They are used for leisure, walking, team sports and sightseeing (especially at the Avon Gorge cliff edge).

A grey concrete water tower of 1954 stands on the Downs near the top of Blackboy Hill, with a long, low, covered reservoir alongside it.

There are also temporary attractions on the Downs, such as circuses and (until 2006[4]) the annual Bristol Flower Show.

In 1982 6,000 people assembled on the Downs in response to a local newspaper advertisement placed by the makers of the new breakfast television show TV-am.

The Downs played a significant role in Jack Thorne's 2018 Channel 4 mini-series Kiri.