The former site of a hallowed Bristol music venue has been resurrected to house a new events and education space for students hoping to break into the creative industries.
The Bierkeller, which was based in the former Pithay building on All Saints Street in the city centre, hosted some of the biggest bands in rock, including The Stone Roses, Arctic Monkeys and Nirvana, before closing its doors in 2018.
Following a £4.5m investment from Access Creative College, whose Bristol campus is located next door, the space left by the former venue will be filled with recording studios, classrooms and collaborative areas.
The new facilities cover more than 13,000sq ft of space and will allow students training for careers in the creative industries to mix music, create podcasts and record video and sound.
Mark Smithers, Access Creative College's Bristol centre manager, said, “Bristol has a rich heritage of creativity and it is an exciting place to be teaching the next generation of digital and arts professionals.
“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.”
Access Creative College, Bristol’s first to focus solely on the creative arts, previously operated out of a campus on Hengrove in the south of the city.
The independent college has seven campuses across the UK, including one dedicated to games and media in Manchester.
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The beloved Bierkeller saw Nirvana play their first headline show in the UK touring their seminal 1991 grunge album Nevermind.
It’s management announced its sudden closure in February 2018, prompting a raft of gigs to be moved to other Bristol venues.
In a statement on Facebook they blamed the building’s owner, Resolution Property, for the closure, claiming the company intended to redevelop the entire building, including the Bierkeller.
But Resolution Property denied the claims, saying it had no plans to redevelop the Bierkeller’s space and intended to incorporate the venue within its plans for the building.
The Bristol Post reported that the cash-strapped music venue had fallen behind on its rent, failing to pay for up to a year and a half.
