Peter Brown, known as "Pete the Street", has released Bristol Paintings, a collection of works made in Bristol after decades of painting city scenes worldwide. The 58‑year‑old began exploring Bristol during the Covid pandemic and hopes the book helps readers discover new corners and reappraise familiar streets. Brown, who started painting at 15 and revived his practice after a 1993 foundation course in Bath, has also documented events from Glastonbury to public reactions to Banksy. He says he has only "scratched the surface" and continues to explore the city through his art.
Pete the Street’s 'Bristol Paintings' — a Painter’s Love Letter to the City
Peter Brown, known as "Pete the Street", has released Bristol Paintings, a collection of works made in Bristol after decades of painting city scenes worldwide. The 58‑year‑old began exploring Bristol during the Covid pandemic and hopes the book helps readers discover new corners and reappraise familiar streets. Brown, who started painting at 15 and revived his practice after a 1993 foundation course in Bath, has also documented events from Glastonbury to public reactions to Banksy. He says he has only "scratched the surface" and continues to explore the city through his art.
12:14 PM, 11/15/2025Culture
Pete the Street’s 'Bristol Paintings' — a Painter’s Love Letter to the City
Artist Peter Brown, widely known as "Pete the Street", has published Bristol Paintings, a new collection of works capturing the character and corners of Bristol. After 32 years of painting cityscapes from Bath and London to New York, the 58‑year‑old turned his eye to Bristol — a city he only began exploring in earnest during the Covid pandemic.
Brown hopes the book will encourage readers to discover unfamiliar streets and to look again at places they already know. "I just hope that I've captured some sort of feeling of what it's actually like to live or be in Bristol," he said.
"That's the beauty of drawing and painting — it helps you look and analyse things and then you really discover the area. The best compliment is when people say, 'I've lived here all my life and you've captured it.'"
Brown first picked up a paintbrush at about 15. Although he studied art at school and college, he set it aside until moving to Bath for a foundation course in 1993, when the city inspired him to start drawing again and selling work on the streets.
Over the years his sketchbook has recorded a wide range of public moments: festivalgoers at Glastonbury, crowds mourning the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace, and onlookers reacting to Banksy's Valentine's Day mascara piece in Kent. He admits it took him "ages" to bring his kit to Bristol, but once he did he felt "like a kid in a sweet shop".
Brown contrasts Bristol with Bath: "Bath is a beautiful city, always a city of leisure, but Bristol is an industrial city that's pulled in a huge, varied population. It's got an amazing landscape — the lumps and bumps and the gorge — and some beautiful traffic scenes that inspire me. I also enjoy painting high streets and little residential areas."
He says he has only "scratched the surface" and continues to return to the city to discover and record new scenes. Bristol Paintings collects those discoveries in a single volume, inviting readers to see the city through his attentive, street-level eye.