Importance to the city
While the city centre is the hub of Bristol’s visitor and cultural economy, the city includes 47 high streets and local centres, ranging from the Bristol Shopping Quarter with its extensive mix of household-name retailers, to the more traditional commercial areas like Bedminster, Henleaze, Stapleton Road, St Mark’s Road, Whiteladies Road and Gloucester Road that pride themselves on the service they give to their respective communities.
Bristol is well known for the diversity of its independent businesses. Our aim is to ensure that our high streets and local centres are connected, creative, green, sustainable and enterprising. We recognise that these areas are important for employment, leisure, transport accessibility, culture, health, creativity and learning, as well as shopping.
The agile and creative nature of the independents in Bristol means that some were able to adapt quickly. We have seen this through individuals like Pytch and Breaking Bread, and from networks such as The Lockdown Economy, Yuup and the Bristol Food Union.