How to spend a day exploring Bristol's best music venues

Bristol’s home-grown music scene has long been a big draw, with thriving indie venues providing a breeding ground for trip hop, techno, dubstep, jazz, folk, reggae and drum and bass. And with the unveiling of The Beacon in November 2023, the southwest’s biggest city welcomed four new performance spaces. The £132 million reimagining of Colston Hall – a live music landmark since 1867 – sees more than a name change. The five-year remodelling has expanded the main stage area and created additional performance and educational spaces. With such increased capacity, it’s set to host 800 events annually, including rock, classical, comedy and more, cementing Bristol as a UK music hub.

It's yet another reason to visit this leafy, maritime city. Europe’s largest dockside regeneration has taken shape here in recent decades, around Bristol’s harbour. Waterfront warehouse museums are overlooked by the Georgian mansions of Clifton Heights, while Avon Gorge is spectacularly strung with Clifton Suspension Bridge. Beyond that lies the Bristol Downs, which play host to events including Forwards music festival.

1. Wanted Records

Start the day at St Nicholas Market, Bristol’s oldest, held in a cathedral-like structure that’s been a place to trade, snack and shop in since 1743. In the heart of the Old City, surrounded by handsome Georgian buildings and indie boutiques, the market is a must for vinyl vultures. Wanted Records buys and sells jazz, reggae, psychedelic and progressive rock, hip-hop, folk and myriad sub-genres, including collectible items. 

2. St George’s Bristol

Head to church — a former one that functions as a top venue for classical, jazz and folk music. An extension to the Greek Revival building in 2018 added  a pavilion for art exhibitions and performances, plus a cafe-bar whose leafy courtyard is a great pit-stop for coffee, cake or toasties after a stroll around nearby Brandon Hill. Look out for regular lunchtime concerts and ‘mini beats’ sessions for kids. 

3. Stokes Croft

Explore the city’s creative quarter, defined by indie shops and Bristol’s highest concentration of street art, including Banksy murals. As well as plant-based dining spots and arty bars, Stokes Croft is also where you’ll find landmark music venues such as The Canteen, a restaurant-bar with free gigs most nights, and club stalwart Lakota. That Thing, nearby, sells creative crafts made by 50 Bristol artists. 

4. Strange Brew

Housed inside a former car showroom, this multi-room arts space is testament to Bristol’s flair for small- to medium-size indie venues. It opened in 2020 after a crowdfunding campaign by the promoters behind local club-night institution Dirtytalk, and operates as a music venue, cafe and bar. It’s also home to Planet Caravan, which sells vinyl, CDs, music fanzines and original prints by local artists. 

5. Bristol Beacon

Hosting club nights, gigs and concerts, Bristol’s newest venue has completely reimagined the former live music landmark Colston Hall, bringing four new performance spaces to the city. Opening its doors in November 2023, the Beacon bills itself as having some of the best acoustics in Europe. This year, its main stage will host shows by artists including Orbital, Robert Plant and Róisín Murphy. 

6. Thekla

Dance until near-dawn at this bar, club and gig venue, set aboard a 1950s German cargo ship moored at the Mud Dock. A floating symbol of Bristol’s maritime and music heritage, it became a club in the 1990s. Since then, it’s supported local drum and bass, techno and breakbeat artists with regular events, while its Saturday indie and alternative Pop Confessional has become a staple of Bristol’s late-night scene.