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Commercial Rooms

The Commercial Rooms were built in 1810 by Charles Busby, just after the aboliton of the slave trade in Britain (1807).  It replaced a well-known Coffee House on the same site.  Designed as a new centre for Bristol businessmen it originally housed a club for mercantile interests, and the weather vane helped merchants estimate the arrival times of shipping. The choice of decoration is interesting. At the top of the building are three statues which represent Bristol, Commerce and Navigation.

These were once jokingly called 'the three commercial Graces' - this was because in Greek myths the three Graces were beautiful goddesses representing splendour, beauty, and cheerfulness. The joker thought that Bristol merchants were far more interested in shipping and money-making than truly graceful living!

It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.

Content generated during research for the paperback book 'Bristol: Ethnic Monorities and the City 1000-2001' (ISBN 13 : 978-1-86077-477-5 ) for the England's Past for Everyone series

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