I'm sure it happens in other university cities but they're outside the scope of this blog. What happens is that at the end of the summer term (it usually coincides with the Glastonbury Festival), the students' lets on their houses end and they never take all their clobber with them. So either they or the landlord put the stuff out in the street (in the streets running between the Bristol Road and Raddlebarn Road) and the locals come and help themselves to it.
Please understand that I'm not exaggerating when I say you can literally kit out a whole house and wardrobe for free. Some friends once got a fish tank complete with living fish and had to drive it home very carefully. Yesterday there were people with supermarket trolleys full of stuff.
I didn't have a spare hand yesterday so went back this afternoon with a mental shopping list of some sort of footwear and a cooking pot, and intended to get tomatoes from Aldi on the way home.
So of course I found some work boots (about £60 in the shops) and a pot immediately before loads of unopened tins of food. So I got all that for free and am going back tomorrow because there were still landlords putting stuff out on the pavement. There's nothing more I have in mind but I'm sure I'll find something I fancy.
See, the spirit of the city does actually look after you if you approach it right.