The Island
Forward-thinking arts and club venue in central Bristol.
While Bristol promoters have been using the underground space on Bridewell street for a few years now, it's only since 2015 that The Old Police Cells became an official venue. Like the rest of The Island, the basement venue is keen to continue to support an eclectic variety of arts and new emerging artists. As the trading subsidiary that funds and supports vital activities of Artspace Lifespace, a Community Interest Company (CIC) that recycles and repurposes underused and vacant buildings, it's great to see an independent Bristol venue so dedicated to supporting the local arts scene in the threatening face of city developments.
The Island excels as a club venue, touting an industrial yet intimate feel found nowhere else. Having found favour with promoters like Room237 and TimeDance, the cell space has proven its worth amongst techno promoters - however, dance music represents just a fraction of the venue's programme. Experimental, noise and sound art musicians take advantage of The Island's unusual acoustics while performance artists have split the space into multiple micro venues.
Photograph credits: Sidz Photography, Khris Cowley for Here & Now
The Island excels as a club venue, touting an industrial yet intimate feel found nowhere else. Having found favour with promoters like Room237 and TimeDance, the cell space has proven its worth amongst techno promoters - however, dance music represents just a fraction of the venue's programme. Experimental, noise and sound art musicians take advantage of The Island's unusual acoustics while performance artists have split the space into multiple micro venues.
Photograph credits: Sidz Photography, Khris Cowley for Here & Now
What's On At The Island
— The Island
house
deep house
minimal techno
— The Island
pop
classical
alternative rock
hip hop
soul
— The Island
techno
electro
footwork
dubstep
experimental
Get a feel for The Island
Our recent recommendations for The Island
Descend to the Island for more rave stabs than the Ultimate Rave Stab Collection™ and looser breakbeats than a warped Jericho. It can only be Denham Audio, battling for your dancing feet with Refugee Worldwide’s electro braindance queen Sagan + more.
Heute Leute Series: 1 at The Island.
Edinburgh’s arch head-wrecker materialises for a don’t-fkn-miss-it hardware appearance, lighting the birthday candles for Scotland’s finest braindance krew. Keeping tekno wonky as sin since ‘94 with pit-stops at every available genre along the way, Landstrumm defies all trends, logic and laws of the dance.
Special guests Neil Landstrumm & Proc Fiskal join us for the first stop on our 9th bday tour
Colossal album launch for post-folk post-rockers Quade, graduating to tastemakers AD 93 (Coby Sey, Moin etc) and surely now into the hearts of all the heads outside BSX. Quade conjure a sound you didn’t know existed til the first note hits - think Slint playing a Deadwood baptism, or Talk Talk re-scoring Westworld and you’re almost there.
Quade launch their debut album 'Nacre' in style at The Island with support from O.G Jigg & Foot Foot.
Snaking, squirming, bass-heavy percussive clubworms crawling through the shuddering walls of the Island. It’s the return Side Eye from 1020/Longthrow legend Sadsugar - hosting Dublin’s Small Crab for a night of broken-technoid mutants and unpredictably forward club sounds.
Our sophomore event invites all to bear witness to Dublin-based Small Crab's Bristol debut.
All-day celebration of femme-and-them-powered creativity in the Island with photography exhibitions, light installations, talks, pole dancing + DJs til late including dark n heavy electroid techno from Break the Night’s R. Nev and the Yard Womans’ euphoric trance-like stylings.
Celebrate gender equality alongside with Bristol's finest