New to Bristol

The new term is here and the migration has begun; wide eyed students are settling into the alien land of as Bristol. Although you may be roped into thinking that everyone of any calibre will spend their Friday nights in Wetherspoons with medics dressed as tarzan, locals can do much to show you otherwise.

Here is some advice from the know-how know-it-all that is Itchy on where to go outside of the menacing student hotspots.

First thing's first: the local dialect.

It is not ok to greet everyone you see with an eager 'all right me luvverrrrrrr!' The large handful of Bristol students who descend from the landed aristocracy are likely to be confused if you do this. As are Clifton yummy mummies.

If you want to do as the locals do without having to eat MacDonalds in your droves and dance all night at Syndicate, then head down to the Bishopston area. This place is brimming with independent and local shops that you will not hear a whisper of in freshers' week.

Take Gloucester Road, where organic shops outnumber supermarkets. Head to Scoopaway where large barrels of all your basic foodstuffs are there for the scooping. Think coffee, rice, lentils, herbs, spices, cereal...This road is also home to the legendary Breadstore which is so adored by the locals that the queues form monstrous proportions come the weekend.

Stokes Croft is not too far away is home to the greatest and best hidden restaurant in the city of Bristol. The Thali Cafe will have your kitsch bits itching as you sit in a tiny room filled floor to ceiling with glittering Indian ornaments. You can only get one dish – the thali – and after eating it you'll never want to eat anything else. Head to the Cadbury afterwards and drink beer with hippy rastas.

Surprisingly, Bristol's best pub can be found smack bang in the centre. The Old Duke, set on a cobbled courtyard, will bring you fine ciders to the sounds of jazz and blues seven days a week. Expect to meet fantastical Bristolians who look like pirates and homeless people offering poems for spare change.

And finally, if you want to go out and about in Brizzle without spending your loan on the entry for the SS Great Britain, why not head up to St Werburghs Farm. You will not see a single student face on your way and your destination will bring you goats, pigs, and a sublime secluded pub which seems to have a festival going on every other week. Get chatting to the regulars and you'll truly feel part of the city.

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