Queen Square

Queen Square is a delightful Georgian square with paths from each corner leading towards the middle of the park. There are always joggers, dog walkers, cyclists and loungers in this park, it never is empty!
Come here during the summer months, and it gets even busier. Festivals are held here back to back, my favourite being the Bristol Harbour Festival! This square is transformed into a bustling market, with stalls lining every side and a stage in the middle with live bands jazzing it up. Every July, there is also the Shakespeare Festival, with theater groups putting on their take of Shakespeare’s plays.
Queen Square is kept extremely well, which makes for such a delightful lounge around on any day.

This is such a stunning open space surrounded by some really grand houses. It was at one time the most desirable address in Bristol, but sadly most of the buildings now seem to house offices or modern apartments. Whenever I am cutting from Baldwin Street to the harbour, I choose this as my route because its simplicity yet grandeur is astonishing. The diagonal paths all convene on a central point which is dominated by the towering statue of William III and there is a huge expanse of well-​kept grass just crying out for picnics or a lie-​down with a book. The north side features the historic Custom House and many of the buildings now have listed status. It is also eerily quiet for somewhere so close to the beating heart of the city. But that’s what makes it an ideal spot for a sit-​down and a think.

Queens Square has a less than salubrious history. Queens square was the fashionable place in Bristol, home to many prominent slave traders! There is a plaque for Captain Woodes Rogers saying Great Seaman, Circumnavigator, Colonial Governer — is colonian governer a gentile way of saying «privateer and slave trader?»
Nowdays, Queens square is a haven of people enslaved to their jobs, needing a little fresh air and respite. Its a wonderful place to come and enjoy your lunch. You often see groups of people playing boules here at lunchtime. I’d never really seen groups of people playing boules in public like this, I thought it was a french thing.
The Square Sessions, part of the city council’s summer programme of free music, arts and events was held here the last couple of years and was great fun, family friendly events with good tunes and a pleasant atmosphere. Keep your eyes peeled for the next one. Also outdoor Shakespeare sessions are held here.
Definitely worth a pass through to see the lovely architecture or have a lazy picnic away from the hustle and bustle of the centre.

Although the buildings that surround this square are home to businesses, whenever I walk through here I imagine Georgian homes and children running around wearing bonnets, peddling penny-​farthings and flying kites. Now of course Queens Square is mostly used for a kick about with a football or for city slickers to relax in on their lunch break, but the quaintness is still there.
Large expanses of grass are divided by several diagonal gravel paths leading to benches that surround a monument of somebody important in the middle — I have know idea who but then this isn’t a history lesson is it?
The square is often used for local festivals and during the summer months there have been outdoor cinemas and plays here which are lovely to watch under the fading summer sun. If you’re local to the area then this park makes a lovely picnic spot too.

Queen’s square is lovely indeed. Filled with a mix of lawyers and accountants pacing briskly to work, parkour fanatics jumping off various pieces of protruding brickwork and those in search of a pleasant waterside stroll, it is a welcome space in which to breathe.
Small but perfectly formed, it is flanked by stately Georgian buildings and has an olde worlde elegance about it. I can definitely picture the horses and carts rolling through.
Whether it’s a hurried lunchbreak or leisurely afternoon picnic, dawdling stroll or speedy commute, there’s always a reason to pass through Queen’s Square.

Queen’s Square once had a dual carriage way running through it, according to my Bristol-​born boyfriend, but it’s hard to imagine it all clogged up with cars and pollution.
Today this lovely green space has a feeling of grandeur, lined with elegant Georgian terraced buildings that have recently been restored to their former glory.
Crossed by diagonal paths, it has a pleasing symmetry centring around an equestrian statue of William III by John Michael Rysbrack, erected in 1736.
During the summer, it is popular for summer lunch breaks, sunbathing and picnics, and also plays host to various events, too, including music and theatre events — many of them completely free.

When I first stumbled across this square, on my way from the city centre to the Thekla, I couldn’t believe how lovely it looked. It was a nice sunny day and I would’ve been in Kensington. There were workers from the nearby offices enjoying their lunch on the benches, students sunbathing or reading books and kids running around chasing pigeons. It is such a delightful place to hang out in the summer months. A perfectly symmetrical square with diagonal paths leading to an iconic statue of a horse. Look out for the summer festival there with stalls all round the square selling food and crafty bits. It’s ace. I was a little apprehensive walking through Queens Square on my own at night but there are usually quite a few people about. Nevertheless, I have witnessed a couple of after dark fights/​assaults there before so I would be weary before venturing there on your own.

What I love about Queen’s Square is the fact that it is beautiful at all times of the year. In Springtime there are hundreds of little purple and yellow flowers dotted around, Summertime and the grass is full of children running around, games of footie and picnics. Autumn time and the trees create a golden canopy overhead and in winter the park is transformed into a winter’s wonderland in the snow (see the pictures!).
It’s a small area but everyone I have taken here has fallen in love with it. As cheesy as it sounds, there is some sort of magic here.

This is a nice little square that’s far enough away from the centre and close enough to King Street and the waterfront to be nice. It comes into its own in the summer when there always seem to be events on, many of them free and which you can take your own booze to (when appropriate), which can make for a cheap, communal night out.
Over the years I’ve everything from Shakespeare to cinema, the Ashes to Massive Attack here, and there have been plenty of other times that I’ve walked or cycled through and there’s been something going on that I had no prior knowledge of. Events seem to spring up very regularly here without much advertisement, though sometimes stumbling on something unexpected is all part of the fun…

This is the poshest of Bristol’s parks. Queens Square is an elegant patch of grass just off from the city centre, criss-​crossed by paths and with an impressive looking statue in its centre. A good place to go for a few minutes away from the fumes and noisiness of Bristol city centre (as well having a bit of greenery it’s bordered by quiet roads on all four sides). It’s popular in this respect, with hoards of office workers disgorging on the grass around lunch time each day.
There are festivals put on here in the summer, and I recommend going. With grand Georgian terraces on all sides it makes for a slightly different sort of feel when watching live music — it feels like a proper venue (rather than just being random field, where you will find most festivals. Just make sure you don’t get stuck behind the big statue, as as hap paned to me in the past. With a sense of history, Queen Square offers a civilised respite from Bristol city centre.

The green lungs of the city centre, or something. It is free to walk across and open 24 hours a day — a tiny square of park to take your lunchtime sarnie on a sunny day.
The businesses surrounding it (many solicitors and charities) in the square are gorgeously grand Georgian buildings, making this old part of the city seem quite regal. Many of them have been restored in the last 10 years thanks to a Heritage lottery grant. Woop!
Summer months are my favourite down on the square, as it pays host to a plethora of exciting outdoor events like theatre (including Shakespeare and Opera), concerts and is a main part of the Harbourside festival too, fireworks and all.

Queen’s Square is about a 2 minute walk from the centre of Bristol (Hippodrome) and is pretty nice place to eat lunch or sit down for a few minutes. It has a few sandwich places and bars on the corners of the square too.
It holds a few events as well over the year like the EDF power event and markets.

Right in the centre of town. Good place to relax.

Very elegant open space in central Bristol. Also the occasional host to gigs and open air cinema“

This public open space in the centre of Bristol is a stunning area to sit and watch the world go by, or enjoy your lunch break from work. The Georgian buildings that surround the green space are of equal beauty, serving mainly as offices now. The square is a popular area in the summer; great for enjoying a pint of organic lager in from The King William or for soaking up the rays. It is regularly the host of summer events — such as part of Bristol Harbourside festval where it hosted a music stage, and French style market. Certainly an area of beauty which has been there for more than 300 years.