B3120

North Street

The B3120 is a short urban B-road in the Bedminster area of Bristol.

It starts in Ashton, on the A370 a little to the east of the Ashton Gate Junction. It heads south along Ashton Road (which is one-way northbound) at first, before it TOTSOs left onto North Street, which passes the Brewery Theatre and then quickly becomes a busy shopping street as it plunges into the heart of Ashton. The shops continue as Ashton becomes Bedminster, and the road turns right at a mini-roundabout onto Cannon Street. A hundred yards or so later the road kinks right onto East Street and then there is a short multiplex along the A38. Continuing ahead at traffic lights when the A38 swings left, the B3120 goes under the railway line and then quickly comes to an end at a roundabout in Malago Vale on the B3122.

History

Unlike some of its neighbours, the general route of the B3120 hasn't changed hugely since 1922. However, there have been substantial changes at either end. At the Ashton Gate end, Ashton Road is the former line of the A370, which was diverted to the Ashton Gate Junction in the 1960s, leaving the B3120 to take over a short section of its former line. In the middle, the multiplex with the A38 has changed, with the A38 formerly using East Street rather than Sheene Road. But the biggest change is at the eastern end, where the B3120 once continued east along St Johns Lane all the way to the A37 at Totterdown. Part of this route is now the B3122, whilst the last section is unclassified. However, no good reason for the change which seems to date back to the 1930s can be identified.