Shipshape talks to John Pontin OBE about his enduring affection for Bristol’s dockside, its star attractions and suggests some areas for improvement
Hello John. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with the Harbourside?
Fate seems to have organised it so that the harbour has been pivotal throughout my life. My relationship with Bristol’s port area goes back a long way. Born in Southville Place, Bedminster, just before the outbreak of World War II, the industrial harbour was the playground of my childhood. I was fascinated by the large ships bringing bananas, or sand and gravel, into the warehouses and onto the quays on St Augustine’s Reach; little did I know then that I was destined to be associated with some of its significant developments as the co-founder and chairman of JT Group Ltd.
The Arnolfini, the Watersheds – extending from the Media Centre to Bordeaux Quay – and Pero’s Bridge are all developments that I am pleased to have been involved with. Pero’s Bridge in particular has done so much to alter and enhance the way people access the new leisure and commercial areas in the historic heart of our city.
My first job as a junior surveyor at 16 with John Knox Bristol Ltd was located next to Ware’s Tannery on Coronation Road – at that time, one of the smelliest places in Bristol! Seven years later, in 1961, when Tim Organ and I set up our new JT Design Build business, we found ourselves only two minutes’ walk from John Knox’s office, with desks overlooking the waterside.
Fast-forwarding to 1973, we bought Bush House to create the Arnolfini’s new home. They were very exciting times then and they still are now! Nearly 40 years on, Arnolfini maintains an iconic presence on the dockside, and the playground of my youth has never ceased to absorb much of my time and energy.
Favourite piece of Harbourside architecture?
Bush House is certainly my favourite building in Harbourside and the project that gives me most satisfaction during almost 50 years of building and development activity under the JT Design Build banner. The empty soot-covered warehouse, erected in 1834, was completely rebuilt inside from the foundations up to the roof. I’m delighted to see it listed in Mike Jenner’s excellent book, ‘Bristol’s 100 Best Buildings’. For decades, the view from my office above the Arnolfini Gallery has been a source of inspiration for me.
And is there a special people-watching place for you?
The quayside around Pero’s Bridge and Millennium Square throngs with an interesting cross-section of people and I like to relax and people-watch from Bordeaux Quay restaurant and brasserie. There’s something very appealing about the quayside atmosphere where the Rivers Frome and Avon meet.
Will you be visiting any festivals this summer?
Personally, I make a beeline for the Harbourside Organic Food Festival. And then the Festival of Ideas provides a rich programme of lectures featuring many authors launching important books throughout the year. I like the proximity to the Bristol Old Vic on King Street too; theatre is very much alive in this area, and I hope I shall be enjoying some open-air drama with my grandchildren at ‘Treasure Island’ this summer.
What things would significantly improve the Harbourside?
A dream for me would be to see the creation of a new pedestrian bridge from the ss Great Britain to the west end of the Harbourside. A controversial idea, perhaps, but I believe the dynamic of the whole area would be invigorated – as when Pero’s Bridge was completed, there would be a dramatic effect.
Another suggestion would be to light up the Arnolfini building for the evening hours, as it was when the politicians debated their 2010 manifestos there. I remember the extraordinary illuminated facades beamed out to the world by Sky television, showing just how special Bristol’s Harbourside looked as seen from across the river standing by the cranes at M Shed. Bush House, and the images it projected, were amazing and should be a regular feature – ideally, of course, using renewable energy to power the lights!
There’s such a lot of history to share, and it’s probably surprising for the people who mill around the Harbourside now as a leisure activity, to realise that it was a working dock until as late as 1975. I sometimes wonder if small information plaques about their original purposes should be displayed on the buildings.
In one sentence, why should people visit the Harbourside?
More than anywhere else in Bristol, the Harbourside shows the convergence of our historic industrial past with 21st-century regeneration. Its evolution is ongoing and exciting.