Bristol's Local Business Scene

Bristol's business character has always been shaped by its position - a working port on the Avon Gorge for centuries, and today home to a genuinely unusual mix of heavy engineering and creative industry within a few miles of each other.

From maritime trade to aerospace engineering

Bristol's historic wealth came from its port and maritime trade; today, its most significant single industry is aerospace engineering, centred on Filton just north of the city, where Airbus manufactures wings for its aircraft and Rolls-Royce also has a major presence - a genuinely globally significant cluster, not just a local one.

A real creative and media hub

Bristol is also home to Aardman Animations, the studio behind Wallace & Gromit, and to the BBC's Natural History Unit, which has produced the majority of the UK's landmark wildlife documentaries for decades - between them, a genuine concentration of production and creative businesses that punches well above the city's size.

Clifton vs Stokes Croft: two very different characters

Clifton - home to the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Bristol's most affluent Georgian terraces - has a business character leaning towards professional services and higher-end retail. Stokes Croft, by contrast, is Bristol's most visibly independent and alternative business district, known for street art, independent retail and hospitality - a genuinely different character within a short walk of the city centre.

A growing tech and digital sector

Alongside its established industries, Bristol has developed a genuinely active tech and digital sector over the past decade, drawing on the city's universities and its existing creative/engineering talent base.

Explore what's operating locally today via businesses listed in Bristol on Adsquare.