Then and Now Take Two – Harbourside

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

After going through some old photographs I found some of the Bristol Harbourside, so decided to go back to where I had taken these then photographs and take some new now photographs.

I took this photograph at the same time as I took the one of the industrial museum. It was taken either in 1995 or 1996. It was taken with my Canon SLR using film.

 

I wasn’t exactly sure which vantage point I had taken the original image.

Now we can see Peros Bridge which opened in 1999. The old Bristol and West building is now a hotel with new cladding.

The sheds are now bars and restaurants, back in 1995 we had the Watershed.

 

Then and Now Take Two – The Industrial Museum

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart. The first of the posts in this series was of a council building in Manchester. I always thought I should give then and now photographs a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart. Now this has come to my attention I have started to intentionally take photographs of the same place.

After going through some old photographs I found some of the Bristol Harbourside, so decided to go back to where I had taken these then photographs and take some new now photographs.

I took this photograph of the Industrial Museum on the Bristol Harbourside either in 1995 or 1996. It was taken with my Canon SLR using film.

I wasn’t exactly sure which vantage point I had taken the original image. The broken guardrail had been fixed.

Of course the Industrial Museum as was, was closed and replaced with the MShed

The railway tracks have also gone.

Find it interesting that the Balmoral is in both photographs in roughly the same place.

Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Seven

Back in the 1990s when I was teaching at a college in Bristol, I use to undertake regular field trips to the Bristol Harbourside as part of a unit on urban regeneration. There was at the time to much happening down there after years of inaction that it was an ideal place to demonstrate the impact of investment and change of use. Bristol had been an important port for hundreds of years, this all came to a halt in the 1970s and regeneration plans were developed. Not much happened for twenty years, but in the last twenty years we have seen major regeneration of the area, massive building of offices, business, residential and entertainment, as well as visitor attractions such as at-Bristol (where incidentally I worked for a while when it opened).

During one of those field trips, I took my SLR camera with me, and digging around a box in the garage I found some more prints, which I have since scanned in. This is a new post on these images, you can find part one, part two, part threepart four,  part five and part six.

This is the car park next the Lloyds TSB building.

It has now been landscaped and is called Waterfront Square and is pedestrianised.

As I find and scan in more photos I will initially add them to this post.

Redcliffe Parade

I had been out for drinks at The Ostrich and took some photographs of Redcliffe Parade as I was walking back to my car.

I do like the row of coloured houses on Redcliffe Parade, which overlook the harbourside.

From the Redcliffe Parade car park there are some nice views of the harbourside and in the distance you can see the Lloyds Bank building.

Over on the other side of the harbourside is the Thekla nightclub. Never been to it.

Another view and perspective of the Redcliffe Parade.

A view of the Mud Dock.

The view looking the other way.

Bristol Harbourside

Went for a walk around the Bristol Harbourside. It was a lovely and sunny day.

On one side of the harbourside is Miss Conduct, a floating nightclub I think, complete with helicopter.

Further down is the SS Great Britain, well an obscured view of the restored  historic ocean liner.

Up on the hill are the coloured houses of Clifton Wood.

This is the view from the Junction Swing Bridge.

Then there  was Poole’s Wharf, which I didn’t realise was originally a floating dock, that has been filled in.  The dry dock though remains, not as a dry dock but an inlet.

The harbourside is now very much a recreational space.

The old gasworks is now a mix of housing, apartments and bars.

Final view from the Mshed looking across to the Arnolfini and the Watershed.

Walking around the harbour

Spent a pleasant couple of hours walking around the Bristol Harbourside.

We were going to park in the Millennium Square Underground car park However we couldn’t quite believe the prices, so we went off to park in The Galleries instead. Not the easiest place to get to, now Baldwin Street is closed to traffic. Once parked there we headed off down Corn Street before heading down Marsh Street to Prince Street Bridge.

Moored up by the Arnolfini was the STS Lord Nelson, a sailing ship with lots of masts.

The STS Lord Nelson was a sail training ship operated by the Jubilee Sailing Trust. It is in the process of being decommissioned.

Having crossed Prince Street Bridge, we walked along Princes Wharf, on the dockside by the M Shed. The MV Balmoral was moored alongside.

MV Balmoral is a vintage excursion ship which required extensive hull work if she is to sail with passengers again.

Up by the M Shed is the Fairbairn steam crane. It can lift more tonnage than all the other remaining dockside crates combined.

As we walked along the docks I took a photograph of the old gasworks on the other side of the harbour.

There has been quite a lot of development and regeneration on that side of the harbour over the years. Back in the 1990s I did a ferry ride and took a photograph of the pre-developed area.

Another old view of that area.

We then passed Brunel’s Buttery where there were many people enjoying hot drinks and bacon butties. I don’t remember the last time I had a bacon butty from the Buttery, but I must go back at some point.

We walked past the SS Great Britain before heading inland slightly to walk past the Albion Dock.

We walked through the historic Underfall Yard before closing Merchants Road Bridge and then heading back to the centre.

As we walked long the harbourside we got a better view of the luxury yacht complete with helicopter.

There was another boat moored on Princes Wharf with a car onboard.

And to complete things off there was a small boat with a bicycle!

Having enjoyed our walk we headed back into town stopping for coffee at Caffe Nero on Corn Street.