Great Western Coffee Shop

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/wwrs_20230504.jpg)

The Bath/Cotswold stone looks nice and clean.  Somewhere recently repaired/refurbished?

Bristol T.M as that is/was going through a refurbishment?

It looks like you were time travelling. If so, I've got some bad news for you. In two years time the world will be plunged into a horrific world war.

Yes!


No, but you're in the right city...

Wills Memorial Building ?...

No. The building, while no longer part of the transport network, was once very intimately linked with it…

The old Brislington tram sheds were partly built of similar stone but as far as I can find out, they were built well before 1912 and I'm not aware of any recent renovations to the buildings.....which I hardly knew anything about until they featured on the Architecture The Railways Built TV series.

Clifton Rocks railway was sold in 1912, but can't picture where this could be on the site

I am myself confused by the date - the building was constructed a dozen or so years earlier. You’re getting warmer in terms of the transport system, though not the location..!


Not the Rocks Railway.

Now that could be a useful clue.  The Bristol tram system was apparently electrified in the mid 1890s.  Now somewhere in the back of my mind I have a vague notion that a building linked to the system.... possibly for power generation was located somewhere near the newish quarter on the other side of the river from Castle Park...some of the old buildings were repurposed and do I'm wondering if it's there.

Well erm yes. Purpose-built in 1899: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1282287?section=official-list-entry

No idea where the red herring 1912 rain hoppers come from…

Yes, it does seem a bit early for the original rain drainage to require repairs or replacement but perhaps some late Victorian buildings were, like today, also sometimes falling foul of iffy contactors?

The Bristol Tramways Generating Station is an amazing building. I'm a bit surprised to discover that it is not as well-known as I had assumed. It's been hiding behind hoardings for a few years while it and the area around it has been redeveloped, but is now visible in all its restored glory:

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/btcc_gen_stat_1.jpg)

The odd detail I picked on is, I suspect, not original. I think it's a whim of the restorers to use an old rainwater hopper as part of a light fitting. Upcycling, if you will, but confusing for future historians. The detail is visible to the left of the door, and there's another one at the other end. They don't appear to have anything to do with the rainwater system. If anyone knows any more about them, I'd be interested to hear!
(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/btcc_gen_stat_2.jpg)

Its precise location is 51°27'13.5"N 2°35'14.3"W (51.453744, -2.587301) (https://goo.gl/maps/rcmkgmGMNLUycxB46)

What is the building used for now?

Offices. (https://www.dezeen.com/2022/11/04/moreysmith-tram-generator-building-office/)

Generating ceased (rather abruptly) in 1941.

(https://bristolcitydocks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/st-phillips-bridge-1941.jpg)

Those cables you see stretched across the gap included the main power supply to what then remained of the tramways network.

The building later became the Courage Accounting Centre. The adjoining Georges Brewery expanded in the post-war years until it covered much of the area between Counterslip and the Floating Harbour, becoming part of the Courage empire in the early 1960’s.

When brewing ceased around 2000, the building once again fell out of use.

The surrounding area has in recent years been regenerated as a knot of pedestrian alleys and narrow streets, reopening thoroughfares that were closed when the brewery expanded. There are bars, a small brewery, a hotel, some blocks of flats and offices.