The first Pride in Bristol was held in 1977 under the name of Bristol Gay Festival, as a fundraiser for the
Gay News blasphemy trial. The event returned again in 1978, and ran under the name of Bristol Gay Festival until 1985, when it became known as Avon Pride. The pride and took place every year until around 1994. In 1991 a special postmark was issued to mark the 15th Pride festival in Bristol. After a gap of some years, Pride was resurrected in 2010. In 2012 the event was moved to
College Green as a one-off, due to the presence of an
English Defence League march in the city centre. The EDL claimed it only opposed
Islamic extremism, and that attendees of the march would not cause issues for Bristol Pride attendees. Over 700 police offers were organised to police the events, costing half a million pounds. Around 300 EDL attendees marched, and 11 people were arrested. Bristol Pride was able to go ahead with no issues. In 2017, 36,000 people (including duplicated attendance) attended 19 events organised by Bristol Pride. To celebrate the tenth year of Bristol Pride in its current form and to accommodate ever-growing numbers of attendees, Bristol Pride moved the 2019 event from the Harbourside to
the Downs, a large area of open public land in the north-west of the city. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 event was suspended and it was later announced that it would be online-only; the 2021 march was likewise cancelled due to
COVID-19 lockdowns, but returned in 2022 with Pride Day festivities again being held on the Downs. == Headliners ==