Andy’s guidebook

Bristol's cafe and restaurant scene is huge now, so explore - don't take this guidebook as anything like definitive! The nearest breakfast option is Rubicon cafe, just round the corner on Chandos Road. Just beyond is Redland bakery for bread, pastries and breakfast rolls. A little further are Cotham Hill (most of which is flat) and the shopping precinct by Clifton Down station where a number of good cafes are clustered. My favourites are Boston Tea Party and Coffee #1. Further afield, probably my favourite brunch option is the fabulously quirky hobbit house of City Farm Cafe in St Werburghs (10-4, closed Tuesdays), which won an Observer Food Award a few years ago for its "food yards". There are also lots of cafes in Clifton Village (try the lovely Primrose Cafe or Spencer & Cole), and all up and down the Gloucester Road / Stokes Croft corridor (try The Social).

Bristol is famed for its diversity. Our premier attractions are the magnificent Clifton Suspension Bridge (free; £1 to drive across) and the SS Great Britain (about £13, but they then give you a yearly pass). Both well worth a look. If you go to the bridge check out the wonderfully eccentric observatory looking down over it. The curious and bizarre Clifton Rocks Railway just below is worth a look but only opens a few weekends a year. If you go to the SS Great Britain and the restored kitchen looks familiar, it's because the same joiner built our kitchen and staircase. Culturally, two polar opposites are: the lovely St Georges classical music venue just off Park Street; and the very different leftfield, volunteer-run Cube Cinema (also a music, performance and arts venue) just by Kings Square. As for theatres, as well as the beautiful, recently-restored Old Vic, Bristol has many small innovative theatres: check out the Tobacco Factory, the Wardrobe and the Alma Tavern. For concerts, choose the venue according to your tastes: The big, comfortable Hippodrome for big shows and musicals; The Fleece, the Exchange and the (rather chlaustrophobic) O2 Academy for rock; The Full Moon and Attic for top-rate DJs and earthy club-type and African bands; The tiny top room of the Miners Arms on Tuesday nights for intimate, diverse open-mic acoustic music; The Old Duke pub for free jazz and blues seven nights a week; Canteen for a wonderful diversity of groundbreaking acts, again free and seven days a week (my favourites are usually Thursday evenings [9.30-ish] and Sunday late afternoons); The Fringe Bar in Clifton for decent quality pub acts and if you want to be in Clifton; The Marble Factory for good quality acts from around the globe. Traditionally our main high-profile rock/soul/jazz/world music venue is Colston Hall, but the main auditorium is undergoing a major refurbishment at present.

Bristol's music scene is legendary, but perhaps less widely known is an eclectic collection of theatres, many of them tiny rooms over pubs but also including the beautifully refurbished Old Vic and the large and comfortable Hippodrome.