The Bristol Beacon is officially open!

Last night the iconic venue, Bristol Beacon, reopened to the public, kicking things off with extraordinary musical and visual performances that wowed the first audiences through its doors since 2018.

Sound and light collided in spectacular fashion in Trip the Light Fantastic, a specially-commissioned show by Bristol Beacon, which was produced and performed by Paraorchestra. 

The orchestra shared the stage with celebrated electronic composer Surgeons Girl – who helped create electro-orchestral alchemy with a dynamic visual response from AV experts at Limbic Cinema for the venue’s landmark opening night.

Central to the Bristol Beacon’s transformation are four new world-class performance spaces and a music education centre, which will see the venue deliver more than 800 events a year.

Find out what’s on at bristolbeacon.org

OUR DECEMBER ISSUE IS OUT!

You'll love our fabulous December magazine which features a collection of great reading by our team of wonderful writers as well as beautifully presented advertising by Bath's best businesses. 

In the December issue, we meet Kate Rusby ahead of her appearance at Bristol Beacon, learn how to create the perfect tablescape to enhance your festive feast, go behind the scenes of Aardman's 'Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget', and discover the Clifton Arcade, the perfect Christmas retail gem. We really hope you'll enjoy the read!

15,000 copies are delivered door to door, and you can pick up a copy at many places around town – including our stands at Waitrose, John Lewis, House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols.

Read the digital version of our current issue here!

And if you would like to have a copy sent in the post every month, then we offer a postal subscription for just £33 for 12 issues, £18 for six issues or buy a copy for just £4.25. UK mainland prices. For Euro and World zone subscription prices – see our website. 

Words by Melissa Blease

Tangerines, four ways

Tangerines, clementines and satsumas: Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without them. These colourful, juicy, vitamin C-packed fruits (still, for many families, a toe-of-the-Christmas-stocking tradition) are a seasonal snacking treat in their own right, just as they are. Or you could make...

Chocolate-dipped tangerines
Peel 6 seedless tangerines, clementines or satsumas. Divide into segments, remove any stringy pith and dip each segment into melted dark chocolate. Put each chocolate-dipped segment onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and refrigerate for around an hour (or until the chocolate has set) and serve as an accompaniment to ice-cold Cointreau.

Fruity possets
Make 6 fruity possets and keep them in the fridge for glamorous dessert 'emergencies'. Heat 600ml double cream with 200g golden caster sugar, stirring continuously until the sugar dissolves. As soon as the mixture comes to the boil, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly for a couple of minutes before adding the zest and juice of 1 lemon along with the zest and juice of 4 tangerines, clementines or satsumas. Whisk together, divide between 6 glasses and allow to chill for at least 2 hours before serving, topped with more citrus zest and shortbread biscuits on the side.

Orange cake
This one couldn't be easier! Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4, and lightly grease and flour a 20cm cake tin. Crack 2 large eggs into a blender and blitz with 125ml vegetable oil, 225g caster sugar and 3 peeled, deseeded tangerines, clementines or satsumas (or whisk the whole lot together using an electric hand whisk). Weigh 225g self-raising flour into large bowl and add the blended mixture. Stir well to thoroughly combine all the ingredients, pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25–30 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and serve warm, with plenty of whipped or clotted cream.

Orange festive fizz
For each serving, pour 60ml tangerine, clementine or satsuma juice and 20ml Campari into the bottom of a Champagne flute. Top up with around 60ml Champagne, Prosecco or any other dry, sparkling wine, stir briefly, and serve immediately. Cheers!

