A brilliant venue for up and coming artists to use and forfill their creative talents. The spaces…read moreavailable are pretty good, from rehearsal rooms for bands to some quite large spaces for theatre groups to use to rehearse in. The price is extremely reasonable as well fo rent spaces. The one downside is that if you rehearse late at night then the heating isn't good, so wrap up warm. I'll usually turn up with a t-shirt, jumper, hoodie and coat as well as a scalf, hat and gloves, and if I stand still for 2 minutes i'll still feel the cold!

The Island is absolutely without a doubt my favourite venue in Bristol…read more The Island is run by Artspace Lifespace, an artist led initiative that recycles vacant, under-used and problem properties. They have sone a stunning job at revamping this old fire station. The walls of the Boneyard Bar are painted a bright cerulean and their are some stencils by the art tart above the door and day of the dead artwork on the walls. Artwork dons all the walls and every event is done differently. The Island is a huge complex, not all of which opens up. For some of the larger events, stalls are built in the large courtyard. Every event I go to, the experience is different. The Island is the HQ for The Invisible Circus, who undoubtedly put one of the most creative and interactive nights in the UK. I have seen the best fireshow, the best arial performance and had the best crumpets at the Island! Its a fantastic space and worth keeping an eye out to see what nights are happening here, from the spectacular carnyville, heavy metal acid panto to klezmer craziness, the Island is an amazing creative hub in the heart of the City.

You know Wallace and Gromit right? Well they were created right here (well at their old studios…read morethat burnt down) but they live here now! Animators/businessmen Nick Park and David Sproxton have done themselves proud with a new site for the stupendous studios. Now they've got themselves a proper place to house their Oscars for model animation. And man, have they done them all. As well as the aforementioned dog and man in their various adventures, they've done Morph, Creature Comforts, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep and Timmy Time, and, bizarrely, Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer video. They've also filmed commercials and promos. Oh how I love 'em and their cute plasticine figures. Aardman entertain, provide humour, employ local people, create beautiful films and works of art with their progressive technology. All this fun and creativity stemming from little old Bristol. Aren't we lucky!

Many a Christmas of my youth was spent with the family huddled around the television watching the…read morelatest Wallace and Gromit episode. A source of much Bristolian pride, Aardman Animations are responsible for them, as well as the popular creature comforts series (the one with all the talking animals). Aardman do a good trade in slightly off the wall family animation and have been enjoying major success over the last few years, taking a clutch of Oscars for their feature length Wallace and Gromit films. They've also been venturing into computer animation with the release of Flushed Away. If you've ever watched a behind the scenes on Wallace and Gromit, you'll know why they only get a release out every few years. It takes hours of painstaking work, gently moving the arms of tiny little plasticine models millimetre by millimetre just to get a few seconds of shot. Very skilled stuff and you can see that they must be mad about animation to spend all day doing this. All the success is starting to show, and they've moved into a new purpose built building, a welcome change to the warehouses and flats that populate Spike Island (the land sliced up Bristol harbour that the building sits on). Just wondering into the lobby is a fantastic way to see these innovative people at work.

Found in Millenium Square, the Planetarium forms part of the @-Bristol centre, and is included as…read morepart of the @-Bristol visitors' ticket. It is a continuation of the interactive science museum, and a highlight at that. Take a seat to be explained how to spot constellations and learn about our solar system. Suitable for youngsters from aged 5 and still awe-inspiring for the big kids too!

Inside is a regular show which is part of your ticket to Explore @-Bristol (currently £10.80 per…read moreadult). However the main attraction of this? As the spot to take a self-portrait photo. It's a cliche but it has to be done. Go on, you know you want to.

The Watershed is a welcome break on that row of bars and clubs by the waterside. Where all the…read moreother venues simply exist to be a bar where the rowdy Saturday crowd revel in, the Watershed is more focused on socialising, good food, and screenings of movies with depth and intelligence. Much like the Little Theatre is to Bath, the Watershed is a must -go for more alternative, independent films. I love coming here to watch films because you are ensured that every film being shown is a good film, and not something brainless that you might waste your money on. The cinema rooms are a fraction of the size of a big cinema like the Odeon, which just adds more charm to the movie watching. It feels much more intimate, comfortable and private. Much like you're watching a good secret. Prices are good too, if you come here for a film before 4pm, rates are £4.50 (£3.50 concessions), which is a real good price for a good film. After 4pm, prices go up to £7 (£5.50 concessions). They have movies and documentaries for children too, during their Cinekids days, where kids pay £2 for a movie, and £3.50 for accompanying adults. Plus their Cinebabies days (which I think is such an amazing idea), where parents can bring their under 12 month old babies to watch a movie! The Watershed provides great facilities like a place to change nappies, and even a bottle warming service! This is super for parents to enjoy a film with their newborns, and get to know other new mom's around. The watershed is such a great place, all the years I've been going here, it's never disappointed me in terms of the films they screen, or the friendly service they give you when you're here.

