Bristol car-free Sunday closes roads

Street performers, musicians and entertainers attracted crowds to the city's first car free Sunday

Roads in part of Bristol city centre have been closed in the city's first car-free Sunday.

Baldwin Street, King Street and Corn Street are among the roads shut to traffic in Mayor George Ferguson's Make Sunday Special initiative.

Some people claim Mr Ferguson - who was closing the roads from 09:00 to 18:00 BST - is anti-motorist.

But he has hailed the day a great success and said he is not concerned about the critics.

It is the first of five monthly events - costing a total of £195,000 - aimed at opening up the centre of Bristol for pedestrians.

Mr Ferguson said: "This is all about the people, cities are made up of people, not buildings and cars, and this is a wonderful demonstration and wherever I go I have been stopped by people being enthusiastic about it.

"If it has worked like this in this weather, it is going to be absolutely tremendous in finer weather."

'Love to moan'

He added that he was "optimistic" he would be able to extend the scheme in following years.

Responding to some complaints by taxi drivers he said: "They will come around to it. I love the taxi drivers, but they love to have a moan. I'm not too worried about that."

The city has been crowned the European Green Capital for 2015 and the traffic free Sunday idea was part of the bid.

Similar schemes exist in Bordeaux, in south-west France, and the Colombian capital Bogota.

The experiment saw people bringing sofas onto the streets

A range of performers, including circus acts and choirs, took to the streets in the area surrounding St Nicholas Market.

There were also games, al fresco cafe lounges and some people even brought sofas into the streets.

Roads closed included Small Street, Corn Street, St Nicholas Street, Baldwin Street, King Street, Marsh Street, St Stephen's Street and Queen Charlotte Street.

People were still able to drive into the city along routes to the main car parks.

'Totally confused'

There was also provision for disabled drivers and public transport was largely unaffected.

But some taxi drivers told the BBC that they were not happy about the plans.

One said: "It's ridiculous. The passengers that want to go to the city centre, just the other side, they can't go there so you have to go all the way around."

Another claimed: "Everybody gets totally confused with it."

The scheme was originally due to run weekly but will run once a month due to operating costs.

The money will pay for some of the entertainment and marshalling the road closures.

Map of Bristol showing road closures