News / Edward Colston
Road named after Colston now named after people who pulled his statue down
Colston Road now has a new moniker: Colston Four Road.
A road named after a slave trader is now named after the four people who were found not guilty of criminal damage his statue was pulled from its plinth and unceremoniously dumped in the docks.
The sign on the road in Easton certainly looks official. And it joins other unofficial signs in Bristol including one where Colston’s statue was thrown into the Floating Harbour near Pero’s Bridge.
is needed now More than ever
Colston Four Road is the new unofficial name for Colston Road, built in the 1890s – photo: Martin Booth
Colston Road is just one of several roads in Bristol named after the man who is still described on the plaque on the empty plinth in the centre as “one of the most virtuous and wise sons” of the city.
But while it is relatively straightforward to change the name of buildings and organisations, to change a street name needs the consent of two-thirds of the ratepayers and council taxpayers living on that street.
Colston Road only has one sign left to its real name – photo: Martin Booth
In the week after Colston’s statue, residents of Colston Road set up a suggestion box to put forward ideas for a new name for their road.
The box was put under where the Colston Four Road sign has been installed, on one side of the Old Co-Op Business Centre.
The new metal sign – which someone has written ‘yobs’ underneath – has been placed above the original road sign, with the sign on the other side of the road missing but one further up the street still in place.
Graffiti has been written over where one road sign used to be in place – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read more: Rogue plaque installed to mark first anniversary of Colston toppling
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