# Helium's Grand World Süpa Tour of the UK



## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

Orignal post and other Pics Moved down the page see :yes:

Sexy places visited so far :nuts: 

*Bristol*
Montpelier
St. Pauls
St. Andrews
Stokes Croft

_*Portishead*_

_*oh and this would be an alternative tour of the UK*_ 

*so expect to see alot of random crap...*


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## Medo (Apr 7, 2004)

Some interesting pictures.


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

Yey! a comment! now i know how restauranteurs feel when they get a first customer! :happy:


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## Schmeek (Mar 28, 2007)

Nice, Helium. I aint been up those parts for sum time mind..
I have a few featuring the (very)steep hills of Totterdown should you want them.....


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^that would be lovely, i wouldn't mind if you added a litle personal commentary on th area too :yes:


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## Butterfield (Sep 20, 2005)

Nice photos helium! kay: Bristol is interesting and special. :yes:

Btw I followed the link to this thread from your signature! See? Advertising really _does_ work.


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2007)

you should have got a picture of the restraunt BELLS DINER!!! Its one of the most renowned in Bristol and has had accolades from all over the country... Its really different and has excellent food...

Good work though... I also clicked through from the Bristol threadfrom your sign...! :banana:


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## schemie (Apr 15, 2007)

love the graff!


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

Gee31 said:


> you should have got a picture of the restraunt BELLS DINER!!! Its one of the most renowned in Bristol and has had accolades from all over the country... Its really different and has excellent food...
> 
> Good work though... I also clicked through from the Bristol threadfrom your sign...!


i'll go there another time :yes: there's still alot i didn't take photos of. and thank you.:yes:



Schemie said:


> love the graff!


there's alot more, but alas i didn't take that many *wimple*


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## Irwell (May 22, 2006)

The real Britain! Very nice! 

And yes, I clicked your link. I visited yesterday but did not post, therefore I expect my free drink tomorrow.


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

There's no irony in the title of this thread. :shifty:



*I guess we will begin with (oh we're being local...):*

*The Montpelier (part 1) district (of which is pronounced Mont-pelly-urrr as opposed to Mont-pelly-aye) in the City of Bristol * 

*Everyone pretty much seema to describe this steep hillside neighbourhood as the Bohemian/alternative residential quarter of the city,

It does have that vibe to it, I'm guessing it's the rather healthy street art scene it has, and its mixed wealth, you can get some pretty rough families living right next door to some arty or yuppie type couples.
alot of new age hippies and those with alternate spiritual beliefs along with squatters and the like too make their home here.
and its just a stones throw away from St pauls, One of the citys most notorious districts. which is surprising considering hwo diffrent in feel it is.
*[/SIZE]











*Excuse the quality but anyway, this is picton street arguably the areas main commerical thoroughfare (bar Gloucester/Cheltenham road), its fairly striking at times because of its red brick as opposed to more conservative coloured stone and bricks used in the area.*




















*If you haven't guessed by now, then yes there are ALOT of cars, Bristol suffers from chronic traffic congestion problems, although here its more to do because there's nowhere to park your car.*










*Gradually working our way up the steep hills...*











*My favourite house in the area :yes:*




























*The Views at the top*



















*The train station, there's no ticket booth here, you need to buy tickets from the conductor whose on the arriving/leaving trains.*










*Looking towards the St michaels hill and Kingsdown Neighbourhoods.*










*thats all for now! :wave:*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^thank you medo.

*St. Andrews & Montpelier (cont)*

*From where we left off (ish), St andrews is just a plain old inner suburb right at the top of the hill that is right by Montpelier, theres lot of large victorian villas packed along the steep hills here, but its the views that are great :yes:*


*St Andrews*

























































*The area here is a tad scruffy, far more affluent than Montpelier but not as affluent as areas to the west,*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*See what i mean about scruffy in places (OK its just one pic but you get the idea...) :yes: but now one can only dream about living in such places*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

Butterfield said:


> Nice photos helium! kay: Bristol is interesting and special. :yes:
> 
> Btw I followed the link to this thread from your signature! See? Advertising really _does_ work.



:banana: , special as in Butterfield special?


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## Medo (Apr 7, 2004)

I like those houses with the stone fronts. :happy:


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## Bachy Soletanche (Aug 19, 2005)

There's a little disused building on the main high streety bit, just down the road from the station, and there's a little plaque with something like:

"The Police know illigal Activity is happening in this location, if it continues it will be stopped"

Next time I'm around there, I'll take a picture of it.

The Plaque that is, not the cottaging/drug taking/whatever it is people get up to around there!


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^ oh yeah ive seen that a few times, i was quite confused when i first saw it, the building is by the railway arches isnt it!


