Bristol By Heart: Harbour Secrets, Hill Runs & Honest Stories from a City That Argues With Itself

Bristol is the only city I know that spends this much time arguing about what it is. Not in a bad way. It's the sport here. Whether it's still affordable. Whether the harbour got ruined or saved. Whether Stokes Croft is brilliant or exhausting. Whether the Clean Air Zone was necessary or a stitch-up. Everyone has a position and everyone has a mate with the opposite one. This is a book by someone who lives in the middle of that and loves it. What it's not It isn't a list of things to do at the Suspension Bridge. You know about the bridge. You can see the bridge from most of the city, which is rather the point of it. What you actually get The version people who live here would tell you over a pint, if you asked properly. Where to be during Fiesta week that isn't Ashton Court in a two-hour queue. Which harbourside places are for you and which are for stag parties. What the hills do to your legs and which routes avoid the worst of them. Where the good bit of St Nicholas Market actually is. Get Bristol By Heart, £9.97 (was £19.99) Instant download. Read on phone, tablet or print it. Free updates for life. The August thing The Balloon Fiesta ran 7 to 9 August this year, its 48th, free as ever, over a hundred balloons out of Ashton Court. It nearly didn't survive the last few years, and the Ashton Court agreement signed with the council in late 2025 is the reason it's still standing. There's a chapter on the mass ascents, and on the thing every Bristolian knows and no visitor does, which is that the best place to watch is nowhere near the site. And the Clean Air Zone Running twenty-four hours, every day, cameras at every entry point, no barriers and nothing to tell you you've crossed. People get charged without realising they were in it. There's a straight chapter on the boundary, who pays, who doesn't, and where the traps are for anyone driving in from out of town or moving here. Inside Area by area, without the estate agent voice. Clifton, Bedminster, Southville, Easton, Montpelier, St Pauls, Bishopston, Totterdown. What each is actually like to live in, and what you pay for it. The harbour, properly. Working history, the walk that shows you the good half, and the bit almost everyone misses. The city's difficult history, handled seriously and without either flinching or performing. Street art beyond the obvious. Upfest's legacy, and which walls are worth crossing town for. Cider, and the argument about it. Where to drink it properly, and where you'll regret it. Green spaces that aren't the Downs. With the routes. Moving here. Schools, parking permits, the hill problem nobody warns you about, and the honest version of what a house costs now. The spot. One place, held back to the last chapter, with exact directions and the time of day it works. Free updates for life Zone boundaries, festivals and openings all move. Buy once, get every revision free, permanently. Bristol won't try to impress you. It'll just quietly assume you'll work it out, and think slightly less of you if you don't. Get Bristol By Heart, £9.97 (was £19.99) Instant download. Read on phone, tablet or print it. Free updates for life.