News / Chocolate Path
Chocolate Path reopens after being closed for six years
Unlike the reopening of Gaol Ferry Bridge, there was no party to mark the revival of the Chocolate Path.
Instead, the barriers that had been blocking access to the path next to the New Cut since 2017 due to subsidence fears were quietly removed on Friday afternoon, and pedestrians and cyclists able to rediscover it themselves in their own time.
The path retains the unusually shaped blocks that give it its name but now also has a new section of tarmac where a section of the retaining wall collapsed into the water in 2020.
Access from Vauxhall Bridge is due to be restored soon, with the only current ways onto and off the path at either end: from near Ashton Avenue bridge on one side, and from a path next to the railway line most easily accessed from near Brunel’s Buttery on the other.
Work appears to be still continuing to restore the railway line between the Chocolate Path and Cumberland Road.
But for now, it’s time to celebrate on two feet or two wheels as one of Bristol’s most-loved pathways is back in business for the first time in six years.
Tarmac and tiles make up the new section of the Chocolate Path – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo & video: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Hundreds join Gaol Ferry Bridge reopening party
- Tides blamed for latest delays to Chocolate Path repairs
- Following all 44 miles of Bristol’s boundary on foot
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