The city has two significant football clubs: Bristol City F.C. who play in Football League One and Bristol Rovers F.C. who play in Football League Two. The city is also home to a Rugby Union club known as Bristol Rugby, who have won promotion to the Guinness Premiership, and a first-class cricket side, Gloucestershire C.C.C.

In summer the grounds of Ashton Court to the west of the city play host to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, a major event for hot-air ballooning in Britain. The Fiesta draws a substantial crowd even for the early morning lift that typically begins at about 6.30 am. Events and a fairground entertain the crowds during the day. A second mass ascent is then made in the early evening, again taking advantage of lower wind speeds. Ashton Court also plays host to the Ashton Court festival each summer, an outdoors music festival which used to be known as the Bristol Community Festival.

The city’s principal theatre company, the Bristol Old Vic, was founded in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic company in London. Its premises on King Street consist of the 1766 Theatre Royal (400 seats), a modern studio theatre called the New Vic (150 seats), and foyer and bar areas in the adjacent Coopers’ Hall (built 1743). The Theatre Royal is a grade I listed building and the oldest continuously-operating theatre in England. The Bristol Old Vic also runs a prominent Theatre School. The Bristol Hippodrome is a larger theatre (1981 seats) which hosts national touring productions, while the 2000-seat Colston Hall, named after Edward Colston, is the city’s main concert venue. Bristol is home to many live music venues, of which The Old Duke is perhaps the best known.

The music scene is thriving and significant. From the late 1970s onwards it was home to a crop of cultish bands combining punk, funk, dub and political consciousness, the most celebrated being The Pop Group. Ten years later, Bristol was the birthplace of a type of English hip-hop music called trip hop or the Bristol Sound, epitomised in the work of artists such as Tricky, Portishead, Smith and Mighty and Massive Attack.

It is also a stronghold of drum n bass with notable bands like the Mercury Prize winning Roni Size/Reprazent and Kosheen as well as the pioneering DJ Krust and More Rockers. This music is part of the wider Bristol Urban Culture scene which received international media attention in the 1990s and still thrives today. Bristol’s musical pioneering spirit continues as the home to one of the largest and most diverse DIY music communities in the UK.

The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection of natural history, archaeology, local glassware, Chinese ceramics and art. The Bristol Industrial Museum, on the dockside, shows local industrial heritage and operates a steam railway, boat trips, and working dockside cranes. The City Museum also runs three preserved historic houses: the Tudor Red Lodge, the Georgian House, and Blaise Castle House. The Watershed Media Centre and Arnolfini gallery, both in disused dockside warehouses, exhibit contemporary art, photography and cinema.

Stop frame animation films and commercials painstakingly produced by Aardman Animations and high quality television series focusing on the natural world have also brought fame and artistic credit to the city. The city is home to the BBC’s regional headquarters, and the BBC Natural History Unit. Locations in and around Bristol often feature in the BBC’s natural history programmes, including the cult children’s television programme Animal Magic, filmed at Bristol Zoo. The slang term “Bristols”, meaning breasts, was popularised in the Carry On series of films.

In literature Bristol is noted as the birth place of Thomas Chatterton, chief poet of the 18th-century Gothic literary revival, England’s youngest writer of mature verse, and precursor of the Romantic movement. The 18th and 19th century portrait painter Sir Thomas Lawrence and 19th century architect Francis Greenway, designer of many of Sydney’s first buildings, came from the city, and more recently the infamous graffiti artist Banksy. Many famous comedians are locals, including Justin Lee Collins and Lee Evans. Bristol University has given us the satirist Chris Morris, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of Spaced and Shaun of the Dead and Matt Lucas and David Walliams of Little Britain fame. Holywood actor Cary Grant was born in the city, Tony Robinson (Blackadder) studied at the Old Vic, and Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith, The Matrix) studied at the City School.

Bristol has one daily morning newspaper, the Western Daily Press, a local evening paper, the Evening Post, a weekly free newspaper, the Bristol Observer and a Bristol edition of free Metro newspaper. The local weekly listings magazine, Venue covers the city’s music, theatre and arts scenes. The city has several local radio stations, including BBC Radio Bristol, GWR FM and a university station, The Hub.

A minority of Bristolians speak a distinctive dialect of English (known colloquially as Brizzle or Bristle). Uniquely for an urban area of Britain, this is a rhotic dialect, in which the r in words like car is pronounced. It is perhaps this element of the dialect which has led outsiders to dub it “farmer speech”. The most unusual feature of this dialect, unique to Bristol, is the Bristol L (or Terminal L), in which an L sound is appended to words that end in a letter a. Thus “area” becomes “areal”, etc. This is how the city’s name evolved from Brycgstow to have a final ‘L’ sound: Bristol. Another Bristolian linguistic feature is the addition of a superfluous “to” in questions relating to direction or orientation. For example, “Where’s that?” would be phrased as “Where’s that to?”, a feature exported to Newfoundland English.
Sport

The city has two significant football clubs: Bristol City F.C. who play in Football League One and Bristol Rovers F.C. who play in Football League Two. The city is also home to a Rugby Union club known as Bristol Rugby, who have won promotion to the Guinness Premiership, and a first-class cricket side, Gloucestershire C.C.C.