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*Montpelier cont.*




























*The area around Gloucester road. (there's alot more further up,but i'll leave that for another day.) *


*The Polish church, Orginally called the Arley chapel (congregational) built around 1855*





























*Heading to richer pastures up that hill...*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*St. Pauls, (inlcd. Stokes Croft area & Kingsdown towerblocks.)*

*yes we're still in Bristol, :shifty: we'll get to other parts of the country gradually et:

So here is St Pauls, quite unassuming in the daytime although it does have that sense of unease in places (but no more so than most rough inner city areas), despite what the bright (if now fading, ) pastel coloured rowhouses (painted under one of the councils schemes) tell you, this area for the most part suffers a rather troubled history. most famously its infamous drug problems (mostly crack and smack) and the St pauls riot.

Orginally a wealthy georgian suburb, home to Bristols wealthy merchants is now a large enclave of Bristols afro carribean (and newer african) population; theres a slight bit of irony here given the cities slave trade history (i think most people here are smart enough to work that one out) if you know what i mean.

The area quickly declined after the war, and the building of the M32 cutting the area off, exacerbated the problem even more.
although talks about properly rejuvinating the area, including a landmark office tower have recently come up, given the councils cretonic stance on everything who knows what will happen...
*










*Portland Square*
*Arguably the finest example of residential georgian architecture this side of Bristol. 
At one point most of the buildings lay in a semi derelict state but thankfully now funding is bringing the square back to life, although some buildings remian in a sorry state not too far away.*

*St pauls church*
*Now home to a circus training school :yes:*





















*See those buildings on the left? virtually only their facades (under the fly posters) remain.*









*Thats how close this square is to Broadmead, Bristols main shopping area which itself is undergoing massive redevelopment from what was grotty post war buildings and large swathes of dusty parking lots.*










*Put the rest, up later.*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*Cont.*

*City Road*
*a pretty notorious road until recently, whether or not the stories about the abundance of drug dens and all sorts of crimes (particularily stabbings) are true or exaggerated, this road has seen better days, which is a shame seeing as the large Terraces here would be worth 3 times as much had they been somewhere about a mile west. *






































*Off the main road, most of the streets look like this- they're quite nice to be honest but security here can be an issue.*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*Stokes Croft (BRISTOL)*
*Westmoorland house
Laying derelict for quite some time now, probably for at least 15 years, its become a somewhat loved/loathed landmark, due to its size, and is a constant reminder for some about the state that this area has ended up in, inside however is a graffiti/street art lovers dream, and sometime ago a deadbody was found here, it sort of grows on you :yes: (the Building, not the dead body) and if it ever were to go i'd miss it.
*































*The old Bristol carriage works (right) an example of Bristol Byzantine architecture, in a rather sorry state.*










*This renovated building here has become studios rented out to local artists and next door is a nice deli (turkish last time i checked):shifty:

Studio website is here!

Its fairly unique, as it has a rather raw industrial look to it*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*Nice Graffito that :yes:*










*Technically St. Pauls this is (half of) Brunswick square,it had this sense of uneasy tension about it much more so than Portland square which is right around the corner (which had none), although you can't see them here;hidden behind that white land rover :yes:, a large crowd of Drunks and grockles (most of which are regulars) (and apparently curb crawlers at one point come nightfal)l, attend and just piss about and make a racket perhaps i'll take more pics when im not so intimadated by the lowlifes (and i know my camera aint going to get nicked :shifty, the Place stank to high heaven of weed and piss too.*


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## jbkayaker12 (Nov 8, 2004)

Interesting architecture.


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*Stokes Croft (BRISTOL) *

*This area around jamaica street, is just a short hop from the centre, when thing thats immediately apparent are the three large Tower blocks on the slopes leading up to the Georgian suburb of Kingsdown, this area was once a strong enclave for Bristols homeless population particularily in king square ; possibly due to the fact the Citiy's ''Big issue'' HQ was located near here.*


*One of these terraces from what i recall was originally a chinese cinema and restaurant, they've long since gone, either moved onto a better area or gone bust, sort of a shame as one year they had the chinese dragons and some celebrations out for the new year :yes: behind these Houses in this pic is the Cube Cinema. *



















*Often after church, me and my sister would sometimes (unfortunately for us) be taken here by our mum to sit on one of the benches while we waited for our dad to pick us up, it was dodgy then but apparently there's a constant police presence here now, but i didn't see any, although there weren't any syringes etc on the ground at all like last time :shifty:*



















---------------

*You can probably tell that orginally the area in place of these flats, was once georgian townhouses, fortunately many up the hill survive, but as far as UK blocks go they're very nice :yes:. *









