15 bears of Bristol you may not know about

Thanks for all your fantastic bear suggestions. The number of Bristol bears just keeps going up and up.

1/ Bearpit

Of course the correct and proper name for the Bearpit is St James Barton roundabout, but this being Bristol we decided that the Bearpit is a much more exciting name; except the site was never the site of a bearpit. It was a hole in the ground dug in the 1960s.

Once you’ve got over that you’ll be cheered to know that bears were once regular visitors to the annual St James’ fair held on the site of the Bearpit.

The fair attracted entertainers and merchants from all over the country and there are contemporary reports of bears seen at the Bearpit – phew we didn’t make it up after all!

2/ Bear baiting

Bear baiting did indeed take place in Bristol and we were a blood thirsty lot in the past, fond of all kinds of ‘sport’, including bull and bear-baiting. 

In the 1600s bear-baiting took place on what’s now Queen Square and later Canons Marsh. Bear baiting is also reported to have taken place at the Hatchet Inn – Bristol’s oldest pub.

3/ Bear artist 

Artist Jamie Gillman created the famous 12 foot Bristol bear which looms over the Bearpit. He actually made two versions of the bear – the first much smaller one is on display at the Stokes Croft Museum.

Jamie created the bear from reclaimed materials, as a “symbol of great things possible even where few resources exist”.

4/ Bear car park

He’s a bit tucked away behind the trees but have you spotted Bristol’s newest bear on the side of the Cabot Circus car park?

5/ Bear pubs 

You may be thirsty when you come out of hibernation but Bristol bears will feel at home at the White Bear on St Michaels Hill, the Bear and Rugged in Southmead, the Bear and Swan at Chew Magna and The Bear in Hotwells.

The Bear and Rugged Staff in Little Peter Street was demolished in the 1960s but regulars remember a secret tunnel which was used by smugglers.

6/ Hot bears

Photo credit: Dave Alex Riddett via the Bristol Archive Records

A legendary sweaty 70s night out at The Bear in Hotwells.

Headline acts included The Untouchables, The Vultures, Joe Public, The legendary Spics, Steve Bush with the Blue Wave Band.

The Hot Bear lasted just one memorable year in 1977 and culminated in the Hot Bear Ball at Trinity.

7/ Hairy Bristol bears

To save any hairy bear blushes here is a picture of a very hairy grizzly bear

Hairy bears gather once a year for the Bristol Bear Fiesta.

The gay event weekend has been held every June for the last thirteen years in Old Market and, in 2015, won ‘Best Men’s Event’ in the ShoutOut Awards.

8/ Bear gathering

Hairy Bristol bears favourite night time haunt is the BBB, or the Bristol Bear Bar, in Old Market.

It’s billed as “the first and currently only, purpose built bear bar in the UK”.

It’s hot and hairy in there according to our news ed.

9/ Bear necessitates

All the best dressed teenage bears in Bristol have been buying their clothes at Pull and Bear in Cabot Circus.

10/ Little bears

Thousands of little Bristolian bears have gone to Mama Bear nurseries.

The chain of nurseries was established in Bristol in 2012 and now have branches across the South West.

11/ Spectacled bears

Not all of our Bristol bears are made-up names or sweaty nights out.

Bristol has it’s very own real life bears who arrived at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm earlier this year.

The two Andean (or spectacled) bears are brothers Tupa and Sonco who came from Frankfurt Zoo.

12/ Lost bear

It’s amazing the fuss people made of this moth-eaten tatty old (cough) antique teddy bear which was left in the departure lounge of Bristol Airport in 2012.

His discovery sparked an international search for its owner and the full might of social media was thrown at solving the mystery.

His rightful owner came forward and ‘Bristol’ was later sold at auction for more than £2,000 – so that was worth the effort then…

13/ Zoo bear

Bristol Zoo’s polar bear enclosure opened in 1935.

The last two polar bears Misha and Nina (pictured), were put down in January 1992. Misha had spent a decade in a Chipperfield circus beast wagon before being rescued and had a pronounced pacing habit.

Their skeletons are now held by Bristol University Veterinary School.

14/Famous bears

OK bear with us because this bear is a bit of a stretch but Bristol’s Natural History Unit has filmed hundreds of bears doing their thing over the years.

But the world’s best natural history cameramen don’t just sit in a hide and film the bears from a safe distance.

You don’t win awards doing that; you have to suffer for your art, as cameraman Gordon Buchanan did when he spent a year with a family of black bears to film The Bear Family & Me.

15/ Bear with two heads

Deep in the archives at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery is a bear with two head…well sort of.

Curators told Radio Bristol how they found the skeleton of a bear with the wrong head attached. They think the mix up may have happened when Bristol was bombed during the second world war.

After a hunt round they eventually found the right bear skull and reunited the bear’s bits.

It’s a late addition at number 16 but how could we forget Banksy Bear?

 The Mild Mild West in Stokes Croft depicts a huge, smiling teddy bear with a Molotov cocktail in his paw, facing three policemen holding up riot shields.

Steve Wright, who wrote Banksy’s Bristol: Home Sweet Home, told The Telegraph that were are all rather fond of Banksy’s fuffy teddy.

“Maybe because it’s a kind of comment on an aspect of the Bristolian character – a laid-back cider-drinking hippy who can nevertheless be roused into action. Fluffy but defiant.”

The bear suggestions just keep on coming in…thank you grrreat bears!

At number 17 it’s the Roller Bears 

Bristol Roller Derby got in touch about two of their skaters named after bears – Grizzly and Bear Thrylls. 

And number 18/ Book Bear

Bristol author and illustrator Duncan Beedie  had some bear inspiration when he wrote The Bear Who Stared.

“I wrote this children’s book about a bear – and I’m from Bristol – so technically, it is a Bristol bear too,” says Duncan.

If you know any more Bristol bears get in touch pamela@bristol247.com

Read more: 12 Bristol unicorns you may not know about