Park Street , Bristol Bs1

A Memory of Bristol.

My, how Bristol's once prestigious Park Street has changed. The picture from a hundred years ago shows just what a graceful place it was to shop in those Edwardian days of long ago. Strolling up, on the left, one could visit Avery's or Gilbey's for your wines and spirits, Arthur Cave or Bowen and Co, for a new suit and then pop into number 45, which housed the Servant's Registry, to see if they had managed to find you that extra housemaid yet.

You could then spend a while in Chicott's (it's still there, a rare survivor) perusing their jewellery before going on to Curry and Paxton to see if your new spectacles had been dispensed. On reaching the top you could see if that new book was in George's, still there today but now belonging to Blackwell's. On the other side of the street were yet more tailors, high-class milliners and costumiers, and at number 22, sandwiched between the grocers and the post office, was Norman Smith, saddler's and harness makers.

You'll notice a complete absence of motor vehicles in this photograph, probably because the hill was just too steep for those early pioneers not prepared to risk a major breakdown before they had chugged to the top. If you think that there is something missing from the early picture, you're right. It's the University's Will's building with its tall tower, which wasn't erected until 1925.