Get into the Christmas Spirit

As we step into December, the team at The Great Wine Co. have been reflecting on their favourite types of brandy to help you get into the festive spirit. So take note from the professionals and think of which of these brandies may go best with your hot chocolate: 

10 year-old Cider Brandy – Somerset Cider Brandy Company
The ten-year-old Somerset Royal Cider Brandy is complex with a Christmas pudding richness, full of subtle bouquets and aromas. One needs to take time to appreciate the harmony of flavours | £44.50

XO 20 year-old Bas Armagnac - Armagnac Castarède
With a glorious, coppery topaz appearance, its intense, vibrant nose shows bags of character: raisins, marrons glacés, cigar box, sandalwood and prune. The full-bodied, harmonious palate shows notes of rancio (a quality achieved through very long barrel maturation), magnificent complexity and length | £72

3 year-old Cider Brandy - Somerset Cider Brandy Company
The 3 year old Somerset Royal Cider Brandy has a nose of apple which leads onto a floral, spicy palate with a touch of spirit followed by a long lingering aftertaste. Packed in a Somerset Cider Brandy box | £33.50

Great Wine Co. Anniversary Vintage Bas Armagnac - Armagnac Castarède
Aged for 40 years in the cellars of Castarède, Armagnac's oldest producer, this fine 1983 vintage Bas Armagnac was specially released to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Great Wine Co. It is a beautifully elegant spirit, with lively, refined notes on the nose, and understated pâtisserie, dried apricot and toasted almond character on the palate | £95

VSOP Bas Armagnac - Armagnac Castarède
This amber-coloured marvel has notes of walnut, plum crumble, coconut and honey on the nose, and is warming, subtle and balanced in the mouth | £43.50

To explore more, visit greatwine.co.uk

Seasonal Celebrations at Harvey Nichols

Enjoy Festive Feasting at The Second Floor Restaurant.

Throughout December, eat, drink and be merry with the new Christmas menu at the Second Floor Restaurant. Indulge in a three-course meal for £40 per person, or £50 with a glass of Champagne.

To book: email: reception.bristol@harveynichols.com or call: 0119 916 8898
Click here to book online and see more winter festivities at Harvey Nichols Bristol.

Shimara Carlow Silver Acorn Cup Diamond Ear Studs | £156

The Acorn Cup features a reticulated silver acorn cup with a rich 18ct yellow gold bead and a sparkling brilliant cut diamond in the centre.

Visit dianaporter.co.uk to shop

Bristol Local Wine School Christmas gift voucher

Local Wine School provides fun and accessible wine lessons for all to enjoy.

Bristol Local Wine School are an independent wine education company and run a vast range of different wine tasting at all levels of wine knowledge and experience. 

This Christmas send or receive a gift voucher for fun tastings and courses. Visit their website for various options. The vouchers are valid for 24 months.

Click here for more information. 

Flavour Head Botanical Tea

The perfect gift to turn heads and wake up your tastebuds this Christmas. This award-winning artisan tea is shaking up the tea market with unique ingredients creatively blended by hand in small batches. You'll find up to a dozen whole, rolled, chunky botanicals in each blend for big flavour. They look fantastic and taste out of this world.

Nine flavours of fruit and herbal, black and green teas, all awarded 'Gold' by Taste of the West. £4.95 for 15 plant-based pyramid bags. Find Flavour Head at Mercy Mercy Café Clifton Village, Teals Cadbury and Touts Nailsea.

flavourhead.com

Harringwaith Canine Apparel

Harringwaith is an English luxury fashion house specialising in canine apparel and accessories. All of their products are crafted by master artisans at their atelier in the heart of Somerset, including the signature sheepskin dog coat, The Harringwaith. A fully lined wool interior ensures your hound strides in impeccable comfort, whilst the leather-finished exterior protects them from the most beastly weather conditions. Available in four sizes from £499.

harringwaith.com

FOPE for the best

Founded back in 1929 by Umberto Cazzola, with a goldsmith’s workshop in Vicenza and developed through the family generations, FOPE is recognised as one of the finest luxury jewellery brands in the world.

FOPE is famous for creating the iconic Novecento mesh and the Flex’it collection – a superbly flexible and intricate gold weave that allows jewellery to be shaped into beautiful designs and is FOPE’s unmistakeable, signature style. Enjoying huge success since the late 80s and adored ever since, FOPE’s timeless designs and its collections are elegant and highly covetable.

Click here to see an amazing range of FOPE jewllery at Mallory.

