Bradley Stoke

BBC Radio Bristol is transforming itself into BBC Radio Bradley Stoke for one day in September - and here on the website we want to give you a flavour of the history of the town.

The radio station will broadcast live from Bradley Stoke, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, on Thursday, 20 September 2007.

But before then you can catch up with the town's history which has been blighted with problems such as negative equity.

Although things are much different now, with a new town centre on the way, and facilities such as a leisure centre, schools and doctors' surgeries built, Bradley Stoke got off to a shaky start.

First, Chris Vacher looks at the early days of Bradley Stoke with a 30 minute programme first broadcast in 1988.

Chris examines the problems surrounding the early days including the lack of facilities in the new development.

Our second piece of archive, from 1995, is a Panorama special which dubbed the town "Sadly Broke".

Reporter Vivian White looks at the problems caused by boom and then bust in house prices which sent many homeowners into negative equity - where their mortgage cost more than the value of their home.