Bristol

Even though neither of us is from Bristol, being in Bristol was hugely important to Sarah; it’s a beautiful city, and it’s not London. All of our 7” singles featured pictures of Bristol on their centre labels, the Sarah singles compilations were all named after places in and around Bristol (and numbered after the buses that went there), and the city’s road layout provided the perfect board for Saropoly – a boardgame about running an indie record label which was our fiftieth release.

At the start of May 2014, alongside the exhibition at the Arnolfini, Clare led some walks around Bristol, taking in some of the places we named records after, that featured on our sleeves, or were important to us. The walks started and ended at the Arnolfini and included: the former Industrial Museum (sleeve of Engine Common); the Thekla (venue for the Sarah 100 party); the Fleece; the view of the Floating Harbour from Bristol Bridge (sleeve of Shadow Factory); the Glass Arcade; Christmas Steps; the site of the Revolver shop; Cabot Tower (label of Sarah 15); and There And Back Again Lane.

Taking in the harbour area and fantastic views over the city from both the university and Brandon Hill, the walks formed part of a local Ramblers’ group’s walks programme and were blogged about (Maritime City) on the Ramblers’ website.