Events

In summer the grounds of Ashton Court to the west of the city play host to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, a major event for hot-air ballooning in Britain. The Fiesta draws a substantial crowd even for the early morning lift that typically begins at about 6.30 am. Events and a fairground entertain the crowds during the day. A second mass ascent is then made in the early evening, again taking advantage of lower wind speeds.

Ashton Court also plays host to the Ashton Court festival each summer, an outdoors music festival which used to be known as the Bristol Community Festival. The annual Bristol Harbour Festival features displays of ships and musical performances.

Theatre

The city’s principal theatre company, the Bristol Old Vic, was founded in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic company in London. Its premises on King Street consist of the 1766 Theatre Royal (400 seats), a modern studio theatre called the New Vic (150 seats), and foyer and bar areas in the adjacent Coopers’ Hall (built 1743). The Theatre Royal is a grade I listed building and the oldest continuously-operating theatre in England. The Bristol Old Vic also runs a prominent Theatre School. The Bristol Hippodrome is a larger theatre (1981 seats) which hosts national touring productions, while the 2000-seat Colston Hall, named after Edward Colston, is the city’s main concert venue.

Music

The music scene is thriving and significant. From the late 1970’s onwards it was home to a crop of cultish bands combining punk, funk, dub and political consciousness, the most celebrated being The Pop Group. Ten years later, Bristol was the birthplace of a type of English hip-hop music called trip hop or the Bristol Sound, epitomised in the work of artists such as Tricky, Portishead, Smith and Mighty and Massive Attack. It is also a stronghold of drum n bass with notable bands like the Mercury Prize winning Roni Size/Reprazent and Kosheen as well as the pioneering DJ Krust and More Rockers. This music is part of the wider Bristol Urban Culture scene which received international media attention in the 1990s and still thrives today.

Bristol’s musical pioneering spirit continues as the home to one of the largest and most diverse DIY music communities in the UK. Artists such as Gravenhurst and Chikinki have revived popular interest over the past few years. Other highly influential cult acts include Wall Planner, Pricktaster, Snakes On A Plane and November’s Ashes In The Rain. A dynamic community of bands, artists, promoters and music fans has developed around the Choke forum, named after a popular fanzine and club night which has championed underground music from Bristol and beyond since 2001.

Bristol is home to many live music venues, of which The Old Duke is perhaps the best known. Internationally recognised jazz and blues musicians active in Bristol include Eddie Martin, Jim Blomfield and Andy Sheppard. St George’s Hall, on Brandon Hill, is notable for its classical, jazz and world music performances, and the Carling Academy is part of the national touring circuit for rock bands.

Museums

The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection of natural history, archaeology, local glassware, Chinese ceramics and art. The Bristol Industrial Museum, on the dockside, shows local industrial heritage and operates a steam railway, boat trips, and working dockside cranes. The City Museum also runs three preserved historic houses: the Tudor Red Lodge, the Georgian House, and Blaise Castle House. The Watershed Media Centre and Arnolfini gallery, both in disused dockside warehouses, exhibit contemporary art, photography and cinema.

Media

Stop frame animation films and commercials painstakingly produced by Aardman Animations and high quality television series focusing on the natural world have also brought fame and artistic credit to the city. Bristol is where the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has its regional headquarters, and BBC Natural History Unit. Bristol is also the birthplace of the actor Cary Grant.

Bristol is the home of a regional morning newspaper, the Western Daily Press, a local evening paper, the Evening Post and a weekly free newspaper, the Bristol Observer. A Bristol edition of Metro is distributed for free on buses in the area. The local listings magazine, Venue, is now published weekly after many years as a fortnightly publication and comprehensively covers the city’s music, theatre and arts scenes. The Spark magazine (Since 1993) covers the surging interest in all things green, ethical and New Age. Bristol indymedia is a resource for Bristol’s anarchist and activist community and is the sixth-ranked Google website associated with the city.

The cockney rhyming slang term “Bristols” (Bristol City = titty), meaning breasts, was popularised in the Carry On series of films.

Dialect

A minority of Bristolians speak a distinctive dialect of English (known colloquially as Brizzle or Bristle). Uniquely for an urban area of England, this is a rhotic dialect, in which the r in words like car is pronounced. It is perhaps this element of the dialect which has led outsiders to dub it “farmer speech”.

The most unusual feature of this dialect, unique to Bristol, is the Bristol L (or Terminal L), in which an L sound is appended to words that end in a letter a. Thus “area” becomes “areal”, etc. This may lead to confusions between expressions like area engineer and aerial engineer which in “Bristle” sound identical. Other examples include ‘Americal’ and ‘Canadal’, and, when unsure, the answer ‘I have no ideal’. In the same way, the Swedish Ikea is known by some as ‘Ikeal’. This is how the city’s name evolved from Brycgstow to have a final ‘L’ sound: Bristol.

Another Bristolian linguistic feature is the addition of a superfluous “to” in questions relating to direction or orientation. For example, “Where’s that?” would be phrased as “Where’s that to?” and “Where’s the park?” would become “Where’s the park to?”. Interestingly, this speech feature is very predominate in Newfoundland English, where many of that island’s early European inhabitants originated from Bristol and other West Country ports. They lived on the island in relative isolation in the centuries to follow, maintaining this feature.