Take a look at the year ahead with Visit Bristol, from exciting opening and events coming to the city for buzzseekers, food lover and cultural enquirers alike. Bristol is also set to host its hugely popular recurring events and festivals that the city is known for, to make 2022 a year to remember.
NEW OPENINGS AND INSTALLATIONS
Image: BoxHall CGI rendering
BoxHall, June 2022. From the same team who introduced BoxPark in London, a new destination dining hub and event space will be opening in Bristol’s Welshback on the waterfront. BoxHall will be a unique food hall hosting independent restaurants, street food traders and pop-ups for all-day dining, live music and events including art shows, film screenings and gaming.
SEE MONSTER, summer 2022. As part of the UK-wide project UNBOXED: Creativity, a decommissioned North Sea offshore platform will be transformed in the summer into a public art installation in Weston-Super-Mare, a 30-minute train ride from Bristol. The free-to-visit installation SEE MONSTER will be situated in the Tropicana – a former Art Deco lido where Banksy’s Dismaland was held in 2015 – and promises to be an immersive, sensory art experience that harnesses renewable energy from the natural elements, celebrates the Great British weather and explores the concept of reusing inherited structures.
The World Reimagined, August – October 2022. The World Reimagined is a ground-breaking national art education project aimed at transforming our understanding of Transatlantic Slavery. The project will see a trail of large globe sculptures appear in Bristol from August, and ending during Black History Month in October. The globes will be created by artists seeking to bring to life the reality and impact of Transatlatic Slavery.
NEW ACCOMMODATION
Image: Clayton Hotel Bristol, CGI rendering
Artist Residence, November 2021. An eclectic fusion of art and vintage chic, Artist Residence Bristol is in a former boot factory now fully restored with 23 stylish rooms, garden, event space, cafe/restaurant and bar. Adjoined to a Grade I listed townhouse in Portland Square, the new hotel is a continuum of the bohemian Artist Residence style. The much-anticipated hotel opened in November 2021 with the initial phase opening bedrooms and guest lounge only, and the main restaurant and bar opening to the public in the next phase in early 2022.
Clayton Hotel Bristol, March 2022. The former Edward Everard printworks in Broad Street, an impressive example of Art Nouveau architecture and one of Bristol’s most distinctive buildings, is to become a four-star Clayton Hotel courtesy of the Dalata group. Built around 1900, the printworks closed in 1967 and later became part of an office complex built by Natwest bank – only the original facade remains. It is said that William Morris had some of his wallpapers and textiles printed here, including his familiar Strawberry Thief design. The new hotel will provide 255 rooms and a restaurant as part of a mixed-use development in the heart of the city. The building’s exuberant Doulton-tiled exterior is Grade II* listed and will form the entrance to the hotel.
Moxy Hotel, opening date tbc. Part of the Marriott group, Moxy Hotel is currently under construction in Bristol and set to open in 2022. Located at the end of the M32 in St Pauls, the 160-room boutique, affordable hotel will be in a convenient location for visitors looking to stay close to the city centre and Bristol Shopping Quarter with accessible travel routes nearby and the vibrant area of St Pauls to explore on its doorstep.
EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
Image: Bristol Harbour Festival © Paul Box
Slapstick Festival, 26 – 30 January 2022. 2021 saw Slapstick Festival pivot to an online format which was well received and much-needed in the lockdown period. In January 2022, Slapstick Festival will return to Bristol venues for its 18th edition for a five-day hybrid festival with around a third of the events also streamed online, making for their most accessible festival ever.
Bristol Light Festival, dates tbc. After a hugely success inaugural event in 2020, Bristol Light Festival will return in 2022. The first festival saw a trail of interactive art installations across the city centre, including illuminated musical see-saws to play on, a multi-coloured mist winding through Castle Bridge, and Banksy’s infamous Well Hung Lover piece brought to life with projected animations, so expectations are high for the follow-up event in 2022.
Upfest, dates tbc. After a three-year hiatus, the annual celebration of street art will return to the streets and parks of south Bristol. Upfest is Europe’s biggest free street art and graffiti art festival, attracting 250 international artists and over 25,000 visitors, and is now one of the city’s biggest unmissable summer festivals.
Love Saves the Day, 2-3 June 2022. Love Saves the Day will return in 2022 to celebrate its 10th anniversary from its new home at Bristol’s Ashton Court. Love Saves the Day will kickstart the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and the four-day Bank Holiday weekend.
Elton John Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour, 22 & 26 June 2022. Elton John will return to Bristol this summer for two dates on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour. Ashton Gate Stadium is the only venue in the South West where the legend is performing, and the two nights are set to be an unforgettable experience.
Bristol Harbour Festival, 15 – 17 July 2022. The city’s iconic festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary after a two-year postponement. Expect a mix of music, maritime fun and markets based around Bristol’s historic and beautiful harbourside with live performances, family entertainment, circus acts, children’s events, street food and market stalls, and hundreds of sailing ships in the harbour.
Image: Bristol Balloon Fiesta © Gary Newman
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, August 2022. Bristol’s largest free fiesta returns in August at Ashton Court Estate. Over 100 hot air balloons will gather for mass ascents, tethered displays and the highly anticipated Night Glow spectacles at the largest event of its kind in Europe. Held over four days, there will be market stalls, live music, fairground rides and street food stalls that help attract over half a million people each year.
M Shed Museum. After a hugely successful summer with the Vanguard street art exhibition and the Colston statue display, M Shed Museum is running Think Global, Act Bristol (25 June – October 2022) – an exhibition and public engagement programme addressing Bristol’s role in the climate and ecological crises. In addition, the hugely popular Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will run until 5 June 2022.
Spike Island. The international centre for the development of contemporary art and design will host an eclectic mix of exhibitions throughout the year, from world-renowned pioneering creatives including Candice Lin’s Pigs and Poison which explores marginalised histories and colonial legacies (5 February – 8 May), and Eric Baudelaire and Alvin Curran’s exhibition When There Is No More Music To Write (28 May – 18 September).
For full details of what to expect in Bristol in 2022, go to www.visitbristol.co.uk.
