Your city
Bristol is a cosmopolitan city steeped in history and rich in culture. With its wealth of creative talent, historic buildings, green credentials, high standard of living and excellent transport links, it’s no wonder Bristol has been given the European City of the Year award.
Your city
Bristol is situated in the South West of England, surrounded by rolling countryside, but only 90 minutes from London by train. It has everything you’d expect from a big city, but it’s human in scale, with much of it easily travelled by foot, on bike or by bus. Bristol is well connected as a major road and rail network hub, and it also has a busy international airport. The region is known for its engineering, IT and creative industries, and the city is home and workplace to scientists, engineers, academics and artists of many different kinds.
A diverse community
The city of Bristol is made up of a series of districts and areas, each with their own character: from the thriving, modern city centre with shops, cafés and restaurants, to distinctive neighbourhoods like Bedminster, Easton, Redland, Stokes Croft and St Werburghs. Close to the campus are the historic harbourside, the charm of Park Street, College Green and Clifton, and the wide green expanses of The Downs and Ashton Court.
Bridges, boats, bikes and balloons
Cultural life in the city ranges from a multitude of cinemas, theatres, concert halls, museums and galleries to more community-based projects like art trails, neighbourhood carnivals, open-mic nights and farmers’ markets. Bristol is also famous for its wide range of annual festivals: events celebrating everything from kites, sailing ships and hot-air balloons to music, short and animated films, and nature.
Bristol is a thousand years old but right at the cutting edge; dynamic yet laid back; teeming with culture but down to earth; independent but influential.
A green capital
It's a green place to live too, in more ways than one – there are over 450 parks and green spaces, and as the UK's first Cycling City and a Fairtrade City it's not surprising that Bristol has been named European Green Capital 2015, and is consistently ranked as one of the country’s most environmentally sustainable cities.
City-centre campus
The University is at the heart of Bristol in the historic district of Clifton. Among our 370 buildings are many architectural treasures, including the iconic Wills Memorial Building, the Victoria Rooms (where Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde gave public readings), and Royal Fort House, built in the 18th century on the site of fortifi cations from the English Civil War. Newer buildings include the latest in contemporary design and engineering, like the Dorothy Hodgkin Building (housing the Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology), the Synthetic Chemistry Building, the Nanoscience and Quantum Information Building (with laboratories whose vibration and acoustic noise levels are amongst the lowest in the world), and the brand-new Life Sciences Building (due to open in 2014). Close at hand are Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, and Brandon Hill, thought to be Bristol's oldest park, where Cabot Tower offers a panorama of the city.
You can find out more about Bristol and watch a video about what it's like to live here.
