Bristol, City of

The City of Bristol is a unitary authority and city in South West England, built around the tidal River Avon. Engineering works in the early 19th century transformed a stretch of river into the Floating Harbour, and Underfall Yard still manages the harbour's sluices and water levels. The dry dock at the Great Western Dockyard contains the SS Great Britain, the iron-hulled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and returned to the site where she was built.

Bristol's street pattern rises from the harbour onto plateaus and down into the Avon Gorge. The Clifton Suspension Bridge spans the gorge at Clifton and is linked to Brunel's engineering legacy. Bristol Temple Meads station began as Brunel's Great Western terminus and remains a transport hub. The city has long links to shipbuilding, tobacco trading and aerospace manufacturing. Cultural activity includes theatre, a film festival and street art: the stencil artist Banksy first gained attention for work on Bristol walls in the 1990s.