Nostalgic 'Windrush front room' sets up inside pub

A "nostalgic look back" at the homes of the Windrush Generation is being presented in an exhibition.

'The Windrush Front Room' will be shown at the Shakespeare Tavern on Prince Street in Bristol from the 1 to 4 October.

The exhibition highlights the well-remembered homes of that generation, featuring a re-creation of a Caribbean front room.

The son of Jamaican parents, curator Tony Fairweather, said: "It's about the preservation of the Windrush culture when they came off the boat in 1948."

Mr Fairweather is the founder of the Windrush Collection, a touring exhibition of artefacts associated with the Windrush generation.

Speaking to BBC Bristol, he added: "They were 18, 19, 20-year-olds when they came here to help 'the mother country' as they call it.

"Their lifestyle, their home life, was in a way really unique to us."

The Windrush Generation is used to describe thousands of people from the Caribbean who came to the UK between 1948 and 1971 to fill Britain’s post war labour shortages.

The name ‘Windrush’ comes from the boat on which they arrived in Britain in 1948.

Audiences will be "immersed" in the front room while learning more about the Windrush Generation

The exhibition will tour across three cities, starting in Bristol, before moving to London and Birmingham, due to their historic connections with the migration.

Audiences will be able to enjoy a drink and talk about the Windrush history with Mr Fairweather while viewing family favourites - such as the Blue Spot Gramophone.

Mr Fairweather said that when young Caribbean people first arrived in the UK, there would often be many families sharing the same house which meant the front room had particular significance.

"They decided to put a front room together which showed their success," he said.

"The front room is normally locked, opened on a Sunday, and it had things like the accented carpet, the glasses, the drinks bar.

"These things are our parents' pride and joy."

The event will be touring the UK in collaboration with Greene King and is raising money for the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT).