5 min readDid you know that Hollywood legend Cary Grant started his life as Archibald Leach in Bristol? Find out where one of the most iconic film stars called home, learned his trade and is now commemorated in the city.
The Cary Grant Statue
Start your Cary Grant tour of the city by seeking out the statue of the man himself.
The statue was unveiled in Millennium Square in 2001 to mark the 70th anniversary of his arrival in Hollywood. Cary Grant died in November 1986, aged 82, and was a frequent visitor to Bristol in his later life, even at the peak of his Hollywood fame.
Image - Cary Grant statue in Millennium Square
Visit Cary Grant's birthplace
Archibald Alec Leach was born in Bristol on 18 January 1904. His first home was 15 Hughenden Road in Horfield, just a short distance from Gloucester Road. A blue plaque was unveiled outside his other childhood home at 50 Berkeley Road in November 2024, celebrating the 120th anniversary of his birth.
Image - Cary Grant Blue Plaque in Bristol
'Archiue' attended nearby Bishop Road Primary School and then won a scholarship to Fairfield Grammar School, but was eventually expelled.
Image - Cary Grant in Bristol
Bristol Hippodrome
As a child and teenager, Archie Leach would visit the music halls with his father, and worked backstage at the Bristol Hippodrome when he was 14 years old, operating the stage lights. He would return later in life as a movie star to watch productions and meet cast and crew members backstage.
Cary Grant also liked to lunch at the former Harvey’s Restaurant on nearby Denmark Street, and buy his spectacles at Dunscombe’s on the corner of St. Augustine’s Parade, a few doors away from the theatre.
Image - Bristol Hippodrome. Credit Oliver Jordan
Bristol Docks
Before leaving Bristol to pursue a career in the United States, Archie would spend a lot of time in the then working docks and Floating Harbour of Bristol, which closed to commercial traffic in 1975 and slowly became the popular Harbourside area many Bristolians and visitors now love.
Speaking about the docks later in life, he said: “I sat alone for hours watching the ships come and go, sailing with them to far places on the tide of my imagination, trying to release myself from the emotional tensions which disarranged my thoughts.”
Image - Cary Grant walking along Bristol harbourside. Credit Bristol Post
Glenside Hospital Museum
A sadder side of Cary Grant's story is that of his mother, Elsie. As a child, Archie was told that she had gone away on holiday, however he later discovered at the age of 31 that his mother was still alive and being cared for at Bristol Mental Hospital, which is now the site of the Glenside Hospital Museum. This fascinating museum has an extensive collection of exhibits from the different eras of the hospital's history from 1861 - 2000, and aims to increase people’s understanding of their brain, while destigmatising mental illness.
On learning that his mother was still alive in 1936, Cary Grant made the journey to Bristol to see her and arrange to have her discharged from the hospital and into his care. He returned to Bristol every year to see his mother until she died, and bought her a house in the North Bristol suburb of Westbury Park.
Image - Glenside Hospital
The Avon Gorge Hotel
Cary Grant celebrated his 68th birthday by posing for the cameras at the Avon Gorge Hotel against the iconic backdrop of the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Now known as The Avon Gorge by Hotel du Vin, you can pose for a photo with the same view on the terrace of the hotel or neighbouring pub The White Lion. Cary Grant also liked to treat his mother Elsie to cream tea at the hotel, which is still on the menu now if you fancy a treat!
Image - Cary Grant at the Avon Gorge Hotel
Learn more on a tour of Cary Grant's Bristol
The 90-minute Raising Cary Grant Tour takes you on a guided walk around the landscapes of Cary Grant's childhood in Central Bristol, as well the changed Bristol he found after the Second World War. The tour is run at selected dates throughout the year, or you can book a private tour for a group.
Image - 'Raising Cary Grant' tour by Show of Strength
Book your ticket to a Cary Grant festival
The Cary Grant Comes Home Festival is a bi-annual celebration of Bristol's famous former resident, with screenings, talks, and special events across three days. The next festival will take place in 2026.
Image - Cary Grant and the Avon Gorge
A little piece of Bristol in New York...
During World War Two, Bristol was devastated by bombing raids, leaving parts of the city reduced to rubble. Notably a large section of the city's most historic buildings were destroyed in a single air raid on 24 November 1940, with the area now home to Castle Park and ruins of St Peter's Church, the latter of which was preserved as a memorial.
American supply ships in Bristol needed ballast to make the return trip to the USA, and so used the rubble from the city. On arrival in New York, they dumped the ballast in East River Drive, now known as ‘The Bristol Basin’, and built on top of it.
In 1974 Cary Grant unveiled a plaque in New York dedicated to ‘The Bristol Basin’ and those whose homes and lives were destroyed. A duplicate of the plaque can be found on St Augustine’s Parade in Bristol, just across from the Bristol Hippodrome.
Image - Cary Grant with the Bristol Basin plaque
Read more:
