We like St Nicholas Market in Bristol. It's a pretty bustling place, with stalls selling tools, bike stuff, pet stuff, craft stuff, eco stuff, toys, fossils, clothes both old, new, kinky, hippy, gothy and Brizzly. And loads of places you can eat well and cheaply; Indian, Italian, Jamaican, Portuguese, Moroccan, and even English in a good way, thanks to PieMinister and a couple of greasy spoons. Though our favourite is Lello's Pure Pasta, where we get big plates of meatballs and pasta.
Anyway, I was down there yesterday and talked with David Jackson at Beware Of The Leopard Books. Indy bookshops are an endangered species in Bristol and elsewhere; even the big shops are closing down; we recently lost Borders, and Blackwells' Park Street shop is shrinking massively so that a Jamie Oliver restaurant can open in the upstairs bit.
Apparently the council want the stallholders at the market to keep the front of their shops clear of stuff, to make it 'as welcoming and as attractive as possible' . Which is odd, because I thought it was welcoming and attractive, even if it isn't like Bristol's 'prestigious' Cabot Circus (or Carboot Circus, as it is known locally). The trouble is, some people (like me for instance) go to the market because it isn't like Cabot Circus. It would be a shame if the place got tidied up. There's a petition asking them to think again. Here it is.
How could you not have books spilling out from a real bookshop? We really must get past the motorway and stop at Bristol next time we go back.
ReplyDeleteI love Katie's coat
I wonder if the Blackwells is contracting because its staff are as rude as the ones at the Mother Lode. No shortage of indy bookshops here at least.
ReplyDeleteOur Pie Minister(nice try at temptation there Dru!) is in a similar market. It wouldn't be the same place at all without its street furniture of random merchandise and hanging meat, the same now as two hundred years ago. I hope our council don't follow the example of yours.
Beast Clothing Flash banner: made oi larf.
Most council exectuives would love to see this country turned into a coast to coast Arndale Centre. Loathsome places.
ReplyDeleteTidiness is an overrated virtue. I have to struggle daily against my own tidying-up instincts.
ReplyDeleteWhat would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
Petition signed.
Determined, yes, to stop in Brizzle next time we drive to Cardiff.
ReplyDeleteLollipops and indie bookshops - perfect. I did a week at the Old Vic recently, my first time staying in Bristol - and I loved it. Now I've been following your blog I keep thinking: "I didn't see most if it!"
Obviously I will avoid this infamous Carboot Circus.
x
Determined, yes, to stop in Brizzle next time we drive to Cardiff.
ReplyDeleteLollipops and indie bookshops - perfect. I did a week at the Old Vic recently, my first time staying in Bristol - and I loved it. Now I've been following your blog I keep thinking: "I didn't see most if it!"
Obviously I will avoid this infamous Carboot Circus.
x