richard Jones formed his own publishing company he went straight to Gillespie to pen the ultimate guide to the city. And no surprise that the resulting book flew off the shelves.“It was quite a surprise that the book got so much attention” says Gil “I mean it is quite a limited market if you think about it but here we are launching the second edition so we must have got something right. I suppose it’s appeal is it’s honesty, we didn’t ever want it to be just about the SS Great Britain, or the Downs. Bristol is much more than just that”. Ain’t that the truth. As a guide book ‘Naked’ streaks unabashed ahead of any other tourist book to the city ever published. It’s too good for the tourists, though. Here’s a guide to the city that should be standard issue at maternity hospitals and schools, the fact is no home should be without one It is of course packed full of handy information about where to be visit, to eat, to drink, to stroke baby goats and be culturally uplifted all written from the enthusiastic (and sometimes weary) perspective of those in the know. Gil and a cast of hand picked contributors sharing his love/bewilderment for the place casts a comprehensive gaze over the city district by district, not just Harbourside, Clifton and The Downs, putting the place into context and revealing just how diverse, complex and fascinating the make-up of Bristol actually is and what sets it apart from everywhere else. “What is unique about Bristol is hard to pin down exactly, in a way it just is, it’s perplexing, quite a misunderstood place because, I think, there’s so many different parts to the story. One thing that people often cite is that we’re far enough away from London to set our own pace here, but that’s just part of the story. I really don’t have a clue, Bristol just throws up a certain kind of person and attitude, it can be infuriating and life affirming. It’s small enough to bump into people you know everyday and there isn’t that kind of careerist thing that drives people in, say London”. But, notes Gil, there are some early warning signs of Bristol becoming just like anywhere else. “It’s starting to be driven by the market which goes against thee laid back grain. I mean Park Street and the harbour is all giant pubs where it used to be full of interesting, scene setting record and clothes shops. All it would take is one Starbucks on Gloucester Road to completely change the character of what’s probably one of the most diverse and interesting High Streets left in the country. So I suppose the book is also asking people to treasure what we’ve still got, because you never know when it’s going to be pulled down and turned into a Tesco or a luxury apartment block.”There’s still plenty to celebrate about Bristol and ‘Naked’ lifts up the foundation stones to reveal the real city crawling about underneath (local characters/ lunatics trawling the street, mugging hotspots, the worst public toilets, the city’s predilection for a good riot every now and then) and pokes local hot topics with a stick (moribund council policy, the world’s worst public transport system, where to stand on the issue of Justin Lee Collins). There are extensive, witty and awesomely well informed essays on how Bristol’s clubbing and music scenes met, merged, and created a completely unique noise that to this day everyone has heard of but few know how to label (tip: don’t ever, ever, ever mention T***-Hop). There’s also an exhaustive historical timeline stretching from the 55bc (hippy celts dancing around fires in Leigh Woods and vague plans for a tram system and a redevelopment of Broadmead - no change there, then) to present (the redevelopment of Broadmead) and some pithy discourse on the frustrating inertia of local politics matched to local activism that ranges from apathetic to outraged. “We knew that people from Bristol would be reading it, so it had to be completely honest and nobody here would stand for it if they thought we were trying to mug them.” says Gil, “we could only write about what we know, which is why there are a few personal anecdotes throughout, things like running away from mini riots in Old Market, or the public toilets you should avoid at all costs, you don’t really get that sort of thing in a guide book, but this isn’t just another guidebook”. And Bristol, despite the best efforts of the property speculators and drinks chains, still isn’t just another city.
The Naked Guide To Bristol - Gil Gillespie. Published by Naked Guides, £8.95. More info at http://www.nakedguides.co.uk/