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Bristol walking tour featured in BBC’s notorious gangster podcast
“Welcome to Bedminster, where graves were robbed by body snatchers”.
This may not be the first impression of visitors to Bedminster’s gentrified North Street today, but at one point in time, this was a real problem in the area, according to Sheila Hannon, who recently helped create a fascinating walking tour of Bedminster’s history.
The walking tour has now been featured on a BBC podcast about the notorious gangster, John Palmer.
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John Palmer ran his business from a jewellery store called Scadlynn Jewellery on North Street, and ‘handled’ the money in the £26m in gold stolen from the famous Brinks Matt warehouse in November 1983, the biggest robbery in British history.
Gangster: The Story of John Palmer explores the life of Palmer and the famous Brinks Matt robbery. The podcast has received over a million hits since launching on February 1, and a new BBC television drama about the gangster called The Gold is also in the pipeline.
The podcast enlisted the help of the popular theatre walking tour by Show of Strength, entitled Blood and Butchery in Bedminster. Artistic director for the tour, Sheila, joined BBC presenter Livvy Haydock to explore the life of John Palmer and the world he made for himself in Bedminster.
According to Sheila, Palmer spent time in Bristol in the 1980s, going to seedy nightclubs on Park Street and getting into brawls at local ballrooms.
“If you think you know Bedminster… you must think again,” said Sheila.
“There’s a reason we call this tour Blood and Butchery in Bedminster, and we love watching the expressions on people’s faces as they discover just what happened on their very own doorstep as we take them from pillar to post and unravel years of debauchery and deceit,” she added.
Blood and Butchery walking tour will begin on Thursday, February 16. Participants will be able to see Palmer’s business premises, the bank where millions were handed over the counter and the pub Palmer bought and converted to celebrate his success.
Main photo: Miles Arnold
Read more:
- Bristol book digs into an obscure history
- Channel 4 show to unearth the history of a street in Bristol
- Series of talks explore hidden histories of Bedminster and Southville
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