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BBC Radio 4 - Cultural Exchange: Bristol

Neil Maggs and Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley go in search of the Bristol beyond the headlines.

Bristol's reputation is for being cool and woke but it also has poverty and political polarisation. Neil Maggs and Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley search for the city beyond the headlines.

Bristol has been making news over the past year - the toppling of Colston's statue, the renaming of its vibrant arts venue Colston Hall to the Bristol Beacon, the marches and protests for #BLM.  But its renown goes further back - a seminal music scene, nightlife and a laid-back vibe.  House prices are rising, now more rapidly in the pandemic as people are moving in from London.  It's always had diversity of media, but the mainstream are moving in. It's liberal; it had an overwhelming Remain vote and the Greens, Lib Dems and Labour are always jostling for its Westminster and local council seats.  So whilst the image may be affluent, cool, metropolitan, and woke, it also has wealth disparity, racial segregation, and political polarisation.  Neil Maggs and Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley criss-cross their way across Bristol searching for the city beyond the headlines.  

Neil is a Bristol-born and raised journalist and fiercely proud of the city.  Jasmine, also a journalist, is originally from London who moved to Bristol for university and never left.  They both step out of their comfort zones, with Neil heading up to the heights of Clifton to speak to Merchant Venturer Marti Burgess about the city's balance of power.  Jasmine heads south to the Three Lions pub in Bedminster to meet Paul Holbrook, a film director from Hartcliffe, to talk about Bristol's portrayal in the media and how that represents, or doesn't, where he's from.  Youth worker Levi Hodge says young people from Knowle West don't go up to Brunel's famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, and Makala Cheung and Neil talk about perceptions of what they say is the slowly-vanishing Bristol accent.  

Presented by Neil Maggs and Jasmine Ketibuah-Foley
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Toby Field

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