Can Broadmead become Bristols Covent Garden?
The streets of Broadmead will be filled with activities and entertainment this weekend to celebrate the shopping area’s £11 million facelift. The builders have gone. So, too, have the tired-looking shop fronts, the tatty benches, the grubby litter bins, the concrete bollards and the dated phone boxes replaced by modern, stainless steel street furniture, bright new shop facades, and eye-catching landscape architecture. There is new paving, including a design based upon the theme of the River Frome which runs beneath Broadmead, interspersed with stone balls. White tree-like structures with words from Massive Attack and Portishead carved into the timber have been installed around the Podium, and real trees have also been planted. However, the completion of Broadmead’s £11 million facelift does not mark the end of work to transform the Bristol’s central shopping area. Instead, it is just beginning, according to manager John Hirst. The street entertainment this Saturday for the ‘We Love Bro