The Watershed function spaces are great for small to medium conference events. They are…read moremultifunctional; the three cinema rooms (seating 43, 102 and 198 respectively) offer comfortable, air conditioned lecture spaces and the watershed 1, 2 and 3 rooms can be used individually or joined together to create a large space. The cafe/bar/restaurant sits between the cinemas and function rooms, offering food, drink and free wireless Internet. The staff are extremely hospitable; catering for all of your needs throughout the running of the event; from setting up spaces, to catering and even running last minute photocopying or printing. The Watershed is newly refurbished, clean and welcoming and in an ideal central location.

The Here Gallery is such an assuming little place. They are fully stocked with tonnes of inspiring…read morearty things; books, posters, wallpaper, stickers and lots more, that always makes me really smiley when I'm here. There is a gallery downstairs which exhibits interesting work, from local and international artists. They always welcome submissions for their consideration, and you can tell they are quite select with the work they choose, as the work shown always is quite spectacular. If you're a little down in the dumps or facing a mind block with your own artwork, this place will really help re-jig your mind.

Stokes Croft's got a few flowers poking through the grey concrete, the Here Shop is one of them. A…read moregallery and bookshop, they've got an often changing range of contemporary art. They do exhibitions by visiting artists, with pen drawings of slightly alien looking organic shapes (that description's ripped off their website) by a Yugoslav-American Yellena James currently on display. Whatever is being shown the gallery is always a warm and quiet respite from the traffic on Stokes Croft. The bookshop side of things is similarly left-field and varied. They have loads of children's books, as well as books on graffiti, manga, and an eclectic mix of other subjects. You really have to go along to get a proper sense of the sort of thing they have. It feels like one persons just taken their personal interests and made a shop around it. I like this about the shop, you get exposed to things you might not otherwise get exposed to. The Here shop is kookish and neat, a nice play to wonder round for half an hour or so.

Home to Dancing Jesus! IYKYK. Ok if you don't know, I'll tell you. They've got a huge mural that's…read moredubbed "Dancing Jesus". It's a favorite spot and fixture in Stokes Croft to grab a pint and something to eat. Sitting outside lends to great people watching. Soup and toastie of the day is my go-to for lunch when in the area. Everything is locally sourced meaning fresher ingredients. A toastie may sound just like a toastie but there's something about the way they grill it here. A perfectly crisp bread with properly melted cheeses. I like that they use butter for pan-frying the toasties. Some places use mayo and that's a big ew for me.

This place has confused me for a long time…read more... Firstly I just thought it was a big disused office building where the drunk, jobless people would hang out at all hours of the day. Then they put massive amounts of scaffolding up (carefully avoiding Banksy's 'Mild, Mild West' piece) but yet again, more people would congregate outside it with pints of beer and glass of wine in hand. Then the scaffolding came down, but apart from a new graffiti piece on the side wall I couldn't see any difference. I must visit I thought to myself. I was pleasantly surprised (and slightly ashamed that I thought it was a communal area for the homeless). It's a large bar area with enough seats to hang with your mates and put the world at rest, yet small enough to retain a good atmosphere. There are some comfy sofas if you fancy a coffee and weirdly (in what is essentially a pub) a bookcase with second hand books and magazines. It's a bit of everything but it works. I am not exaggerating when I say that everyday it is packed to the brim so they are obviously doing something right!

I'm a big fan of Trinity as a venue, art centre and community space. These guys do so much more…read morethan a lot of people know about. First and foremost, and what you'll probably know it for, Trinity is a music venue. They host some big names and book some really cool up-and-coming acts. I saw Disclosure there about 18 months ago with a crowd of 300. And I know that Alt-J also played there shortly after they won the Mercury prize a couple of years back. During the day, early evenings and weekends you'll find lots of regular dance and music classes for kids and young adults and over 50's. They also do bike workshops and monthly gardening sessions going on. You can also hire Trinity for your own events or gigs, which is something I've looked when hosting events before. A few of us went o Trinity of Sunday evening for their annual firework display. It was RAMMED! The queues was huge but the seemed to get everybody in pretty quickly. The fireworks were good, but nothing spectacular. Good value for the £2 donation though. Trinity is now home to Bump Roller Disco. They do kids and adult sessions and it's definitely on my list of things to do in Bristol. I've never roller skated before, so we'll see how that goes!

