Much of the housing in the area was in a poor state and local education services failed to cater adequately for the needs of either ethnic minorities or indeed many working class white communities.

[1] It is unclear why the riot started; some sources suggest that it was as a result of police ripping a customer's trousers and refusing to pay,[2] others that they were attacked as they removed alcohol from the café which did not have a drinks licence.

The next day, The Daily Telegraph carried a headline stating "19 Police Hurt in Black Riot" and blamed lack of parental care.

[7] Copycat riots in Southmead, a predominantly white working-class council estate, occurred soon after the St Pauls disturbance.

[10] The Black and White Café had long had a reputation as a drug den and was allegedly raided more times by the police than any other premises in the country.

[13][14] When cabinet papers were released 30 years later, they showed that Home Secretary William Whitelaw had reported that the Chief Constable "accepted that the police had made errors in the initial stages of the incident but [his] subsequent decision to withdraw all officers from the area for several hours had been the only one open to him at the time".