Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Housing

Garth England's Bristol: Drawing a line through the 20th century

Garth England was a milkman in Bristol in the post-war years. In his latter years he made drawings of the streets and buildings he knew so well...

Greenleaze to Redcatch Road © Bristol Archives

Paperboy, telegram deliverer, milkman… Few knew the 20th century streets of Bristol better than Garth England. Living in a care home in 2005, he began to draw the houses and streets he used to know through remarkably meticulous memories of places, some long gone.

Clear and concise, the drawings are often annotated by England’s personal memories (skidding down icy streets delivering milk) or social comment (the building of prefabs and local authority housing).

His work captures a poignant time of social and architectural change in post-war Britain, and 30 pieces have gone on display for the first time.

Murdered with Straight Lines: Drawings of Bristol by Garth England runs until September 10, The Architecture Centre, Bristol BS1

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Do you know how Big Issue 'really' works?

Watch this simple explanation.

Recommended for you

View all
Don’t be fooled: reviving the Help to Buy scheme won’t make housing more affordable in 2026
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook with two other people, all in hi-vis with hard hats
Maya Singer Hobbs

Don’t be fooled: reviving the Help to Buy scheme won’t make housing more affordable in 2026

Big Issue founder leads call for a national empty homes strategy: 'A completely wasted resource'
Big Issue founder Lord John Bird at a House of Lords debate on empty homes
Housing

Big Issue founder leads call for a national empty homes strategy: 'A completely wasted resource'

Council spending on housing homeless families in England at almost £3bn a year: ‘It’s crippling’
Jordan has been in and out of homelessness services for many years. Now in temporary accommodation, Jordan has been supported with his mental health and is positively moving forward.
Housing

Council spending on housing homeless families in England at almost £3bn a year: ‘It’s crippling’

'I grew up in social housing and now I'm going to Harvard. It's given me drive to change the world'
Monay Thomas in a graduation gown and mortar board celebrating her graduation from LSE
Education

'I grew up in social housing and now I'm going to Harvard. It's given me drive to change the world'