The Chessels is an area of
Bedminster, Bristol that runs from the midsection of Luckwell Rd to the former White Horse pub on West Street. Chessel Street is the main road. The name ''Chessel'' is taken from the name of a field, recorded in 1350.
The White Horse was redeveloped into flats by 2013,
but was once used as a location for the fictional Nags Head pub in the BBC television series ''
Only Fools and Horses
''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until t ...
''.
Chessel Street has a number of streets on either side that are named after gemstones, including Ruby Street, Pearl Street, Beryl Road, Jasper Street and Garnet Street. At the West Street end Chessel Street also turns off into British Road, and at the Luckwell Rd end there is a moderately sized
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church,
St Aldhelms (built 1906),
[
] which is part of the
Bedminster Team Ministry.
Until as recently as 1980 there was a shop on every corner of the entire street – over 10 shops. These included a bakery, general store, sweet shop and newsagent, a cooker and electrical shop, and a dry cleaner. As of September 2016 there is now just a funeral directors at the West St end and a hair and beauty salon at the Luckwell Rd end, which was the former post office. The post office counter (named ''The Chessels'') was closed
as part of
Post Office Ltd
gd, Oifis a' Phuist kw, Sodhva an Post ga, An Post Ríoga
, logo = Post Office Logo.svg
, type = State-owned private company limited by shares
, genre =
, predecessor = General Post Office
, foundation = 1987
, founder =
, location_cit ...
's post office closure plan.
The post office was described in June 2008 by Councillor
Mark Wright as "a focal point for the local community in the Chessels since before anyone can remember."
In April 2008, (then) MP for Bristol South
Dawn Primarolo
Dawn Primarolo, Baroness Primarolo, (born 2 May 1954) is a Labour Party (UK), British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Bristol South (UK Parliament constituency), Bristol South ...
objected to the proposed closure of both The Chessels and Bedminster Road branches, noting their high importance to the local communities.
References
Areas of Bristol
{{Bristol-geo-stub