By Business Professional Apprentice, Isobel MacDonald
Growing up in the countryside just outside of Bristol, I’ve always enjoyed coming into the centre but I never realised how much it has to offer. Being an apprentice in Bristol is super fun and I feel lucky to live in a city which has something for everyone. With Bristol being voted ‘The best place to live in the UK outside of London for people under the age of 26’ by The Independent this year, as well as being voted ‘Best place to live’ in 2017, it really is a spectacular place to be an apprentice.
For an apprentice at the age of 18, who has decided not to go to university and instead complete an apprenticeship, there was a worry that I would miss out on the fun. This is not the case being an apprentice in Bristol! With so many lively bars and restaurants as well as an array of nightclubs dotted over many areas in Bristol, and the large and diverse music scene Bristol has to offer, being able to have fun and make new friends is inevitable.
Being at a firm with over 800 employees and 17 other apprentices, means there are so many other young people here at the firm to socialise with; I don’t feel I have missed out on the university lifestyle at all. I’ve made lots of friends and we regularly do things together outside of work, such as food and drinks out, nights out and even holidays together! I have still had the chance to experience the university lifestyle by going to visit friends on the weekend, and the best part is that I can come back to my lovely home and a job which I love when the weekend is over!
The firm has a wide array of sports clubs available to join, from football to golf to tennis as well as other activities such as yoga and even a social club! I’ve joined the netball team since starting at Burges Salmon, where we play regular matches against other firms. It’s great fun, and we even have netball socials with other teams in the league.
Burges Salmon itself is located in a fabulous area – just a few minutes from Temple Meads train station making the commute to work convenient with regular trains and busses. Being so close to a large train station makes my commute into the city just 30 minutes door to door, allowing me to continue to live at home with my family as well as never getting stuck in rush hour! With the travel loan benefit Burges Salmon offer, I was able to purchase an annual ticket which comes out of my salary each month. Burges Salmon is also just a 10 minute walk to Cabot Circus which is Bristol’s biggest shopping area, meaning lunch times can be spent shopping.
The office itself has everything you could ever need, including a subsidized restaurant and café serving delicious food and drinks, changing rooms and showers, a parcel service, a dry cleaners, a cash machine and even an in-house doctor who regularly visits – you could quite literally live here! But the location is equally as good – with the office being located in the newly re-generated business hub, we are surrounded by buzzing cafes, bars and restaurants making going out for lunch as well as after work drinks extremely easy!
So all in all, being an apprentice in Bristol is great and I would recommend it to anyone.