Bristol24/7’s 20 most-read stories of 2020

From coronavirus to the pulling down of Colston’s statue, 2020 has been a year like no other for news in Bristol.

Just missing the list were Banksy’s idea for the Colston plinth, a fire breaking out at one of the city’s biggest restaurants and Baldwin Street’s closure to through-traffic.

Here are the top 20 most-read stories of 2020:

20. Bristol could get its first new railway station for more than 20 years

Photo: FOSBR

In August, £1m was secured for the new Portway station on the Severn Beach Line from the government’s new Get Building Fund.

If built, it will be the city’s first new railway station for more than 20 years. The project next to the Portway Park & Ride has been in the planning stages for some time, with Network Rail giving an initial completion date of 2019.

19. End in sight for one of Bristol’s most notorious eyesores?

Photo: Martin Booth

In October, the three buildings on the western edge of Castle Park were brought under the same owner.

Federated Hermes, a global investment manager whose headquarters are in Pittsburgh and who have more than $625 billion in assets, purchased Bank House, Bank of England House and Norwich Union House, with the freeholds still owned by Bristol City Council.

Nicola Beech, Bristol City Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for spatial planning & city design, said that she is “really pleased to see the acquisition of these three buildings”.

“We will be working closely with MEPC to ensure that St Mary le Port has a much brighter future.”

18. Banksy: ‘I’m kind of glad the piece in Barton Hill got vandalised’

Photo: Martin Booth

Before coronavirus was a common part of our vocabulary, Banksy painted the Girl with Balloon on the side of a house in Barton Hill.

The new Banksy artwork in Barton Hill was hidden from view as quickly as it appeared when is was tagged with pink spray paint.

The elusive street artist responded to the tagging saying that “the initial sketch was a lot better”. Aachoo!!, which appeared on Vale Street in December, was covered in perspex as soon as it was confirmed to be by Banksy to prevent tagging.

17. 13 photos of Bristol on the last day before lockdown

Photo: Tamás Kovacs

Photographer Tamás Kovacs captured “the mixed mood of the city” on the day before the first lockdown at the end of March. His photos was a portrait of a Bristol prior to mask-wearing being the norm and when the encroaching pandemic was still a new and jolting experience.

16. Bristol becomes Gotham in the first Batman film to be shot in the city

Photo: Rob Ayling

Bristol24/7 love their films. In early 2020, Bristol was transformed into Gotham City for Living in Crime Alley, an eight-minute-long short film by a UWE Bristol graduate. Many of the external scenes were filmed in an alley off Corn Street, with Park Row being used as a nod to Batman lore.

15. Outspoken pub landlord to enter race to become Bristol’s next mayor

Photo: Martin Booth

With the mayoral elections delayed until 2021, Sean Donnelly had the chance to make a stand for the role. The landlord of the Three Lions pub in Bedminster says he is “I’m a proud working class man” who is outspoken on topics he believes are right.

“I made my feelings known that I supported Brexit. I have a platform to share the views that I believe in, which is my prerogative. And I appreciate everyone else’s views,” said the 56-year-old.

“We’ve all got views. I don’t know what views are right or wrong, I just know what I think is correct. And that’s why we are in a democratic country.”

14. Bristol Zoo to permanently close its Clifton site

Photo: Bristol Zoo

Bristol Zoo Gardens opened in 1836 and is the world’s oldest provincial zoo. But it announced in late November that it would close its 12-acre Clifton site and move all animals to its second site, the Wild Place Project.

Bristol Zoo Gardens will remain open until late 2022 with the Wild Place Project officially becoming Bristol Zoo in 2024.

Bristol24/7 readers’ reactions were mixed, with some remembering happy trips to the Clifton zoo, while others more than happy to see the small site closed.

13. Top Bristol chef and restaurateur ‘technically bankrupt’

Photo: Martin Booth

In May, Josh Eggleton announced that within one week of closing his restaurants, “cash flow was gone, costs were quickly spiralling out of control”.

With his restaurants including the Pony & Trap and Root closed, Josh Eggleton was using his time to support the charity, Caring in Bristol, which has delivered 50,000 meals to some of the city’s most vulnerable people during the pandemic.

But the chef said that he has had to reorganise all of his companies’ debt in order to plan for how to get out of this current situation over the next ten to 15 years, saying: “We just work on such tight margins. Technically, we are bankrupt.”

12. ‘Mass gatherings’ planned in two Bristol parks

Photo: Martin Booth

In what was one of the more surprising turn of events this year, police outnumbered protesters at two “mass” gatherings planned in May.

Planned by UK Freedom of Movement, a far-right anti-vaxxing group who believe “in freedom, equality and the sovereignty, structural integrity and democracy of the UK”, no one was seen at Brandon Hill and around ten people congregated at Victoria Park.

