Lockdown 2.0 Diaries: BS1 – Harbourside, Old City and Wapping Wharf

On a recent November morning, the sun is shining brightly on the city centre. Christmas lights are hanging in Cabot Circus, but no shoppers are there to see them.

With only essential stores staying open during the second lockdown, most of the shops in Broadmead and almost all stores in Cabot Circus have shutters pulled down and freshly printed ‘closed’ signs stuck in their windows.

A few dozen people wander down the streets, queuing for the banks and grabbing lunch to go from Toasted and Eat a Pitta.

The busiest spot along Broadmead is the ever bustling Tesco Metro, with a group of builders buying meal deals and university students stocking up on their weekly shop.

Cabot Circus and Broadmead were quiet on a recent November lunchtime

Castle Park is similarly eerie, although not as quiet as the lockdown in spring. Many of BS1’s food and drink locations are offering goods to go. The stillness of the area, however, is ever apparent as the midday sun shines.

Despite the warm weather, Edna’s Kitchen on the edge of Castle Park has few customers, and only a couple of people are sitting on the nearby grass.

Across the river, Finzels Reach is almost silent.

“Where did you say we were putting this?” calls one member of staff at Left Handed Giant.

Five people move tables inside the brewpub, kitted out in PPE and performing a socially distanced dance to always remain two metres away from each other.

Finzels Reach was ghost-like, with almost all offices and food and drink locations closed

In the Old City, two men in suits, some of the few still working in an office, sip on coffee from Caffe Exchange outside the main entrance to St Nick’s Market.

“Mate, you were at that rave in Yate, weren’t you?” one jokes. “On the video from the police body cams.”

The other laughs and says no.

“Ah, that’s what they all say now that you can just wear a face mask and be anonymous,” he says.

They finish their coffee and head into the market, one of the few places in the city centre bearing some sort of resemblance to normality.

No one can sit down to eat, but a few of the food stalls remain open and people mingle – albeit at a safe distance.

Heading further down Corn Street and through to the centre, an out-of-place sign advertises happy hour at one of the nearby pubs and two members of staff from the recently opened Four Wise Monkeys take down the dine-in menus from the outside display. The restaurant has now become temporarily takeaway only.

Staff take down menus from Four Wise Monkeys

There will be no more drinks at the pub until at least the beginning of December

People mingle in the centre but it is noticeably calm and peaceful.

One mother takes her child to the bottom of the Cascade Steps to look at the water, a man sits on one of the metal benches to take a puff of his vape and eat his ham sandwich from the nearby Sainsbury’s, and two people queue for Quick Crepes.

The rest of the harbourside is similarly solemn. No tables and chairs remain outside the Bristol Stable, Watershed have again stuck ‘closed’ signs to its doors, and the Sky View ferris wheel has stopped turning.

A static ferris wheel, despite the pleasant weather

Across Pero’s Bridge, Society Cafe is shut, the Arnolfini is quiet and Queen Square is almost empty.

Heading over Prince Street Bridge, the image is mirrored. M Shed’s doors are shut, with joggers, e-scooter riders and mums with prams the only people to navigate the cranes and rail tracks of Princes Wharf.

Little Victories in Wapping Wharf remains open for takeaway and a steady queue builds. Friends chat over expertly-made coffee and a caffeine hit, while Deliveroo drivers wait outside Squeezed and Calypso Kitchen.

A queue forms at Little Victories on Gaol Ferry Steps

On nearby Hannover Place, Banksy’s Girl with a Pierced Eardrum remains safely wearing her mask, setting an example for the city.

The mask, which was added in April within weeks of the start of the first lockdown, is an ever-present reminder that the coronavirus pandemic is still very much here.

All photos: Lowie Trevena

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