People / My Bristol Favourites
My Bristol favourites: Stark Holborn
Stark Holborn is an enigmatic character with a six-gallon hat and a past shrouded in mystery. He (or is it she?) is said to hail from Wichita, Kansas, but drifts between continents like a scrap of bison hide on the breeze, and is currently residing in Bristol.
Holborn’s debut novel, Nunslinger, is published by Hodder & Stoughton on December 4. The author will be signing copies of the book at Forbidden Planet on the Clifton Triangle on December 6, with the book launch at Foyles in Quakers Friars on December 10 followed by a mighty fine shindig at The Doghouse on St Stephen’s Street.
For more information, visit www.starkholborn.com.
Here are Holborn’s top-five Bristol favourites:
The cranes outside M Shed
“Steam cranes! I mean, come on. STEAM. CRANES. They’re great. I love stumbling across them on the odd open day, watching the pistons and winches in action, fantasising about living in the little glass cabin up above… The smell always reminds me of the crazy old Victorian steam fair with that used to come to town when I was knee high to a grasshopper. The rides were seriously dangerous, but that was just part of the fun.”
Boat crossings
“Occasionally, when I’m over Southville way I’ll take the ferry across the river from the ss Great Britain to the other side of the harbour inlet. On a bright, sunny morning, and for 80 of your English pence, it makes for a pretty darn lovely commute. And it’s probably the best short cut in Bristol.”
The Folk House
“I hide out here, away from the stampede of Park Street. They let me buy a coffee and stare at the tabletop for hours on end while I’m trying to write. And they never play horrible music. And they do a fine special lunchtime meal. Usually in a bowl. I like my food in bowls.”
Totterdown
“South-of-the-river is my turf and territory, and Totterdown’s got it all. Victoria Park, the Star & Dove, staggering distance from the station, A Capella Pizza delivery radius… And sometimes, when I really need cheering up, I go and talk to the goats at Windmill Hill City Farm.”
Christmas Steps
“I’ve gotta tip my hat to the Christmas Steps / Park Row area. It’s got Bloom & Curll bookshop, Bristol Cider Shop, Potters Bristol, The Workhouse Cafe (to this day the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten. It had pickled watermelon in it. Pickled. Watermelon.) and now Twentieth Century Flicks. All it needs is a whiskey bar and I’ll happily move across the river and set up camp.”
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