Bristol's local businesses in spotlight of Small Business Saturday campaign

Two of Bristol's best small businesses were spotlighted by the national Small Business Saturday roadshow on 19 November.

With an aim to support small businesses facing persistent economic challenges, ‘The Tour’ visited Bristol as part of the countdown to Small Business Saturday to support and celebrate the area's local firms. 

Prior Shop, a sustainable lifestyle and design shop based in Cabot Circus, and Knots and Stalks, which delivers creative and holistic wellbeing workshops in Bristol and the surrounding areas, were both visited by the team at Small Business Saturday.

Taking place tomorrow, 2 December, Small Business Saturday will celebrate small business success, encouraging consumers to 'shop local' and to support businesses in their communities.

Visit knotsandstalks.com and priorshop.uk to discover more

Curated by Daniel McCabe

MOTOR is an engrossing magazine about dance and writing about dance, published to form a trilogy. After ‘The Solo’ (2022), we’ve just received the second issue ‘Duets and Dialogues’ (2023), to be followed next year by ‘Groupwork’. The magazine aims to better illuminate and expand the way in which dance is framed and make it more accessible to wider audiences. It argues for both the choreographic potentiality of writing about the subject of dance and a view that the genre provides a distinctive vantage point through which to encounter art and the world. £15

magalleria.co.uk

Exultate Singers: Carols by Candlelight

Exultate Singers will perform an exquisite programme of Christmas music, the perfect preparation for the festive season. Come and enjoy a wonderfully atmospheric evening in the beautiful surroundings of Bristol’s oldest building, St James Priory. 

Saturday 9 December at 4.30pm, Wednesday 13 December at 7.30pm
St James Priory, Whitson Street, Bristol BS1 3NZ
Tickets £13 to £20 from Opus 13 music shop on 0117 923 0164
exultatesingers.org

Gaspard's Foxtrot and Peter and the Wolf with Zeb Soanes

The Bristol Ensemble performs Gaspard's Foxtrot and Peter and the Wolf, presented by Zeb Soanes and directed by Roger Huckle.

Alongside the classic Peter and the Wolf, join Gaspard the friendly fox and his furry chums in a warm-hearted adventure on the No.38 bus, past the sights, sounds and smells of the big city. Performed by their creator Zeb Soanes, accompanied by the Bristol Ensemble, this is the perfect way to introduce children to a live orchestra through storytelling.

Sunday 17 December, 2pm and 4pm
St George's, Great George Street, Bristol BS1 5RR
Visit bristolensemble.com for more information and to book

Bristol Bears vs Gloucester

It's Derby Day this weekend, and Bristol Bears are getting ready to take on Gloucester this Saturday, 2 December, at Ashton Gate.

Don't miss out on being a part of all the action! Groups of 8 or more are eligible for big discounts with 50% off Under-12s and up to 35% off Adults. 

Find out more and buy tickets at bristolbearsrugby.com

Belmont Road, St. Andrews, Bristol

Offered for sale by Ocean estate agents in Bristol

Occupying an enviable position between the Gloucester Road, St Andrews Park and some popular local schools is this beautifully presented Victorian double bay fronted home.

This spacious property perfectly blends an array of period features with a recently updated interior, making it a perfect home for a growing family.

The ground floor offers a spacious lounge with a bay window and fireplace, a kitchen breakfast room that overlooks the rear garden via a further bay window, an additional reception room, a large utility room and bathroom.

On the first floor, there are three double bedrooms and a shower room. Stairs lead to the top floor which provides the fourth double bedroom and access to a large loft cavity which could be easily converted into a fifth bedroom (subject to consents).

The rear garden gets plenty of sunshine thanks to its westerly aspect which can be further enjoyed from a raised sun terrace beneath which is access to the undercroft storage.

Belmont Road is a prime position, given St Andrews Park, Gloucester Road and popular local primary and secondary schools are all within a short walk. Guide price: £825,000

Click here for more information and images and to view the property on the Ocean website.