Life in Somerset town famous for carnival is changing but still has hidden gems

Bridgwater is beloved for its carnival and scrutinised for alleged anti-social behaviour.
-Credit: (Image: Phoebe Hobbs)


I didn't have the best first impression of Bridgwater. Like any tourist in any town, I got straight to snapping photos of local monuments and beauty spots: the lush Blake Gardens, the resplendent 19th century Corn Hill market with its Romanesque columns, the famous bridge itself.

This did not strike me as a strange thing to do. Having grown up in a popular seaside resort and living now in the tourist-topia commonly known as Bath, I'm very used to seeing people with their phones out, trying to capture a moment and keep it forever. It wouldn't surprise me if the Royal Crescent was photographed every minute of every day.

But in Bridgwater, it did strike some people as a strange thing to do. A group of men asked - perhaps jokingly- if I was trying to photograph them. I shook my head and they went on with their day.

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But when I got to photographing the Corn Hill, a middle aged man and woman called out to me from the steps they were sitting on.

"You! Yeah, you! What are you doing?"

I blinked: "I'm a visitor. I'm taking pictures of the town."

The woman looked at me with a deadly serious expression. In a low voice: "Don't. Don't do that."

I walked away, confused. Later, when recounting the incident with local artist and fashion designer Nathan, he speculated that maybe they were worried I was here to do a hit piece on the town.

It was then I discovered that Bridgwater has had a bellyful of media attention lately. The erection of Hinkley Point- an in-progress nuclear power station - was just one talking point. A electric car battery factory in nearby Puriton was another draw for journalists.

Perhaps most painfully, there had been a number of articles reporting on alleged antisocial behaviour in the town- including from national outlets like the BBC and Telegraph. Bridgwater MP Sir Ashley Fox told the BBC that tackling antisocial behaviour was his top priority.

Personally, I had seen a group of people in their thirties sitting outside a shop and drinking when I arrived around noon. When I left a few hours later, there were still people sitting there and drinking, though it may have been a different group.

Nathan, who studied in London and runs the local café-boutique SL-ATE, feels the issue may have been overblown: "I don't think it's the be-all end-all. As much as there's anti-social behaviour, we're not talking stabbings, we're not talking thieves, we're not talking anything extreme. We might be talking a couple of kids on bikes being a nuisance."

He went on to compare living in Bridgwater to our nation's capital: "The people who are drinking on the street are harmless, just rowdy. You're not going to get pushed in the river. I've lived in London, I've seen anti-social behaviour, I've been scared to walk down the street."

Another pressure point for the town is its High Street. Philip, who is ambassador for Somerset Film and a regular visitor to the town, said that there's been some turmoil for the High Street but pointed out that the problem is country-wide, not just Bridgwater-based.

Listing WHSmith's, Wilkinson's, and a post office as among Bridgwater's recent High Street fatalities, he said: "I think the out of town shopping trend and the parking around the clusters of supermarkets on the periphery of the town has had a real impact on the high street."

-Credit:Phoebe Hobbs
-Credit:Phoebe Hobbs

Right now, there's still a lot of options for shopping in Bridgwater. There's the famous Corn Hill, a quiet but friendly space which sells a lot of jewellery, clothes, and DVDs. Then there's Angel Place shopping centre, which has a Savers, One Below, and a Holland and Barrett on its roster.

It would be a mistake to judge Bridgwater solely by its struggles. Firstly, despite some strange encounters, most people in Bridgwater were perfectly kind and lovely.

The town definitely has gems. Somerset Film has a centre in town which trains local aspiring filmmakers and has alumni who have worked on Netflix projects and even a film with Tom Hanks.

Spaces like SL-ATE are bringing workshops on perfume-making and flower pressing to the town. And of course, then there's the event of the year: carnival.

Every November, the town lines the streets to watch a parade of brightly-lit carts light up the night's sky. Philip thinks it's a great tradition for the community: "There are many many families in Bridgwater who are totally involved with it and have been for generations.

"There's always this thing now with younger people now not getting involved as they used to, but I don't even think that that's a huge problem with the carnival here."

Trawlermen by Ramblers CC at Bridgwater Carnival 2023
Trawlermen by Ramblers CC at Bridgwater Carnival 2023

Nathan spoke kindly of the carnival, but would like to see it shaken up a bit: "Carnival is exciting...It's a little repetitive. It's more or less the same every year.

"It's one of those things that this town really holds onto as part of its history- I just want to see it pushed into the future a little bit. I love change."

There's a lot of that going round in Bridgwater. There's the set-up of Hinkley Point and all the workers flocking to town for the new job opportunities, the new MP elected this summer, the Gigafactory set to open in 2026, the changing face of the High Street as places open and close.

Everything here is in flux. Even the carnival has switched to LED lights.

My trip to Bridgwater began with me taking a photo - trying to immortalise a moment with my camera, unchanging forever. A few people didn't like that.

Maybe they had the right idea after all. Maybe we should just let moments pass and things change.