By Chris Guy posted on 4 Sep 2017 in Urban

It began as a trip to explore Staple Hill in East Bristol with Richard Ford, but the beauty of a minimal plan is that change is simple. The result was two separate evening visits, a week apart, to Kingswood, technically South Gloucestershire but very much a suburb of Bristol.

A suburban driveway with a vintage red Dodge van and red convertible parked beside a pebble‑dashed house and garage with a white door painted with a red cross.

Suburban

Terraced shops with three cars parked outside; a pink-fronted eatery called "Buffet-licious" sits between a newsagent and a small local business.

Pink

Lush pink hydrangeas spilling over a decorative white concrete wall beside a house, their blooms ranging from bright pink to faded rose.

Rhododendron

White and blue Kingsway Garage Ltd building with MOT/servicing signs, glass bay door reflecting sunset and metal roller shutter.
Bright blue modified Volkswagen Beetle parked at the kerb outside a pebble-dash semi-detached suburban house under an overcast sky.

Deco sunset and blue Beetle

Suburban street scene with a pedestrian refuge bollard on the kerb, metal railings and overgrown hedges in front of leafy trees and houses under a cloudy sky.

Junction

Pebble-dash single-storey house extension with white-framed windows, a rubbish bin and orange traffic cone, set by a lawn and hedge beneath leafy trees.
A rectangular brick block of flats by a grassy lawn with a large bush in the foreground under an overcast sky.

Mini me

A sloping suburban street lined with semi-detached houses, front gardens and parked cars under a cloudy sky.

Alma Road

Red-brick building with a rounded tower, rows of rectangular windows, a small tree by the pavement and black bollards along the roadside.
Red-brick building with rounded corners at a street junction, traffic lights and road signs in the foreground and telecom antennae on the roof.

Kingswood Telephone Exchange

Brick wall bearing a 'Sunny Nails' sign in front of a pebble-dash commercial building, with residential rooflines, an external metal staircase and an overcast sky.

Sunny Nails

Curved red-brick commercial building with rounded towers and vertical vents, adjacent to a light-coloured building; rooftop telecom antenna visible against a pale sky.

Kingswood Telephone Exchange

Empty street with temporary wooden hoardings and a large 'Opening soon' billboard showing blueberries, sunlight flare and a sign for Halls Road.

Billboard: Lidl Opening Soon

Quiet town high street with shuttered shops — Shaw’s The Drapers, Furniture & Electrical and ShoeZone — empty road, traffic lights and a cloudy sky.

Regent Street

Weathered multi-storey car park with blue railings, stained concrete façade above a green hedgerow and a roundabout sign beside the road.

Kings Chase Shopping Centre Car Park

Empty concrete car park with one silver saloon by closed shutters under a multi-storey car park, retail signs for Wilko, Sainsbury's and Argos.

After Hours

Empty concrete loading bay and car park at the back of a brutalist shopping centre, with bins, external stairs and air conditioning units under an overcast sky.

Service Yard, Kings Chase Shopping Centre

Concrete brutalist wall with three recessed louvred vents, a metal safety‑caged ladder and roof railings, plus a lit amber lamp beneath an overcast sky.

Service Yard, Kings Chase Shopping Centre

Large blue NYK Logistics shipping container sits in an empty car park beside a metal fence, with white gabled warehouse buildings in the background under a pale sky.

MEGACARRIER

Corrugated metal warehouse labelled 'Universal Balancing', yellow trim, 'Goods Inwards' shutter, orange shipping container and empty concrete yard under a blue sky.

Universal Balancing

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bristol suburban

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