*(^^ yes there is a man sleeping there!)*








*View from the top (ish), The residential area of Totterdown in the distance*


















*St.pauls, barton hill/Lawrence hill towerblocks*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*there once was a...*

*We're going to say bye-bye to Brizzle, for a moment (we'll get further away from this shite-hole  as the days go on, dont you worry et
say ''bye-bye', Brizzle'' *insertusernamehere* ''say byyyeee-byyyeee'' :wave: :wave: :wave:
*








(woo! check out my wonderful HD techniques (yes it was sarcasm :shifty
*And we're going here, to Clevedon & Portishead, two fairly unassuming commuter towns but full of surprises *meow*.*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*The severn Estuary/Bristol channel*

*What you are seeing now is the worlds largest and finest natural resevoir of Chocolate milk.
some little facts about the estuary is that it has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, and in 1607 evidence of a tsunami occurance happened here etc.*

*In the distance on the other side of the channel is the Welsh capital Cardiff*










*You can Work out both severn bridges here :yes:*










*Portishead*
*A pretty unassuming, although attractive commuter town, probably its one claim to fame is having the trip hop band Potishead named after it, (who hated the place :lol
that and its known locally as being the countries largest cul-de-sac, as there is only one main road out of the town , this becomes very apparent during rush hour (there is the coastal road to the west, bu that doesn't go towards where most people work i.e Bristol.

The town now has a brand new marina, although i've apparently lost the pics :bash:

to most people, particularily those not local and just passing through, the town is on that ridge on the otherside of the valley as you travel along the M5. 
*

*The waterfront/beach. (where else in the world can you get a chocolate beach.)*




















*The main town park, right by the sea(if you can call it that)/river front.*
*it was cloudy but there were quite alot of people (dont expect close ups of these people, im too timid )*








*Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck*









*duck...*






*duck...*




*duck...*




*duck...*

*GOOSE!*








*A canadian one too :happy:, it appeared to be the only one sadly, what it was doing here i'm not entirely sure? but it seemed fairly happy and seeing it waddle along with its surprisingly long legs was cute!*




















*There's a nice leafy neighbourhood with good coastal views along this road, on the way here is sort of a swimming amphitheatre thing, it actually gets quite busy come a hot sunny day as-, well... just exactly where are they going to swim? :shifty:*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*Cont.*



















*At the other end.*









*Avonmouth and Portbury dock,
Not the most amazing view, but it has its charm... :shifty:*


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## Telfordboy (Feb 22, 2006)

Nice pics Helium. Really interesting.

Is there any particlar reason for this in your signature?



> Helium's Grand World Süpa Tour of the UK
> (comment it (especially you Stef17 and Telfordboy, view it, do what you like)
> >>>Click here!<<<
> It's an alternative tour of the UK!!!*nods profoundly*


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^dunno :dunno:

2 down...


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## Telfordboy (Feb 22, 2006)

You're such a weirdo :happy:


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*sigh* im a manwhore too apparentley :shifty:


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## Stefan88 (May 25, 2006)

Nice photos Helium. I like the ones with the grafitti :yes:


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## Butterfield (Sep 20, 2005)

More great photos helium!

I went to Portishead in 2005 with *someone special* after meeting up with them in Bristol. We only went there because it was amusing to go to a place that a band named themselves after. :yes:

There were a few boy racers on the beach car park so we avoided them but that little lakelet area was very nice. :yes: We drove under the Clifton Suspension Bridge too which was fun.


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^awwwwww, or maybe even ooohhhhhhh :shifty: 



stef17 said:


> Nice photos Helium. I like the ones with the grafitti :yes:


ah that reminds me- on the side of cafe Kano.


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## Butterfield (Sep 20, 2005)

It wasn't anything dodgy before you ask as it was my long term partner, or whatever you want to call them. :shifty:

That first photo is amazing! I hope that 'grafitti' is supposed to be there. :lol:


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^call them ''meat''.

the graffiti should be, i think the owners painted it on there :yes: quite a few businesses have done this,.


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## Butterfield (Sep 20, 2005)

'Meat' is good. :yes: :shifty:


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*^^Butterfield, you randy bastard!*

_*Clevedon*_
*The second leg of our trip now, Probably the more interesting of the two towns.
Clevedon in its heyday was a fairly affluent and prosperous seaside town, (you know, large mansions, a (although small) grand pier, etc. etc.)
and as per usual has followed the way of most UK seaside towns unfortunately, but that didn't stop it from growing up to 3 times its size since the 1960s.
today although having seen the worst of the weather (cruddy metaphor) it remains rather laid back but, things are probably about to take off soon, as of yet it remains a sleepy (but like Portishead) a fairly pleasant town, its claims to fame include apparently the worlds oldest longest running cinema (called the Curzon).



