Related Links

Housing

• FindaProperty

  Provides listings of properties available to rent or buy in Bristol, as well as links to local estate and letting agents

• UpMyStreet

  Gives details of property prices by area and includes information about crime and policing, local services, schools etc.

• OnOneMap

  Search for properties to rent or buy using the popular Google Maps interface

Entertainment

• Crackerjack

  Bristol entertainment guide

• VisitBristol

  Official tourist information for Bristol

Hospitals

• University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

• North Bristol NHS Trust

Bristol

Bristol’s history dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, when a settlement grew up between the Rivers Avon and Frome, known as Brigstowe. Bristol has a rich maritime trading heritage, with ships leaving Bristol to found colonies in the New World. John Cabot set sail in 1497 from Bristol, in his ship the Matthew, hoping to find a passage to East Indonesia.

In the mid 18th century Bristol became England's second biggest city and the country was flooded with goods imported via Bristol, including: sugar cane, tobacco, rum and cocoa, all of which were products of the slave trade.

By the 19th century, the arrival of a new chief engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, shaped the face of modern Bristol today. His legacy includes: the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the “SS Great Britain” - the world's first ocean-going, propeller driven, iron ship. The museum which now houses the SS Great Britain was voted UK Museum of the Year 06/07.

The city is a large commercial centre and the largest city in the South West. The aerospace industry has been based in Bristol since George White founded the Bristol Aeroplane Company at Filton in 1910. In the mid 1960s, Concorde was built and tested at Filton. Today, Rolls Royce and Airbus UK have sites in Bristol.

The city is home to attractions to suit all tastes. Bristol's harbour-side is vibrant and includes the “Arnolfini”, a contemporary arts centre and the “Watershed”, Britain's first media centre. This area also offers the opportunity to go on boat cruises around the harbour and there are many fine restaurants and bars.

The “Downs” makes up Bristol's largest open space, with views over the Avon Gorge. Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery has an outstanding collection and Bristol Zoo and gardens are a great family day out. The Bristol Hippodrome is one of the country's top provincial theatres, which stages major West End and Broadway productions. Shopping in Bristol is varied, with hundreds of shops in the city centre as well as the Mall at “Cribbs Causeway” in North Bristol.

Adrenaline junkies will be right at home in Bristol as there are opportunities for adventure activities such as riding, rock-climbing, mountain biking, karting, driving, skiing, skating, cycling and canoeing. There are also opportunities to keep up with the professionals in Bristol sport by watching football, cricket or rugby. As Britain's ballooning capital and the home of “Cameron Balloons”, Bristol is the perfect place to enjoy a champagne hot-air balloon flight across the city or join the annual balloon festival.

Bristol has a busy nightlife with bars, pubs, theatres, cinemas, comedy clubs, restaurants and live music venues. The “Colston Hall” is Bristol's largest concert hall and has a diverse range of shows and famous performers throughout the year.

Bristol has an outstanding clubbing scene and regularly attracts top name DJs and acts. Bristol's main nightlife areas are around the harbour-side, along Whiteladies Road, Park Street, Corn Street and the Old City.

The links on the sidebar will take you to some useful websites. The Severn Deanery is not responsible for any of the information published by external websites.

Hospitals

University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust is a dynamic and thriving group of hospitals in the heart of Bristol. It has 7,000 staff offer over 100 different clinical services across eight different sites. With services from the neonatal intensive care unit to care of the elderly, the Trust offers care to the people of Bristol and the South West from the very beginning of life to its later stages.

The Trust’s staff have developed leading edge services such as cardiac surgery and bone marrow transplantation that have built an international reputation and are in demand by patients from across the country.

With strong links to the University of Bristol and University of West of England the Trust is the major medical research centre in the region. Findings allow the Trust to continually improve our patient care.

University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust has academic links which make it the largest centre for medical training in the South West, attracting high calibre clinical staff from across the UK.

The Trust aims to provide healthcare, research and teaching of the very highest quality.

North Bristol NHS Trust

North Bristol NHS Trust employs over 10,000 staff. It provides care from two large acute hospitals – Frenchay and Southmead – and from a variety of smaller locations, including Cossham, Orchard View, Riverside Unit and other community-based sites.

The majority of the Trust’s work is the provision of all hospital based medical and surgical services to the local population of North Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset and maternity and paediatric services for a local population of approximately 500,000.

Specialist regional services include neurosciences, burns and plastic surgery, orthopaedics, pathology and renal services for people living in the former Avon area, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire and also throughout the South West peninsula.

North Bristol is a teaching Trust with links to the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England. This Trust is committed to developing its staff by offering them learning and research opportunities that will ultimately improve the care and services offered to patients. They have also strengthened their research portfolio over the last year, with around 600 staff involved in 359 separate research projects.

The Trust is working with staff, patients and the public to plan the new state-of-the-art acute hospital at Southmead. The Frenchay site becomes a community facility to support the main site and provide more local ambulatory care and PCTs are also developing plans and facilities within their own boundaries to improve the extent of clinical services provided out of hospital settings. Investment of over £400million is planned to reprovide the acute and two community facilities at Southmead and Frenchay by 2013.