Broadmead - History

History

The name of the street was first recorded in 1383 as Brodemede. The name either means "broad meadow" or refers to brodemedes, a type of woollen cloth woven only in Bristol.

The area lay just to the north of the town walls of the historic Bristol. In about 1227 Blackfriars was founded as a Dominican priory in the area. After the dissolution of the monasteries the site had various secular uses, and in 1749 became the location of a Quaker meeting house, now known as Quakers Friars. In 1739 John Wesley built his Methodist chapel, known as the New Room, in the street. Shops were also built in the area. In the 18th century a covered arcade was built between Horsefair and Broadmead, which still survives.

When the old shopping district of Corn Street and Wine Street was heavily damaged in the Bristol Blitz, it was decided to redevelop the Broadmead area as the main shopping district of the city. Rebuilding began in 1950. The existing street, which ran between Union Street and Merchant Street, was extended north to include the former Rosemary Street. Like most 1950s buildings in Britain, affordable but architecturally uninteresting utilitarian buildings form the bulk of the Broadmead area. In the 1980s some of these were demolished to make way for the Galleries shopping centre, which is a three level covered street. Broadmead and several of the surrounding streets were pedestrianised.