Talk:Portishead, Somerset

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I would debate that the town has pretty good communications links, what with the M5 being right next to it and there being a decent and regular bus services to Bristol, Weston and Cribbs Causeway. Surely?

I took a section on opposition to asylum seekers. It appeared to be a (very) thinly-veiled suggestion of racism, is of time-limited importance, and quite frankly, there's been opposition to asylum-seekers in most towns in Britain. I'm certain that not everybody in Portishead was opposed. -- ALargeElk | Talk 11:39, 17 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Yes, I agree (asylum seekers bit). It was probably put there as it's the only recent bit of news and everyone seems to be suffering from the "Daily Mail" syndrome in the town. What the paragraph failed to point out is that such a centre already exists in the town and is simply moving to larger premises and expanding. The comments about poor communications links in the town are also iterated throughout the local papers, stating that there is only 1 bus an hour from Bristol: this is simply untrue, there are 2 per hour all day and 3 during rush hour.

If other people agree, I could rewrite that section to include a more realistic description of the town's communications?

It is near the M5 etc. but the the infrastructure is not being modified to meet the demands of a rapidly growing, commuting population. (and I was reading backwards and replying to the top comment not the bottom. Ooops.)

Romana 22:30, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Population

This newspaper circulation site says just under 20,000 aged 15+ in late 2004 (possibly including villages in the area), the town council's site here gives the figures I've just included. 12.5k seems way too low, unless it's excluding some of the areas like North Weston or Redcliffe Bay. this NHS site gives the ward figures from the 2001 census, which add up to 17,130. --Andrew Norman 16:10, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Nothing is simple...

Could someone please tell me exactly how to pronounce Portishead. Is it Por-tis-head, as in the head on your shoulders? Is is Por-ti-shead, as in a shed in the back yard? Or maybe its Port-is-heed? I have searched all over the net and have asked many, many people. Not an easy task, and its driving me nuts!

My father's just moved into a residential home there, and I grew up in Clevedon just down the coast. We'd say "portis-head", more or less, without sounding the "h" much if at all, and a slight stress on the last syllable. --Andrew Norman 08:12, 21 July 2005 (UTC)


To Andrew Norman: Thank you very much!

The way it's written in Dirk Robson's "Krek Waiter's Peak Bristle", a humorous book about Bristol dialect, is "Port Zed", which is also roughly the right pronunciation. --Andrew Norman 10:21, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
I've lived here for many years, and generally I would say that the residents say "Port-is-head", regardless of the 'correct' pronunciation. I guess anyone trying to affect a somerset accent might say "Portis-'ead"; can't say I can think of many people who would actually say it like that, unless in jest. --Stripybadger 09:51, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cabstand Controversy

I've removed a couple of sentences that just reek of ill-informed opinionated soapboxing: "The fact that there are two cars or more per new household does not seem to have struck people yet." and "...but with a population of nearly 20,000 this could more accurately be described as apathy.". Well, IMHO, this is complete nonsensical drivel, probably written by someone at the council that approved the damn plan in the first place. Looking out my front window right now, I don't see two or more cars per household. Okay, I'm definitely on the other side of the fence on this issue, but I hope my addition w.r.t. the protest march is acceptable. I couldn't find a source on Google for this, except: this article, but it was covered in the local TV and print news that week. (Incidentally, I can't cite any sources, but the whole Cabstand development reeks of some pretty dodgy dealings on the part of the consultants, the contractors and the county council.) Gid 19:43, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Dodgy dealings? Cui bono? The point of the changes is to connect the rest of the High Street with the new developments - flats, school, library, doctor's surgery - for PEDESTRIANS. No-one ever said that new traffic measures had to be to the benefit of DRIVERS. The real problem with the Cabstand lights is that people don't know how to drive when there's lots of traffic.

The real problem with the Cabstand lights is that they were unecessary and absurdly expensive, there was no problem before.......

As for two cars or more per household - where are you looking out at? Nearly everyone where I live has two cars - next door has three, next door to them has three, I have three (four if you count my crock). Just take a walk around the new developments.

And there is no County Council here. Have you been reading your Conspiracy for Beginners manual or what?