11. 23 photos of lockdown in Bristol

Photo: Simon Holliday

Bristol photographer Simon Holliday used his permitted exercise in the first lockdown to take to the city’s streets, camera in hand.

“These photos were all shot during hours which would normally be busy, most of them in the early evening between 6pm and 8pm,” said the 44-year-old, who normally works as an events photographer.

“There’s a certain odd beauty to the shapes and architecture of some of these spaces which it’s easier to appreciate without traffic and people.”

10. 31 of the best photos of Bristol’s highest tide for years

Photo: Martin Booth

What can we say? Bristol24/7 readers love a photo set. In mid-March, the Bristol tide read 14.5, the highest in years. The tide followed a wet Wednesday, a thundery Thursday morning, wind gusts of 44mph and by rain and rocketing hail stones led to the unusual occurrence.

9. Lewd graffiti about Prince Andrew swiftly removed

Photo: Martin Booth

‘Prince Andrew is a sweaty nonce’ read the words painted on a wall in George Jones Park until they were quickly removed by a Bristol City Council jet wash.

The under-fire royal was not the only focus of the scribbler, however, with ‘Boris is binbag’ also written on the wall backing onto a block of flats on Trinity Walk in St Jude’s.

8. Coronavirus live updates as first death confirmed in Bristol

Photo: James Koch

Bristol24/7’s editorial team ran live blogs every day for months to bring reliable and timely news to the city.

These blogs began on March 16 as the first death in the city, a 58-year-old former policeman. We reported early closures and cancellations, from CAMRA Bristol Beer Festival and the Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival to Wapping Wharf’s Box-E and a performance at the Bristol Hippodrome of We Will Rock You.

On this day, Prime minister Boris Johnson said “now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact and to stop all non-essential travel” as he urged people to work from home and avoid pubs, clubs and theatres.

7. One of Bristol’s oldest restaurants to close

Photo: Martin Booth

In June, the owners of the Glassboat announced the restaurant’s closure after being open for more than 30 years.

The former barge on Welsh Back reopened later in 2020 as Fish. Gone were the white tablecloths and in their place comes picnic tables, with plants and Fish t-shirts for sale hanging from the ceilings, and framed French prints from the Glassboat days.

6. Darth Vader statue appears on Colston plinth

Photo: Martin Booth

After the tearing down of the Colston statue in June, several sculptures appeared on or near the plinth, including one of activist Jen Reid.

The Darth Vader figurine appeared following the death of Southmead-born actor Dave Prowse, who played the Sith lord in the original Star Wars trilogy.

5. First case of coronavirus confirmed in Bristol

Photo: Joab Smith

The city confirmed it’s first case of the Covid-19 virus on March 6: a Bristol resident who had just returned from Italy, which had been severely hit by the pandemic already.

At the end of 2020, more than 16,000 people have tested positive for the virus, with the true number of those who have contracted the virus expected to be much higher.

4. All of the independents taking part in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme

Photo: Martin Booth

The Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme launched on Monday, August 3 and lasted the whole month.

The scheme let diners earn a 50 per cent discount on food and non-alcoholic drinks to eat or drink in up to a maximum of £10 discount per diner every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between August 3 and 31.

Bristol24/7 compiled a list of the independent restaurants and cafes taking part in the scheme, with many readers and owners worried that large chains would benefit the most from the scheme.

3. World War Two bunkers discovered under Bristol primary schools

Photo: Bristol City Council

World War Two bunkers were unearthed beneath the playgrounds of four Bristol primary schools in 2019, it was revealed in May.

The two that had already been filled are at Hillcrest Primary and Chester Park Infants, while £75,000 was assigned to make the bunkers discovered at Two Mile Hill and Air Balloon Primary safe too.

2. Mystery statue appears next to empty Colston plinth

Photo: Harry Matuszewicz-Milne

Days after Colston’s statue was toppled, a new sculpture appeared.

Resting atop a bin inscribed with the words ‘Spoiler: St George was Turkish’, the grey sculpture of a bald man clutched a small globe in one hand and a phone in the other. The screen showed the St George flag and text saying, ‘England for the English’.

The sculpture disappeared the next day. While some praised the temporary installation, others questioned the artistic merit of the piece.

1. Amazing secrets revealed inside Colston’s statue

Photo: Bristol Museums

As much as 2020 was the year of coronavirus, it was also the year of the Black Lives Matter movement and the monumental toppling of Colston’s statue.

Two surprising things were found inside the statue, which was found to be hollow. The first was a bicycle tyre which emerged from the harbour with the statue, and then the discovery of a clue to the people who first installed it in Bristol: A 1895 magazine rolled up inside the coat tails.

It is thought that these people could have been workers at the foundry where the statue was made, and the date when it was finished ready to be sent to Bristol where it would stand for 125 years until it was pulled down by protesters in mid June.

Main photo: Colin Moody

Read more: Bristol24/7’s most-read stories of 2019