All day and all of the night

This feature appeared in Bristol Life in 2017

All photos by Colin Moody unless otherwise stated. Thanks to Bristol Life editor Deri Robins

Bristol: a modern, 24-hour city that never sleeps

Here’s a selective snapshot of some of the goings-on during a single winter’s day and nigh

00.00 Midnight: The Clifton Suspension Bridge illuminations are switched off, but the safety lighting stays on all night. 2,976 low power LED bulbs light the bridge.

AM 00.05: The Met Office receives it first hourly report from Filton automated weather station giving details of the Bristol area’s air pressure, temperature, visibility, humidity, wind speed, likelihood of cats and dogs etc.

AM 00.15: The Bristol Scrabble Club (at Upper Horfield Community Trust) calls it a day. The only anagram of Bristol sadly, is Sir Bolt, so unless Usain sets up home in Totterdown, local celebrity wordplay will continue to be minimal.

AM 00.30: Bristol Sewage Farm at Avonmouth is reaching its quietest period. They treat, on average, up to 300 mega-litres of sewage every day. NOTE: if you’re visiting (and they hold regular open days) there is no farm shop.

AM 00.45: Customers at Mother’s Ruin in St. Nicholas Street dance like nobody’s watching; little knowing that photographer Colin Moody is.

AM 01.00 Florist Kika from Belle Du Jour, Clifton Village, heads for London to select the best specimens from the Covent Garden flower market.

AM 01.30: Bristol’s ambulance service is on full alert. From midnight until 2am is one of the busiest times for emergency services.

AM 01.45: Taxis in Bristol city centre are at full stretch.

AM 02.00: Flying Fish Cornwall deliver fresh fish to the Pony & Trap.

AM 02.15: The night manager at the enchantingly decadent Hotel du Vin begins collecting the room service breakfast cards.

AM 02.30: Bristol and Avon Constabulary officers continue patrolling the streets – but please move along to the next time slot. There’s nothing to see here.

AM 03.00: The first check-in staff arrive at Bristol Airport, ready for the rush hour. Bristol is to aircraft what Salzburg is to Mozart, or Melton Mowbray is to pork pies. The city has an aviation pedigree that dates back to 1910. Today, the airport processes up to 7 million customers a year.

AM 03.30: Busiest time for Bristol’s 24-hour locksmiths, helping forgetful or careless home-goers. (Many of these same customers present themselves later at Bristol’s taxi ranks and police stations trying to locate their mobile phones.)

AM 03.55 The first Plymouth Falcon arrives at Bristol Airport terminal with bleary-eyed passengers full of hope – hoping they’ve remembered to print out their boarding passes.

AM 04.00: Steve, Master Baker at Bakesmiths, Whiteladies Road, arrives to feed his sourdough mix and turns on the ovens in readiness for the day’s first batch of bread.

AM 04.30: Tim Fowler of Certus cars checks his route for an early run to Bristol Airport. His Mercedes S has SatNav, compass and Google Earth, but in addition Tim always has a look at his map (for younger readers, a ‘map’ is a paper thing with roads drawn on it.)

AM 04.47: The first train for London Paddington pulls out of Temple Meads. Those sitting in the first class carriages and holding open return tickets will have paid approximately £187 for a seat. Even oil companies are saying, hey, come on, you can’t rip off customers like that.

AM 04.50: Colin Paige, Head Brewer, arrives at Butcombe, checks the temperature on the hot liquor vessels, and then starts the mashing process. This is not an early morning dance, but a cunning way of kick-starting that ancient equation: yeast + hops = happiness

AM 05.00: Florist Kika from Belle Du Jour, Clifton Village, makes her choice at the flower market, loads up, and heads west to BS8.

AM 05.30: Melanie Hill’s alarm clock goes. Mabel’s Greengrocer, a heavy hitter in the vegetable and fruit retail sector, opens at 9am, and the shelves – and delivery boxes – need to be stocked

AM 06.00: “Good morning Bristol. Let’s get ready to bong.” Great George in the Wills Memorial Building (a must for the architectural pilgrim) tweets to his followers. George not only strikes the hour, but reaches his many fans throughout the day via Twitter.

At the same instant, Kam Kelly wakes up the rest of Bristol on radio station Sam FM. Turn the dial to 106.5 FM and if you're lucky with the playlist you'll be able to pretend that you've woken up in 1985 and still have all your hair.

AM 06.08: Inkie’s mother calls to wake him. “Inkward! Inkward! Time to get up.” Street artist Inkie, born in Clifton, is a stickler for time, so likes to be at his drawing board by 06.23. . . . . Actually we’ve made all this up. We’re not even sure his real name is Inkie, and we expect, like all genius artists, he gets up when the muse awakens within him.

AM 06.30: The Llandoger Trow pub in King’s Street begins serving breakfast. This is where Daniel Defoe met Andrew Selkirk, of shipwreck fame. The book Robinson Crusoe emerged from the meeting. You just never know what's going to come out of a brainstorming, blue-sky thinking breakfast.

