Music / Access Creative College

Famous Bristol venue to become state-of-the-art education space

By Lowie Trevena  Thursday Jan 21, 2021

A new campus costing £4.5m is being built on the former site of Bierkeller, the legendary music venue which closed in 2018.

The new Access Creative College (ACC) campus will give the ex-venue a new lease of life, with sound facilities and classrooms.

ACC, which runs courses including esports management, creative computing and games technology, was previously located in Hengrove for more than 18 years before moving to All Saints Street in the city centre.

Independent journalism
is needed now More than ever
Keep our city's journalism independent. Become a supporter member today.

Redevelopment of the Bierkeller, which is located just a stone’s throw from what is currently ACC’s main city campus, will double the space the college has in the city centre.

The venue closed suddenly in February 2018 and, over the years, welcomed some of the biggest names in music to its stage, including Nirvana, The Stone Roses and Arctic Monkeys.

ACC runs a large range of creative courses. Photo: ACC

“Bristol has a rich heritage of creativity and it is an exciting place to be teaching the next generation of digital and arts professionals,” says Mark Smithers, ACC’s Bristol centre manager.

“As we break through into the former Bierkeller site next door, it will soon be home to some of UK’s leading creatives of tomorrow as we bring it back to life as an education and state-of-the-art events space.”

The redevelopment of the venue will see an events space and stage, music studio and production pods, classrooms, breakout spaces and student collaboration areas fitted.

Following completion, the artist development, music technology and production and vocal artist courses, which were previously run from the south Bristol site, will be moved into the new campus in the city centre.

At more than 13,000 square feet, the development of the venue will more than double the floor space of ACC’s Bristol campus. Photo: ACC

“As an organisation we have been in Bristol for the best part of two decades now,” Smithers adds.

“The opening of the first phase of our city centre campus meant we could expand our offering to students, providing a broader range of courses with cutting edge facilities for the very best learning experience. We couldn’t be happier to now take that to the next stage with this new development.”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read more: Famous Bristol music venue to close

Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
I want to receive (tick as many as you want):
I'm interested in (for future reference):
Marketing Permissions

Bristol24/7 will use the information you provide on this form to be in touch with you and to provide updates and marketing. Please let us know all the ways you would like to hear from us:

We will only use your information in accordance with our privacy policy, which can be viewed here - www.bristol247.com/privacy-policy/ - you can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us, or by contacting us at [email protected]. We will treat your information with respect.


We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Related articles

You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
Independent journalism
is needed now More than ever
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
Join the Better
Business initiative
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
* prices do not include VAT
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
Enjoy delicious local
exclusive deals
You've read %d articles this month
Consider becoming a member today
Wake up to the latest
Get the breaking news, events and culture in your inbox every morning

Are you sure you want to downgrade?

You will lose some benefits you currently enjoy.
Benefits you will lose: