Hartcliffe is an outer suburb of the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, England, on the southern edge of the city at the foot of

Dundry Hill Dundry Hill is immediately south of Bristol, England: it includes farmland, a small number of houses and a church. It stretches east–west for some two miles. Most of the hill is within the district of North Somerset. At the hill's eastern e ...

. It is a post-World War II development consisting largely of

council house A council house, corporation house or council flat is a form of British Public housing in the United Kingdom, public housing built by Local government in the United Kingdom, local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing ...

s. It is one of the poorer areas of Bristol, with significant social problems exacerbated by the decline of industrial employment in the city. Hartcliffe was also the name of an

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

for

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority for the city of Bristol, in South West England. Bristol has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being ...

from 1999 to 2016. The ward contained the areas of Hartcliffe and Headley Park as well as small portions of Withywood and

Bishopsworth Bishopsworth is a suburban neighbourhood and wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of the city of Bristol. It is located in the south of the city and has a high proportion of council housing. Local facilities include shops and pubs, a pu ...

. Since 2016, Hartcliffe has been in Hartcliffe and Withywood electoral ward.

History

In 1951, of Bishopsworth parish were transferred from Somserset to Bristol, and construction started in 1952 after the

compulsory purchase Compulsion, Compulsive, Compelling, or Compulsory may refer to: Psychology * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compu ...

of the farms on this land. A small shopping area was built at Symes Avenue, and the first church (St Andrew) opened in 1956. Old Imperial Tobacco Head Quarters - geograph

Old Imperial Tobacco Head Quarters - geograph

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (originally the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain & Ireland, and subsequently Imperial Tobacco Group plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is ...

once had offices and a factory in Hartcliffe. Part of the site is now the Imperial Retail Park while the listed headquarters building has been converted into the Lakeshore flats.

Community facilities

Hartcliffe and Withywood Community Partnership (HWCP) was formed by local residents in 1998 to help support the regeneration and renewal of the area. Schools within Hartcliffe include Fair Furlong Primary School, Hareclive Academy, and Bridge Learning Campus. Hartcliffe Community Farm was opened in 1979 by Hartcliffe Community Council leader Doris Fiedor (1919–1995) who founded the community farm. It has over of land based at the farmyard at the top of Lampton Avenue, Hartcliffe. A 250-year-old tithe barn was erected at the farm by YTS trainees but burned down in an arson attack. The farm remains open daily to the public and hosts regular visits by school parties. Symes Avenue is the district shopping centre serving the outer estates of Hartcliffe and Withywood with a total population of around 20,000 people. In 2007, a

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

supermarket and a new library opened as part of a redevelopment project.

Economic and social deprivation

The estates have long been identified as suffering a multitude of different problems which characterise a socially excluded community. On 16 July 1992 there was a riot in Hartcliffe after two men who were riding a stolen and unmarked police motorbike were killed in a chase with an unmarked police car. The disturbance lasted for three days. Police were stoned and many shops in the Symes Avenue shopping centre were attacked and destroyed. Around the same time,

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

leader

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internation ...

claimed that health indicators in the area were comparable to those of a

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

country. According to crime statistics between 2017 and 2018, The Groves in Hartcliffe is considered one of Bristol's ten most dangerous streets.

References

{{Districts of Bristol Areas of Bristol Wards of Bristol City farms in Bristol Places formerly in Somerset