The Bristolian
The Bristolian C/O Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market Street, Bristol,
Bristol
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The Bristolian is a scandal sheet covering all sorts of shenanigans in the fine city of Bristol, England.
In 1827, a radical journalist named Acland launched the West Country’s first daily newspaper. He called it The Bristolian. Undercutting the advertising rates of existing weekly papers, conducting a lively letter column and breaking the law by publishing at one and a half pence without paying the newspaper stamp tax, Acland’s publication was a muck-raking popular radical paper for the working classes.
Fast forward nearly two centuries, and bent, rich bastards were still running the show in Bristol. To counter this, the new Bristolian was launched in 2001 and it quickly gained a reputation for well-sourced stories cocking a snook at our supposed ‘betters’ – councillors, cops, businessmen, managers and rich do-gooders – and soon racked up a weekly circulation of more than 10,000 through pubs, cafés and on the streets.
Reflecting a widespread mood of distrust of careerist politicians in the city, in 2003 put up a dozen candidates in local elections on a Bristolian Party ticket – scooping 2,560 votes and an 8% share in the wards it contested. You can still see stickers from the campaign dotted around town a decade on.
In 2005 its reputation for getting scoops on municipal malpractice and provincial corruption earned The Bristolian a runner-up prize in the Paul Foot Awards for investigative journalism – a last hurrah for the original team who, after four long years, took a well deserved break.
In 2008, thanks to the energy of younger souls getting on board with some of the old hands, the paper was revived and the once again The Bristolian was causing a stir amongst the local great and good with its muckraking. This time it lasted for two years, before again going on hiatus in 2010 with the election of the Cameron government.
But now it’s back!
Relaunched in March 2013, The Bristolian will continue to smite the high and mighty every month in print and online – because it’s the paper that all Bristol really did ask for.