Looking towards Sand bay (oh the irony!) and the Island of Steep Holm











Part of the old part of town.
























Clevedon Pier
Opened in the late-mid 19th century, the pier (constructed from used railway lines, oh joy :|) and pier head , of which was used as a landing stage for boats (and is now a cafe) although some boats still dock here.
recently restored following a collapse in the early 70s, the pier was only truly open the pier head was fully restored in 1998.

Its a nice pier but (unfortunate if you're a cheapskate) like back in the victorian times you have to pay a toll.
it was shut when i went (not that i was expecting it to be open so late, or pay the toll ) but it is nice regardless.



















Next door at the head was the royal pier hotel, (covered in scaffolding and completely enshrouded, hence no pics) which for a time lay derelict, its now becoming apartments, which is a shame, even a restaurant would have been lovely.


The main commercial strip of the old town, the town centre 
however that honor lies to the west, its part of the old town and has a fairly upmarket feel to it. 





























The town's so safe people don't even shut their car doors let alone lcok them :|










Just around.

















































*


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## Butterfield (Sep 20, 2005)

Nice selection of photos again helium + commentary as usual. :applause: This really is proving to be a _Süpa Tour of the UK_! :happy:

Clevedon looks quite nice, if a little regal. :yes: I've only ever seen the pier before on TV, not the town so it's a pleasant surprise.

On a side note, on the photo with the open car doors, it's nice to see a Mondeo from the Midlands has found its way to Clevedon (on the number plate, B is for Birmingham and area :yes.


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^well Brummies (or at least the grockley ones) and subsequently their cars do seem to love the great chocolate coast.


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## Butterfield (Sep 20, 2005)

"Grockley" meaning...??

And is it really known as the great chocolate coast or have you just made that up? :|

That area may be a Midlander's paradise but I've only been to Weston-Süpa-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea once before on the way back from somewhere but nowhere else on that stretch of coast, oh apart from Portishead as said before.


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

Butterfield said:


> "Grockley" meaning...??
> 
> And is it really known as the great chocolate coast or have you just made that up? :|
> 
> That area may be a Midlander's paradise but I've only been to Weston-Süpa-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea once before on the way back from somewhere but nowhere else on that stretch of coast, oh apart from Portishead as said before.


no chocolate is just tasking the piss, its because of all the brown mud (duh :shifty :yes:


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)




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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Thanks for the photos Helium, if you go into this much detail for every area of the UK, it's going to be a VERY long tour!! :laugh:


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^ i know thats what dawned on me, so i'll probably just make it a tour of the UK which is not in my local area! (I.E Bristol)


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## Avens (Jan 19, 2006)

Is Bristol really that much of a shithole? I've never actually been (I've been past it, but not through) and I always had the impression that it was generally a very nice place, with the odd crappy part (like all urban areas).

Clevedon looks really nice.


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^no its not that bad, just being sarcastic/facetious (something like that) in fact when its nice you'll be hard pressed to find nicer in the UK *ahem*bias*ahem*, its rather underrated amongst Brits but is quite popular with the foreign crowd, and makes a nice change from Bath (which i've yet to show :doh

i've only shown the the areas that most people dont really go to, and at least on this thread it will be the last of Bristol for a while (probably put up a seperate thread), trips to Cardiff, Cheltenham/Gloucester and Worcester are in order though soon :yes:


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## Bachy Soletanche (Aug 19, 2005)

helium said:


> ^^ oh yeah ive seen that a few times, i was quite confused when i first saw it, the building is by the railway arches isnt it!


found it!









also:









and why not:


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

^^thank you :cheers:

Cardiff is next up on my list....


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## Delirium (Oct 8, 2005)

*Cardiff, Wales*

well... on Friday i went to Cardiff, I've been quite a few times although never with my camera, so naturally... it (the camera) _breaks_ :| fortunately i managed to take some beforehand :yes: 

For those who don't know, its a very nice place indeed one thing that i like about it is how spacious and open (physically) it feels, to the point of agoraphobia  compared to its _sister_ across the channel, plus (or at least from the Train station) the City feels much bigger than it really is.

The Bay area was very quiet, although its not surprising considering it looked like it was about to piss it down and there was a cold wind blowing.

unfortunately muh camera (lens) broke on the way back into the city centre, but it must be said the City centre feels the complete opposite of the Bay (_alive_ i guess is the best term to call it) 

I'll be back soon, hopefully with the gods on my side the next time...

------------------


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