Bristol Harbour Railway

Girl with a Pierced Eardrum is a 2014 mural by anonymous street artist Banksy, on the wall of a building in Hanover Place, Spike Island, Bristol, England. Appearing overnight on 20 October 2014, it is a parody of Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665 by Johannes Vermeer, instead replacing the pearl earring with an existing security alarm.The mural was partially defaced with black paint two days after it first appeared, on 22 October 2014.

Spike Island is an inner city and harbour area of the English port city of Bristol, adjoining the city centre. It comprises the strip of land between the Floating Harbour to the north and the tidal New Cut of the River Avon to the south, from the dock entrance to the west to Bathurst Basin in the east. The island forms part of Cabot ward. The area between the Docks and New cut to the east of Bathurst Basin is in the neighbourhoods of Redcliffe and St Philip's Marsh.Spike Island was created by William Jessop in the early 19th century, when he constructed the New Cut and converted the former course of the River Avon into the Floating Harbour. Until the Second World War, a lock connected Bathurst Basin with the New Cut, and Spike Island was a genuine island surrounded on all sides by water. However, fears that an aerial attack on this lock at low tide could lead to a disastrous dewatering of the docks led to the lock being filled in. Historically, Spike Island was the site of working quays, shipyards, warehousing and other associated dockside industry. The Bristol Harbour Railway runs the length of the island, and formerly connected these working areas with the railway network. With the redevelopment of the docks, the Island has become an area popular with developers looking to create prime dock side housing such as Baltic Wharf, The Point and Perretts Court. There are also a few restaurants and popular pubs such as The Orchard Inn and The Cottage. Other formerly dock-related buildings have become cultural venues or museums. These include: Spike Island Artspace, a collective of artists' studios located in a former tea-packing factory M Shed, the museum of Bristol, on the site of the former Bristol Industrial Museum, in a former dockside transit shed Bristol Archives in B Bond Warehouse, a former tobacco warehouse Brunel's SS Great Britain, preserved in the dry dock in which she was built CREATE Centre, also in B Bond Warehouse, an ecological art exhibition and Ecohome Underfall Yard, a base for marine-related businesses plus an interactive visitor centre and café.Other historic buildings have been converted into office space, housing small businesses and legal and financial companies such as Creditcall. The path of the harbour railway across Spike Island is proposed for a £38 million rapid transit bus route from Ashton Vale to the city centre. The existing steam railway would be retained, but buses would gain a congestion-free journey into the city. Subject to planning permission and finances, work could start 2012 with services running 2014.

Abels Shipbuilders Ltd was a ship and boat builder in Bristol, England. In addition to boat building, the company branched out into architectural sculptures, tidal energy and marine restoration, but closed in 2016.

Vauxhall Bridge is a footbridge in Bristol, England, that crosses the New Cut of the River Avon. At its northern end, the bridge also passes over the Bristol Harbour Railway line from Ashton Gate to Wapping Wharf, which runs along the bank of the New Cut at this point. The bridge was opened in 1900, replacing the Vauxhall ferry. On 30 December 1994, it was Grade II listed.When the bridge was built, the New Cut was still in use by shipping to and from Bathurst Basin and the various shipyards that adjoined the cut, and consequently the bridge was built as a swing bridge. It is approximately 270 feet (82 metres) long and 11 feet (3.4 metres) wide, with a swinging section of 158 feet (48 metres) in length. Navigation ceased on the New Cut in the 1930s, and the bridge was last swung in 1936.

SS Great Britain is a museum ship and former passenger steamship that was advanced for her time. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859), for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York City. While other ships had been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship. She was the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic Ocean, which she did in 1845, in 14 days. The ship is 322 ft (98 m) in length and has a 3,400-ton displacement. She was powered by two inclined two-cylinder engines of the direct-acting type, with twin high pressure cylinders (diameter uncertain) and twin low pressure cylinders 88 in (220 cm) bore, all of 6-foot (1.8 m) stroke cylinders. She was also provided with secondary masts for sail power. The four decks provided accommodation for a crew of 120, plus 360 passengers who were provided with cabins, and dining and promenade saloons. When launched in 1843, Great Britain was by far the largest vessel afloat. But her protracted construction time of six years (1839–1845) and high cost had left her owners in a difficult financial position, and they were forced out of business in 1846, having spent all their remaining funds refloating the ship after she ran aground at Dundrum Bay in County Down near Newcastle in what is now Northern Ireland, after a navigation error. In 1852 she was sold for salvage and repaired. Great Britain later carried thousands of emigrants to Australia from 1852 until being converted to all-sail in 1881. Three years later, she was retired to the Falkland Islands, where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship and coal hulk until she was scuttled in 1937, 98 years after being laid down.In 1970, after Great Britain had been abandoned for 33 years, Sir Jack Arnold Hayward, OBE (1923–2015) paid for the vessel to be raised and repaired enough to be towed north through the Atlantic back to the United Kingdom, and returned to the Bristol dry dock where she had been built 127 years earlier. Hayward was a prominent businessman, developer, philanthropist and owner of the English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Now listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, Great Britain is a visitor attraction and museum ship in Bristol Harbour, with between 150,000 and 200,000 visitors annually.

