Breaking: Bristol's Colston Hall will change its name to escape 'toxic brand'

The Colston Hall in Bristol is to change its name to escape its "toxic" associations.

It follows a long campaign in the city from protest groups keen to distance the venue from connections to the slave trade.

The hall is named after Edward Colston - one of Britain's most notorious slave traders.

Trustees of the Bristol Music Trust voted unanimously to change the name, but its a decision that won't be popular with everyone.

In February ITV West Country ran an informal online poll - where 87% of voters said the name should stay the same.

Who was Edward Colston?

• born in Bristol in 1636

• became a merchant and an MP

• acted as deputy governor of the Royal African Company which between 1672 and 1698 transported around 100,000 enslaved Africans to plantations in the West Indies and America

• endowed schools, hospitals, churches and almshouses

• died in 1721

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