Stop 01 - Broad Quay and Princes Street
Stop 01 on the Bristol Insight circuit: Broad Quay, the Arnolfini and Princes Street. Where the tour starts, the harbour begins, and coffee is cheap at ten.
Broad Quay is the inland end of Bristol’s Floating Harbour - the point where, if you follow the water backwards from the Avon Gorge, the city finally tightens around it. In the eighteenth century this was where slave-trade ships unloaded; in the twentieth, it was a working quay; today it is a wide cobbled apron that doubles as a gig venue, a Christmas market site, and the departure point for the Bristol Insight bus circuit.
What to see
Stand with your back to the bus stop and look across the water. The long brick building on the far side is the Arnolfini, Bristol’s contemporary art gallery, housed in a restored tea warehouse and open late most evenings. To its right, crossing the water, is Pero’s Bridge - the footbridge with the two curled horns, named for an enslaved eighteenth-century Caribbean man who lived and died in Bristol. Cross it if you have time; the walk over to Wapping Wharf for lunch is one of the most rewarding half-hours in the city.
Turn right from the bus stop and walk thirty seconds up Princes Street. The small garden square on your left is Queen Square, one of the largest residential Georgian squares in Europe, and a good place to eat a sandwich in summer.
How long to stay
If you are doing the full circuit, budget thirty minutes at Broad Quay. It is the launch and return point, so you will pass through twice anyway. If you make it a proper stop, allow an hour - enough for a coffee at the Watershed terrace and a walk across Pero’s Bridge to Wapping Wharf.
Nearby stops
- Stop 02 - We The Curious is a two-minute walk across Millennium Square.
- Stop 03 - Hotwell Road is four minutes west along the quay.
- Stop 19 - St Mary Redcliffe is ten minutes east, across Bristol Bridge.
Practical info
Step-free access throughout. Public toilets at the Watershed, open daily 09:00 - 23:00. The nearest taxi rank is on Colston Avenue, 90 seconds north; the nearest pub the Cornubia on Temple Street, five minutes east.