City of Bristol Rowing Club is a rowing club on the Bristol Harbour next to River Avon, based at The Boathouse, Albion Dockside Estate, Hanover Place, Bristol.

The Bristol Marina is located in Bristol Harbour, Bristol, England. The marina has been in operation since 1980. It is situated adjacent to the SS Great Britain on the south side of the harbour on the site of the former Charles Hill & Sons Ltd's Albion Dockyard, which it shares with Abels Shipbuilders.Facilities include 100 pontoon berths, 70 shore berths, a 30 tonne lift, showers, water, electric points, telephone points, fuel berth, chandlers and a sail-maker.

Jacobs Wells Baths, formally called Hotwells Public Baths, is a former public baths on Jacob's Wells Road, Bristol. Built in 1889 and designed by Bristol City Surveyor: 63  Josiah Thomas, the baths closed in the late 1970s and were converted in the 1980s into a community managed dance centre, which closed in 2016. In 2018 Bristol City Council transferred responsibility for the building to the charity Fusion Lifestyle on a 35-year lease with a peppercorn rent. The building is Grade II listed and recognised as an asset of community value by Bristol City Council.

City of Bristol College is a further education and higher education college in Bristol, England. It provides courses for young people and adults aged 16 and above in areas such as: A Levels, Animal Care, Floristry, Horticulture, Applied Forensic and Medical Science, Business, Catering and Hospitality, Computing, Construction, Creative and Performing Arts, Engineering and Manufacturing, ESOL and GCSEs, Hair, Beauty and Holistic Therapies, Health and Social Care and Childcare, Motor Vehicle and Transport, Public Services, Health and Fitness, Travel and Tourism and many more.

Tobacco Factory Theatres is located on the first floor of the Tobacco Factory building on the corner of North Street and Raleigh Road, Southville in Bristol, England. The theatre itself is a studio-style space, with a low ceiling and fixed grid with structural pillars which intrude into the acting area. There is a bar/foyer area, a dance studio and Box Office. The theatre can seat up to 350 people, although usually it has a capacity of about 250. The programme includes classic and contemporary theatre, comedy, dance, puppetry, film, opera, music and family shows. In 2012 over 100,000 people came through the theatre doors and the theatre is regularly attracting national critical acclaim.

The Tobacco Factory is the last remaining part of the old W. D. & H. O. Wills tobacco factory site on Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol. It was saved from demolition by the architect and former mayor of the city George Ferguson and through his vision has become a model of urban regeneration. It is now a multi-use building which houses animation and performing arts school, loft-style apartments, a café bar, offices and a theatre. Inspired by the Manchester Independents campaign, George Ferguson decided to launch a Bristol-based campaign from the Tobacco Factory, the purpose is to encourage the support and patronage of independent outlets and businesses to help redress the balance that has swung strongly in favour of the multiples at the expense of local character and enterprise. Business at the Tobacco Factory epitomises this, with home grown enterprises, such as Fanatic Design, CLIK.

The Jacobs Well Theatre was a playhouse in Cliftonwood, Bristol, England, which opened in 1729. It took its name from the nearby Jacobs's Well, which may have been a mikveh, a type of Jewish ritual bath. The theatre was built by actor John Hippisley, who had created the character of Peachum in the premiere of John Gay's Beggar's Opera. The stage space was so small that actors exiting on one side had to walk around the building to re-enter on the other side, often being subject to banter by spectators enjoying this free show. A hole was knocked through a party wall to an adjacent ale house, The Malt Shovel, so that actors, and audience seated on the stage, could obtain refreshments. Admission prices ranged from 1 shilling to 3 shillings, and it was estimated that a full house could earn as much as £80. Servants of patrons were admitted free of charge to an upper gallery. In later years, Thomas Chatterton described the theatre as a "hut".The journey to the theatre from fashionable areas such as Queen Square and College Green was somewhat perilous, especially on dark nights, and consequently the theatre often provided linkboys to light the way with torches. Notable actors who appeared at the theatre included Charles Macklin, William Powell, and Thomas King, who were all stars of the Georgian stage. After Hippisley's death in 1748, the business was continued by his widow. When the Theatre Royal opened in King Street in 1776 most actors left the Jacobs Well Theatre as the new venue proved to be more fashionable. The last recorded performance at Jacobs Well was a pantomime in 1779.