The Nails are four brass pedestals standing outside the Corn Exchange on Corn Street, placed there in the 16th and 17th centuries for merchants to conclude their transactions. Bristol merchants were required to pay debts publicly, and these flat-topped pillars were the designated spot — the expression "paying on the nail" is claimed to derive from this practice, though etymologists argue about the origin.
The Corn Exchange building behind them, now a popular bar and events venue, was built in 1743 to a design by John Wood the Elder of Bath, and is one of the handsomest Georgian commercial buildings in the city. The four nails in front of it are modest objects — a foot or so high, easily missed — but they have a strong Bristol mythology and are worth finding as part of a walk around the medieval commercial centre.