University of Bristol Student’s Union

I have seen some great bands here and so you should in student unions! However, The Anson Rooms feel more like a school hall than a great live music venue. The sound quality is not great, but you usually get a good enough view of the stage. Just hope you don’t get stuck next to some chatty, annoying Bristol Uni student who clearly has no idea who the band are or why he is there to watch them. Gigs, festivals and the cinema aren’t places for socialising; they are for seeing acts you want to see and arriving promptly 10 – 15 minutes before hand, Bah! When will people learn?!
You can usually get served at the good sized bar here without queuing for too long. It is a pretty uninspiring venue, but it has a certain amount of character and gigs here can be quite good fun. So keep your eyes on the listings as they get some established, popular bands, touring their first, second or third albums, which is an all too rare and brilliant thing for Bristol.

This is my least favourite venue in Bristol, which is a real shame as it tends to get some of the better bands (Bat for Lashes, Frank Turner, Midlake). It forms part of the University of Bristol Student Union building and that is pretty obvious — a kind of school canteen chic, or not. The venue is always pretty hot and stuffy and there tends to be a bottle neck by the sound desk as people cram in at the back. On the plus side, hang around at the back and you should get a pretty good view. There are also some side doors and a side bar but that is just as busy as the tiny bar at the entrance to the hall. The security staff at the bottom of the stairs are always pretty good and it is a real easy place to meet someone before a gig as there are some stairs leading up to the entrance where you can park your behind. Oh, and there’s a cash point just outside meaning you don’t have to walk miles for some cash.

This really is nothing more than a students’ union so I don’t understand how they continue to get pretty big names playing here. My heart always sinks when I hear a band I like is playing at the Anson Rooms. Although it’s not quite as rubbish as the Academy in terms of visibility, the sound is not great and the bar effort is pathetic. You can choose from about four drinks and have to queue for aeons to get them. They really need to sort it out. From the outside it is just another example of poor, unimaginative architecture. Bleurgh.

This is the worst bit about Bristol university. This monstrosity of a building is in the same vein as the Clifton cathedral– it is rank.
The building is a gigantic grey block.
There could be an argument for the building being ugly but pragmatic, but it isn’t. I have never been in a building where is have genuinely been lost in, I did however spend 25 minutes frying to find the stairs or lift that would take me to the ground floor.

Famously an eyesore, the University of Bristol Union is hoped to undergo an expensive redevelopment in the near future. For the time being, however, it has to count itself as one of the least appealing student unions in the country.
Although there’s a wide variety of multipurpose spaces, a couple of theatres, a decent swimming pool and the Anson Rooms (which despite the school gym hall feel seems nevertheless to reel in a fair few big names), the union has never really been popular amongst Bristol University students.
The bars are typically empty despite their loan-​friendly prices and the prospect of doing anything at the union always seemed to be met with groans rather than enthuasiasm.
Let’s see what direction the next few years take it in.

The Anson Rooms is a venue for mid-​sized acts to play gigs. I have mixed feelings about it — it doesn’t really feel like a venue, more a school hall with a really good sound system. I had the possible mis-​fortune of seeing Little Boots here a few weeks ago, which didn’t help my impression of the place. On the other hand, I have a memory of coming here in my mid-​teens to see a band I loved, and that time the venue was a lot better — but that’s probably to do with the music.
There’s a bar in the next room to the right of the main gig room, which serves drinks at obscenely high prices for a student union bar (oh the days of being a student), but the staff were plentiful and all fairly friendly. You should either come here early or a bit late, as the crowded circular staircase is not fun with a mass of people trying to get into or out of the building.
Despite all of the above, it’s a good opportunity to see bands who otherwise might miss Bristol off a tour due to lack of appropriate venues, so for that I’m grateful.

Bristol lacks a really big gig venue, like Brixton Academy or the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. Because of this we miss high profile acts, and having to go to Wales to see big bands is always an annoyance. The Anson Rooms (as the Student Union styles itself), however, does a good trade in mid-​size acts.
It belongs to Bristol Student Union, and you get plenty of Bristol students at concerts. It’s a young crowd generally whenever I’ve been, so things like crowd surfing and having beer split on you are to be expected.
There are two rooms, a big hall for larger acts, and then a fairly small one for those that don’t attract much of a crowd. Check which room the act is on when you buy a ticket, as they make for very different evenings. When the bigger room is filled out you feel like you’re at a proper gig, with crowd surges and other fun like that. If it’s not too full though, the atmosphere in here isn’t great. The smaller room can make do with a crowd of five and still feel exciting. Acoustic sets here are a treat.
Keep an eye on the listings, and if you see something you like then pay a visit to Bristol SU the Anson Rooms.

This fairly large venue is pretty typical of a student union in a large, cosmopolitan city: they know most students are pretty well catered for so they don’t have to put in too much of an effort.
The gigs are held in the Anson Rooms and usually focus on up and coming bands, so you can catch some big names before they go massive if you know your stuff (I’ve seen Radiohead and the Fleet Foxes there in the past). This means a lot of the names on offer may also slightly mystify you!
The venue itself has something of the village hall about it (it’s basically a big room) and it’s tricky to get to the bar and back during a busy gig. The booze isn’t particularly cheap for an SU either.

While this building is possibly the most outrageous waste of an architect’s talent, (a sort of brutalist monstrosity) it does happen to house, albeit temporarily, some of the brightest, and obviously the most ludicrously untalented, people to frequent Bristol. Home to a plethora of idiotic undergraduate social groups (see the website for such nonsense societies!) and patently prestigious postgrads, it hosts grandiose balls, half-​decent concerts, plays, gatherings and all manner of things to do in your spare time when at the university. And I thought uni students weren’t supposed to have a good time after the 60s.
If you’re at the uni, you’ll fall into one of two groups — those that do, and those that don’t or won’t (or wouldn’t be seen dead in that place) — ignore the façade, and get on and enjoy what’s going behind the doors. It’s what’s inside that matters, isn’t it?

After seeing Jet at the Anson Rooms about four years ago, I can safely say this is a poor music venue. The sound is average and the venue itself is a great big hall that packs in as many students as it can!

This is possibly the ugliest building I’ve ever seen in my life. The good thing about it though is that it’s packed full of societies — circus, dancing, real ale, Spanish, tai chi, chocolate eating… you name it. And if you have a look at the website, find a society that you fancy, and contact them, then you can get in even if you’re not a student. Plus it is ridiculously cheap. Definitely a well kept secret.
Oh…and it has a swimming pool.