Once Upon a Time in the West Country: Bristol Beginnings

When I moved to London in January of 2013, I was expecting it to be for a few years and then onto the next thing – but life tends to have its own ideas. In the latest exciting development, I find myself leading a Manifesto invasion of the West Country by opening a new office in Bristol.

A lot has happened in the last six and a half years, including getting married, moving three times and joining the team here at Manifesto. London has been good to us. But all good things, as they say, must come to an end. When we decided to call time on our London adventure and head closer to home, the world (or at least, the south of England) was our oyster. So the question was, where next?

Bristol had been on our shortlist for a while, and after discussions with the leadership team here about next steps, it became the clear winner. Soon, one of our developers confirmed he was looking to make the same move, and before we knew it we had a plan forming – establishing Manifesto’s west country base of operations.

With our end date of our London house confirmed, we began a two pronged approach of looking for places to live and work – my wife began the search for a flat, and myself and COO Simon took a trip down to tour working spaces.

After touring a few of the various locations for the office we had shortlisted, we picked a winner in (the aptly named) Origin Workspace near the fabulous Brandon Hill, and have been rapidly recruiting staff to join us in our new home.

The view from the Origin roof terrace on a sunny May day ☝️

It’s been close to four weeks since we trundled all of our belongings along the M4 in a Luton van, and so far everything is going great. Bristol is a beautiful city. Being able to walk to work (and most other places) is amazing, and certainly helping my step count on my fitness tracker, although some of the hills can be a bit brutal.

Things I will miss about London:

• Not having to think about public transport – in London you just get used to a tube every 3 minutes
• Manifesto pub Fridays (and sometimes Monday – Thursdays)
• Being able to go to a great selection of shows/ events/ sports games straight from work
• Not having to explain to people on holiday where you live (most people abroad have at least heard of London…)
• 5-a-side on Tuesdays, although avoiding an injury from the player known only as ‘Chopper’ is probably a plus

If you are interested in how Manifesto can help your business build better products, services and campaigns, please do get in touch.

Featured image credit: photo by Harry Kessell