This year marks the 200th anniversary of one of the biggest milestones in Bristol’s shopping history, writes Andrew Swift: the opening of the Arcade between Broadmead and Horsefair
The world’s first shopping arcade – the Galeries du Bois – opened in Paris in 1786. Not until 1818 was the idea adopted in England, with the opening of London’s Royal Opera Arcade. The more famous Burlington Arcade opened the following year. Six years later, Bristol was the first British city outside London to get in on the act, when local architects James & Thomas Foster adapted the design of the Burlington to build two Arcades, whose combined length was just shy of the Burlington’s 178 metres. The Upper Arcade, linking Horsefair with St James’ Barton, was the first to open, in May 1825; the Lower Arcade, linking Horsefair with Broadmead – and known, since the destruction of the Upper Arcade by bombing in 1940, simply as the Arcade – followed a few months later.
Defying expectations
The area through which the Arcades ran had long been built up, but the only access between the main thoroughfares lay through narrow alleys and insalubrious courts. The decision to clear a way through them and build a raised walkway lined with upmarket shops and roofed over with glass was a bold one. There were predictions that ‘the walks would be narrow, warm, and dark, and the shops inconvenient’ and that the Arcades ‘would be the ruin of their proprietors’. When the scaffolding on the Upper Arcade came down, however, the Bristol Mirror laid these fears to rest, reporting that ‘the temperature of the air, within the Arcades, during the late warm weather, was many degrees lower than in the street’ and adding that ‘a promenade there for half an hour is quite invigorating’.
In May 1825, the proprietors invited ‘linen drapers, mercers, lacemen, haberdashers, hosiers, jewellers, toymen, &c’ to apply for the leases of shops in the Upper Arcade, but warned that they could ‘only admit a certain number of each trade, which are select.’ The first to take up the offer was a Mr Rose, who opened a bookshop and library in mid-June. Within two months, 30 of the 38 units in the Upper Arcade were occupied. As well as another bookseller, there were two bootmakers, two clockmakers, two haberdashers, three hatmakers, two lacemakers, two milliners, two tea dealers, an artist & silhouettist, a fruiterer, a music dealer, a biscuit maker, a brushmaker and a dealer in ostrich feathers.
By this time, the Lower Arcade was finished and the units there were quickly snapped up as well. It is not difficult to see why the Arcades were such an instant success. They provided a safe haven for well-heeled shoppers, protecting them not only from the vagaries of the weather but also from the perils of the street. Wagons, horses, and the dust and detritus that came in their wake, were banished, and beadles were on hand to chuck any ne’er-do-wells out on their ear.
Visiting the Arcades was not always without incident, however. One evening in January 1848, for example, ‘as a young man was passing through the Lower Arcade one of the stones gave way and he sunk into the passage beneath, but without receiving any injury. Another, who was just behind, and who fell in also was not so fortunate, and he was cut and bruised to some extent’. Fortunately, such incidents were very much the exception.
War and clairvoyance
The Arcades continued to house an eclectic mix of retailers throughout the 19th Century, but in the 20th Century certain trades started to dominate. By the late 1930s, over half the units in the two Arcades were occupied by music shops, new and second-hand booksellers and wireless dealers. There were still some exotic occupants, such as Madame Naomi, a clairvoyant from Cheddar who took a unit in the Upper Arcade just before the Second World War. It is not known, though, whether she foresaw the destruction of the Upper Arcade on the night of 24 November 1940. The Lower Arcade survived the war, despite being knocked about a bit, and continued to trade. Any hopes that it would be a focus for the regeneration of the area, however, were rudely shattered when the council decided to move the city’s main shopping district from Castle Street to Broadmead and earmarked the whole area for redevelopment.
Among those who called for the Lower Arcade to be spared were the Ministry of Town & Country Planning, the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Bristol, and the City Architect. The council was adamant, however, and only backed down in 1951 when lack of funds forced them to scale back their plans.
By the mid-1950s, the Arcade, although distinctly frayed around the edges, was still busy, with all units taken. The bookshops had moved on, but nine of the units were still occupied by wireless dealers and five by music shops. Other businesses included a greengrocer’s, a tool merchant, a tobacconist, a toyshop, two jewellers, a fancy goods dealer, a gown shop, the Arcadia Tailoring Service and the Arcade Sewing Machine Co.
A Regency reminder
In 1985, the Arcade received a quarter-of-a-million-pound makeover, commemorated by a plaque by the Broadmead entrance and reinjecting some of the Regency sparkle that so dazzled its original customers. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to replace the flights of steps at either end – originally installed to raise the Arcade above the floods that once inundated the area – with ramps. New shopfronts were also added at the Horsefair end, partially masking the Greek Revival facade.
Today, the Arcade is not only a blast from the past – a reminder of Regency sophistication amid the brave new world of Broadmead – but also home to a vibrant line-up of independent traders. Some of them, such as Shakeaway Milk Shakes, Inked Up Tattoo and Piercing, Mabz’s Key Cutting, Maya’s Eyebrows, Superior Vapour and Taste of Napoli – would probably mean very little to the Arcade’s original clientele. Other shops, however – hairdressers, watchmakers, jewellers and tailors – follow in the footsteps of the Arcade’s first traders. And, in a remarkable instance of continuity, at No 14 – home, in 1825, to Alfred Phillips, Chemist & Druggist – today you will find Dr & Acuherbs, physicians, offering Chinese and modern medicine.
The Arcade is not only an extraordinary survival, it is where Bristol’s love affair with arcade shopping began, a love affair which, despite the growth of online shopping, shows no sign of abating. Cabot Circus and the Mall at Cribbs Causeway can both trace their origins back to the modest elegance of Bristol’s first Arcade. And, as Broadmead and Horsefair brace themselves for another major redevelopment, Bristol’s first Arcade not only provides a salutary link with the past but will hopefully play a key role in its regeneration.
To find out more, visit thearcadebristol.com. To discover more of Andrew Swift’s work, visit akemanpress.com. Photos courtesy of Andrew Swift.
