How a corner of St Philip’s became a centre for innovation

Now flanked by vast modern buildings and businesses, Avon Street was once home to an industry that played an integral part in Bristol’s history.

The gas works opened in 1821, sparking a 200-year legacy with links to the city’s biggest companies, from aerospace to Wills Tobacco and J.S Fry & Sons.

A new report by researchers at the University of Bristol sheds light on the history of this corner of St Philip’s and its social and industrial impact and analyses how innovations from two centuries ago mirror developments in the area today.

The work highlights the positive and negative effects of Avon Street Gasworks and Bristol Gas Industry across the city, how it drove sociological and technological change and how the legacy remains today as the area undergoes major transformation.

The university’s £50m new enterprise campus is at the heart of these regeneration plans and a new Bristol Digital Futures Institute (BDFI) will be built with a mission “to transform the way we create new digital technology for inclusive, prosperous and sustainable societies”.

Bristol Digital Futures Institute will have a mission “to transform the way we create new digital technology for inclusive, prosperous and sustainable societies” – image: Bristol University

Co-author of the report and BDFI research associate Dr James Watts says the history of innovation in the city can provide lessons for the digital future.

“The gas works at Avon Street opened in 1821, sparking 200 years of innovation in this corner of St Philip’s and is intimately tied into the history of Bristol,” Watts explains.

“Gas changed the way everyone lived and worked. It affected the health and wellbeing of residents and drove new social and technological change.

“I hope this report inspires academic questions about the legacy of this kind of innovation. For instance, pollution through the gas industry was sited locally but pollution from digital industries may be created on different continents or how working communities differ today in terms of location and commuting to the work-based areas and communities which dominated areas like St Philip’s.”

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Read more: Bristol University’s new £100m digital futures research centre 

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Issues around working conditions, industrial action, the impact of war, the role of women in the workplace, development of the nighttime economy, crime, pollution, domestic life and the transformation of local businesses and industry all feature in the report.

It explores how improved lighting meant that people could now work at night, paving the way for the nighttime economy, and how the gasworks, although dangerous, represented a steady and secure new source of employment.

Although gas was a significant source of pollution, with by-products entering the air and water systems, the industry was effective at marketing itself as environmentally-friendly, winning awards from the Royal Sanitary Institute.

Avon Street employees in 1910, when many of the key issues mirrored those of today – photo: Bristol Archives

Improved lighting meant that people could work at night, paving the way for the nighttime economy – photo of lamplighter: Bristol Archives collection

BDFI is now appealing for people to come forward with memories, images, documents or artifacts associated with The Gas Shed or Retort House, the former headquarters of the Bristol Gas Company, or its later use as the Vauxhall Drive Garage.

BDFI operations manager Hayley Shaw says: “As the fourth industrial revolution continues to unfold, we wanted to take the opportunity to examine our role as custodians of these buildings through this report.

“The development and production of the gas to fuel Bristol has many parallels with Bristol Digital Futures Institute. Issues around who can afford to access the benefits of innovation, mistrust of technologies where changes happen to rather than with communities, development of intellectual networks and pollution all draw out an opportunity for the Institute to learn from the legacy of its new home.

“I hope the histories of the Avon Street gasworks will inspire those who visit, work in and collaborate with our Institute to take forward the principals of developing transformative sociotechnical approaches to deliver a more inclusive, sustainable and prosperous future.”

Loxton drawing of the Bristol Gas Company 1919 – image ©Bristol Libraries

Main photo: M Shed

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