The Trinity is very much a part of Bristolian culture, and is typical of the values and aspirations…read moreof many of the creative types that live here. An 800 capacity venue, with a multi-purpose remit, the programme is pretty varied. I've been to vintage fairs and flea markets here, attended closing night extravaganzas / after show parties of the indie music festival, Venn Festival, and been to well patronised gigs of amazing singer-songwriters like Josh Ritter and Laura Marling. Being a converted church, there's a sizable garden, that is often used during the summer. They have a fully licensed bar at most events, offering some great local ales and organic drinks, but i find them a little pricey.

Blue Reef Aquarium is a brand new attraction (opening in November 2009) in Bristol. It is located…read morenear the centre of Bristol at the Harbour Side so really accessible by bus. It is, however a roughly 20 minute walk from Temple Meads Station, so if you are visiting Bristol for the day it might be worth researching bus timetables. Inside, the place is really plush and exciting! It brought be right back to being a kid again, seeing a huge aquarium for the first time! The layout is well designed, taking you slowly through the different tanks with different things to see in each aquarium. I especially liked the large underwater walk-through tunnel. The staff are lovely and really helpful. Once inside, there isn't really any need to talk to any staff as there is more than enough information dotted around, meaning its a good education ploy for parents. Prices are a little expensive, with an adult ticket costing £13.50, and a child £9.20. They do take student discount. A ticket for the IMAX 3D dolphin experience is also included in the price of your ticket, which is well worth it, and the kids will LOVE it!

I have recently set up a small tropical fish tank so when I found out about the Blue Reef Aquarium,…read morenear the Harbour Side, I thought I'd really like to go and see some big fish! Rumour is it cost 4 million pounds to develop the relatively new point on the Bristol to-do map, I guess that's why the ticket prices feel slightly on the high side, it'll take them a few years to clear £4 million! On the plus side, you really could spend hours here to get your moneys worth! The variety and just pure number of fishy friends is quite breath taking, even if your not usually impressed by fish it's difficult not to become a little entrances by them. The 3D cinema was great, a really good idea. Perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon...

It's easy for me to take Banksy's work for granted, having lived in Bristol all my life and seeing…read morehis work on a regular basis just plastered around the city. This is one of his best known pieces and pretty old now I think since it's been there as long as I can remember driving past it (a few years). Definitely worth a look if you're a graffiti fan and in the area as it still looks good now. It's in a part of town that most people would consider pretty scabby/scary but in the grand scheme of things it's still the 'The Mild Mild West'

Located in Stokes Croft, this mural is probably Bristol's most famous piece of graf / street art,…read moreand even better, it still looks great to this day. Apparently the building it's been stenciled / painted onto was in pretty bad disrepair & in the process of falling down, but has since been listed (to be protected), because of this Banksy mural being on the side wall! Don't know how true that is, but if it is the case, just shows how far / mainstream Banksy has become these days & how street art is being viewed differently, not only by the public but also the councils. It's done very well to endure all these years. There's a lot of other very cool graf all around Stokes Croft as an aside, if you find yourself in Bristol & fancy a wander!

Spike Island is a leading contemporary art and design space on the docks in Bristol and hosts a…read moremicrocosm of artistic activity. They show frequent exhibitions, hold residencies and offer opportunities in research into contemporary art. The building is huge, an old warehouse (you could almost draw similarities between here and the Tate). Spike Island is also home to the Aardman Animations team, creators of Creature Comforts and Wallace and Gromit.

A large warehouse space which has many functions for artists of Bristol…read more Publicly there is a gallery on the ground floor which has regular exhibitions and a large space for scheduled arty activities with children. There is also a nice little cafe - open on Mondays when the galleries are closed - with some seats outside when it is nice weather (although there is a lot of traffic on the road outside spoiling the harbour-side view). If you become a member of the studios then you can use their good printmaking facilities (Spike Print Studio) and rent studio space. The community here is friendly and supportive. If you just dabble in art then I can recommend their workshops - find details on this website instead of the main one http://www.spikeprintstudio.org They have lino and etching classes for beginners or to brush up rusty skills. They are up to date with some fantastic processes. Classes may run over a weekend or one day a week for a season.