Andy’s guidebook

Bristol's cafe and restaurant scene is huge now, so explore - don't take this guidebook as anything like definitive! For a full English, Boston Tea Party is an 8 minute walk. Burra and Bakesmiths are good for breakfast sandwiches and light / healthy breakfasts. Just round the corner on Chandos Road, Bakeaway does fresh pastries, though its cafe is tiny. Michelin-listed Wilsons now have a "deli" on the corner of Brighton Road that's been claimed to do the best bacon sandwich in Bristol, but it's not always open. 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". Also absolutely lovely with a great menu is the Bristolian on Picton Street, with a warm tropical vibe and a great menu. Go early as it gets busy. Near there, the Social is spacious and friendly with sofas and does a great full English. (Tip: if you drive to those last two, drive down Arley Hill and park either before the lights, or turn sharp right and park on Cheltenham Road.) 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 Deco Lounge or Grounded). Best coffee (in the view of an Americano drinker): the Colombian Company; FED; Coffee 1. Worst: Rubicon; the Downs Cafe by the water tower (how do they get all the gnats to stand still?)

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 £18, 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, the jewel of Bristol is the Beacon. Recently refurbished at a cost of £130m, the main hall is a beautiful space. 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. New independent venues pop up all the time. My favourites are the Jam Jar and Lost Horizon, with some impressive, diverse programming and community feel. 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 O2 Academy (which I personally find a most unpleasant venue) for rock; The Full Moon and Attic for top-rate DJs and earthy club-type and African bands; 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;

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.