Leisure Time in Bedminster
- GVHeritage Groups
- Dec 9, 2024
- 1 min read
by the West Street Heritage Group for Futures Past
Churches, public houses and places of work were where most people found a social life and sports activities such as football and cricket. Bedminster Cricket Club exists to this day.
There was also the YMCA - Young Men’s Christian Association - now the acta Centre on Gladstone Street - and a youth club and Bedminster Carnival organised at the United Reformed Church.
Cinemas and the Bedminster Hippodrome on East Street (destroyed by a WW2 bomb) were a short walk away.
Bedminster Town Hall (opened 1891) was used for concerts and then as a cinema.
Many residents remember Heal's Fairground behind the Red Cow.
Bristol South Swimming Baths opened in April 1931. Many miners and others had allotments on Gores Marsh Road, Longmoor Road and near South Liberty Lane.
For a few years, local residents organised a South Bristol Festival in South Street Park, and residents of Churchlands Road (seen here celebrating the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977) still use any excuse for a street party.
Patsy Derrick and Keith Goodenough talking about hooped skirts, dancing at the Glen and buying music
