Bradley Stoke was named after the local Bradley Brook and Stoke Brook streams and was planned in the 1970s with building starting in 1987. The town is close to its planned population of 25,000
Business parks at the north of the town, the Aztec West business area and two supermarkets provide jobs but Bradley Stoke is a commuter town, with many people communiting to Bristol.
With the increase in interest rates in the 1990s and the subsequent housing slump, it became nicknamed "Sadly Broke" by some Bristolians due to the rising levels of negative equity within the area.
Now Bradley Stoke has six primary schools, a leisure centre with a swimming pool and library, and The Willow Brook Centre, with shops, a hotel and a restaurant opened in October 2008.