People / My Bristol Favourites
My Bristol Favourites: Noreen Masud
Noreen Masud is a lecturer in 20th century literature at the University of Bristol, and an AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker.
Noreen’s research covers flatness, spivs, puppets, leftovers, earworms, footnotes, rhymes, hymns, surprises, folk songs, colours, superstitions and more.
Her recently published memoir, A Flat Place, has been described as “raw and radical, strange and beguiling – a love letter to Britain’s breathtaking flatlands, from Orford Ness to Orkney, and a reckoning with the painful, hidden histories they contain”.
is needed now More than ever
These are Noreen’s top-five Bristol favourites:
Cafe Kino
Cafe Kino is one of the best people-watching spots on Stokes Croft – photo: Martin Booth
“Non-profit workers’ co-op Cafe Kino is all vegan, their ‘bacon’ breakfast muffin is one of my greatest joys and their caramel matcha latte haunts my dreams. The lighting is deep and yellow and soothing; their booths are cosy and allow you to hide away to write or work; the staff are incredible. And you can pay for a ‘suspended’ coffee or soup for anyone who needs one.”
The Cotham Hill glove fence
Cotham Hill’s glove fence is a local landmark – photo: Martin Booth
“It does look a bit like a wall of hunting trophies, but if you’ve lost your glove around Clifton, chances are you’ll find it here. One of my favourite things about living in Bristol is the take-what-you-need, leave-what-you-don’t culture, and this is a great example.”
The giant Montpelier fern
The Montpelier fern in its resplendent greenness – photo: Noreen Masud
“I pass this fern every day on my way to and from work, and I love it. It’s so big! Who grew it? Who looks after it? I have no idea! It’s a bit brown at the moment because we’re coming out of winter, so I hope it will soon return to its former resplendent greenness.”
Gloucester Road Books
https://www.instagram.com/p/Crsm2ADsLtT/
“There are so many brilliant indie bookshops in Bristol, but I have plumped for Gloucester Road Books because it’s the closest to me. An incredible, lovingly curated selection.”
Severn Beach
“The flattest (i.e. best) place I have found in greater Bristol. Take a train on the Severn Beach Line and in almost no time you’ll be staring out at the spectacular mudflats of Severn Beach, picking tiny fossils out of the shingle, and stopping by Shirley’s Cafe for chips. It’s so flat and windy that the trees grow at an angle on the seafront. I love it to bits.”
Main photo: Noreen Masud
Read next:
- Bristol’s first new railway station in almost 100 years opening soon
- New nose job needed for Bristol’s famous ‘house that smells’
- Three Bristol bookshops shortlisted for Independent Bookshop of the Year 2023
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