AM 06.45: Cod and haddock arrive at Salt & Malt fresh from Cornwall. The driver has been trout and about since 4pm. And that’s the only fishy pun you’re getting. This is a respectable magazine, not a Christmas cracker guide. Bristol Life is about creative whiting. Oh, sorry about that. That definitely is the very last on the pun front.

AM 07.00: At Bristol Zoo baby gorilla Afia is the first animal to be fed – an early morning ration of milk. Her scientific name might be Gorilla gorilla gorilla, but all she wants is breakfast, breakfast, breakfast.

AM 07.05 The BMI Regional flight edges out from the apron and onto the main runway at Bristol Airport ready to depart for Paris.

AM 07.10: Bristol Rugby players have breakfast, limber up and discuss team tactics.

AM 07.15: Tim Hunter, Butcombe Transport and Distribution Manager, waves the first of ten Butcombe drays out of the yard.

AM 07.30: Joe at Niche Frames in Stokes Croft loads up his van with Bristol-made frames and heads for London.

AM 07.35: Who made all the pies? Maggie and David warm their oven ahead of a busy day at Pieminister city. You have to handle your dough incredibly carefully if you want to win awards for baking pies. Which they have.

AM: 08.00: The first of Bakesmith’s sausage rolls leave the ovens and head for the counter. They join croissants, bacon twists and other stuff that should see you through the morning.

AM 08.12: (until around 08.14) The sun rises in Bristol in deep mid-winter. Which means, if it’s turned out nice, Cameron Balloons in Ashton Court will be inflating their flying machines and taking to the air. PS: Don’t ask the Camerons how a balloon works – you’ll just get a load of hot air. 

AM 08.15: At HorseWorld (Keynes Farm, Bristol) - the charity which rescues, rehabilitates and re-homes horses, donkeys and ponies - a dozen or so grooms are feeding the 100 plus animals currently being cared for there.

AM 08.30: Arnos Vale Cemetery opens to the public. Look out for the Terrett family grave, and pay your respects to the mother Sarah Terrett, an inveterate do-gooder. Sarah sadly (and somewhat counter-productively, given her brief) was conducting a temperance meeting when she fell off the platform to her death.

AM 08.45: At Bristol Wine School, Tristan Darby checks what wines will be needed for the day. Remember – a meal without wine is called breakfast.

AM 08.50: Michelin star chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias arrives at Casamia Restaurant. His first task: checking the menus for the day.  Whether he does this after polishing his Michelin Star, or before, we’re not sure.

AM 09.00: Over 3,000 passengers will have already made their way through security at Bristol Airport.

AM 09.01: It’s all hands to the pumps at Underfall Yard pump house, in the historic boatyard on Spike Island.

AM 09.20: Hemali Modha arrives at Amulet on Cotham Hill and checks the online orders, and prepares them for dispatch before opening the boutique.

AM 09.30: Another tweet from Great George: “Clapper polishing will commence shortly. Do not be alarmed if you hear excitable squeaking noises.” Clapper polishing, btw, can take up to two hours.

TICK TOCK . . . . .  .

AM 09.56: The first Bristol Ferry Waterbus of the day departs Hotwells, edging out into the river bound for Several Remote Nations of the World.

Oh no, sorry, that was Gulliver, who left Bristol on board the Antelope in 1699.

AM 10.00: One of the greatest bargains in Europe is now on offer – free admission to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

Knowledge is free here; all you need is a container to take it away in.

AM 10.10: Rehearsals at the Old Vic are underway for the evening performance.

AM 10.15: John at RB Boatbuilding continues waterproofing a boat hull cm by cm. In the old days it was inch by inch, but John is always happy to employ the latest innovations. His boats, by the way, sell for several guineas.

AM 10.30: Coffee shop time for Rich Warren, director of the Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival. He likes his coffee so dark and mysterious that it might well have been directed by Otto Preminger.

TICK TOCK . . . . . 

AM 10.50: At Butcombes, coppers start boiling. These coppers (vat-type, not policemen) disperse that hoppy, steamy vapour into the atmosphere.

AM 11.00: After a team meeting the rucking and rolling begins in earnest at Bristol Rugby – the training session is underway.

AM 11.00: The Bakesmiths Baristas begin a roast of some green coffee beans. But don’t ask for a green coffee, mind; it’s still black.

AM 11.15: Underfall Pump House is inspected for full pumpability. 

AM 11.20: Rosie Morgan, top banana in the cheese-making world, continues her mission to explain the ancient art to the laity at The Bristol Cheesemonger.

AM 11.35: Customers gather round on an Eat Walk Talk Bristol food tour at their tenth food stop of the day to learn about making and eating Gelato at Swoon. Swoon are the big cheese in the ice cream world.

NOON 12.00: The chefs at The Pony and Trap start making stock - beef, chicken or lamb, depending on the menu. It takes three whole days to make it Pony-ready. 

PM 12.15: Bristol Zoo’s Asiatic lion cubs, brothers Kamran and Ketan, are having lunch – joints of meat, served rare. They seldom ask for a cheeky walnut and beetroot salad or the like.

