Major bridge closed after dramatic malfunction
A city centre footbridge known to be in need of structural repairs has been left partially hanging after a dramatic malfunction.
Video footage shows Pero's Bridge in Bristol Harbour closing slowly before it suddenly falls at about 11:00 BST on Thursday.
The popular pedestrian bridge connecting Narrow Quay and Canon's Road remains shut with the two sides visibly out of alignment.
"Pero's Bridge is currently unable to close due to an issue that occurred during a routine test lift this morning," said Councillor Andrew Brown, chair of Bristol City Council's Harbour Committee.
"It remains closed to pedestrians and is also closed to navigation by boats who are unable to pass underneath the bridge," he added.
"Engineers are assessing the fault to identify a repair, and we will keep people updated on the situation via the council's social media channels."
Honey Hollingsworth was having coffee with a friend nearby and caught the incident on camera.
"I recorded the bridge for no other reason than I've lived in Bristol for 14 years and never knew that it went up and down," she told BBC Radio Bristol.
"It was lowering down nice and slowly and then as it got close to the end it gained speed and sort of buckled," she added.
"The noise was quite remarkable."
Pero's bridge used to have thousands of 'love locks' attached to it before the council started removing them last summer due to them weighing a combined three tonnes.
In a post on social media, Bristol Community Ferry Boats said the fault had prevented them from accessing the city centre landing stage and asked customers to use the station at Prince Street Bridge near the Arnolfini as an alternative.
An inspection carried out on the bridge in July 2025 found several "major structural issues" that required "urgent attention" on the crossing, which was built in 1999 and links Queen Square and Millennium Square.
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