PM 12.30: The Butcombe-owned Cottage Inn on Baltic Wharf is on full service, serving meals, and of course beers, bitters and ciders. If there were a Nobel Prize for Bitter (as there certainly should be) the Butcombe Blond would surely have won it by now.

PM 12.55: Paddleboarders prepare for a daily harbour-side 4mph float-out past the ss Great Britain and back. Heave-ho. 

PM 13.00: The staff at Milk Thistle arrive bleary-eyed after some spirited, late-night carousing.

PM 13.15: Colin Moody is delivering his photography workshop at The Lounge, followed by walkabout in Bedminster. To book, call him on 07957 324251

PM 13.30: It’s exercise time at HorseWorld – Chevvie and Beaufort are saddled up and quite good to go (it’s a laid back sort of place). 

TICK TOCK . . . . . . . . 

PM 13.58: Show-time looms for lovely Laura Rawlings on BBC Radio Bristol. Don’t forget – the picture is always clearer on the radio. 

PM 14.00: It’s scone o’clock. Afternoon tea-time at Bakesmiths: freshly baked scones ready to be topped with clotted cream and jam. Don’t forget: “The sweetness of a cream on a scone combined with its creamy mouthfeel are natural stimulators of the pleasure pathways in the brain, a response that guards against disease.” (Some professor or another)

PM 14.10: On match days, Bristol City players begin their warm-up prior to the 3pm kick-off. A match takes 90 minutes even though a mathematician has recently worked out that in order to ensure the better team wins – and that luck plays no part – a match should properly last for 14 hours 18 minutes.

PM 15.00: The busiest time of the day at Bristol Zoo is over, and as many as 1500 people will have passed through the world’s fifth oldest zoological garden.

PM 16.00: Mike Timmins at Fabrication is ready to clock off after upcycling fabrics that would otherwise have been sent to landfill. He turns them into art, cushions and hand-made wonders using a limited edition 1935 Singer sewing machine. 

TICK TOCK . . . . . . 

PM 16.30: In mid-winter most of the animals at Bristol Zoo have begun putting themselves to bed. The birds and butterflies in particular will have begun roosting at 16.00. Nightie night, avians and lepidopterans.

PM 16.40: Two singers/performers at Studio 7 Artist Development check their makeup using the selfie method. 

PM 17.00: On match days Bristol supporters will also have begun arriving at Ashton Gate, unaware for the most part that a joke focusing on ‘Bristol supporter’ was banned by the BBC In the 1950s.

PM 19.00: The chefs at Casamia Restaurant are at full stretch, with the dinner service well underway. After sampling Casamia’s Devon Creedy Carver duck served on a bed of carrot purée, the diners discuss whether their life up to this point has merely been a drab interlude.

PM 19.05: The HMV store in Broadmead has closed for the night. Nearby, a statue to the HMV dog, Nipper – born in Bristol – stands unconcerned at the corner of Park Row and Woodland Road. Good boy!

PM 19.25: Bell-ringers arrive at St John's Church on Broad Street to practise the likes of quarter peals or Whittington Whole Pulls (you’d know a Whittington Whole pull if you heard it).

The tower of the 14th century church, the only remaining Bristol building built into the medieval city walls, contains a ring of six bells.

PM 20.00: Lights. Action. The film (every Wednesday) at Horts’s 26-seat Director’s Cut Cinema on Broad Street gets underway.

PM 20.15: Tom Hines of Bristol TV takes a short break at the Apres Bar Bristol before heading back to the studio. 

PM 20.30: The evening shift gathers momentum in one of Bristol’s oldest pubs, The Seven Stars. Abolitionist Thomas Clarkson collected information here on the slave trade – it’s still a good place to talk politics and quaff pints.

PM 21.00: The Ivy Clifton Brasserie in is now well into its evening service. The London branch regularly has paparazzi camped outside to snap A-listers, but we’re too cool for that sort of caper in Bristol. Mind you, the odd Game of Thrones star can often be seen tucking into baked sea trout with almonds or the like — dishes far removed from the standard fare they’re used to at Westeros.  

PM 21.30: The River Grille restaurant at The Bristol is taking its last orders for dinner. Around 300 hotels throughout the world are called The Bristol – named after the 4th Earl of Bristol’s appreciation of fine things, in case you’re wondering. But Bristol itself didn’t have one until 2007 when Jury’s Hotel Bristol changed its name simply to The Bristol.

PM 22.00: “Left hand down a bit, now, hard right . . .” – aircraft overnight parking begins at Bristol Airport. Flight schedule changes, emergency landings, unexpected arrivals all have to be factored in; but everything from Airbuses to Boeing 737s need to be accommodated. And you thought it was difficult finding a space on Queen’s Square.

PM 23.00: At HorseWorld, Vicky the live-in groom begins her final checks for the night. 

PM 23.39: The last train from Paddington pulls into Temple Meads Station.

PM 23.45 The last scheduled flight of the day lands at Bristol Airport. If you’re just arriving in Bristol for the first time, welcome! Turn right at the exit and head for one of Europe’s most vibrant cities.