Once the future of Bristol’s Shopping Quarter, The Galleries is a shadow of its former self. It’s not that it’s just struggling to attract shoppers, it’s struggling to fill empty units with businesses and is starting to look all 33 years of its age. Yet despite all this, we’ve recently seen interesting additions to the shopping mall, like a second-hand bookshop, a video arcade and, now, a new nightclub.
Alfresco Disco has spent the last 18 years throwing parties in unusual places – from playgrounds to disused factories, boxing gyms to quarries. But in recent years, the Bristol-based promoter has become increasingly attached to one particular space. Ever since they celebrated 15 years of Alfresco Disco underneath The Galleries in 2021, they’ve thrown a further four events in the basement.
Most recently, this was on NYE – which saw the likes of Paranoid London, Grace Sands and many others jump behind the decks – with Alfresco Disco promising to go “back down the ramp one last time for our final event beneath the streets of Bristol!” But something about the space can’t keep them away it seems. They now plan on turning the space into a more permanent, 2,700-capacity nightclub.
“We knew we had found something special when we first entered the basement of the Galleries… it took a lot of persuasion over many years but we eventually convinced the managers to let us loose down there!” said Alfresco Disco on Instagram. “We welcomed 13000 of you over 5 events and are pleased to announce many more of you will have the chance to experience its delights”.
The Underground, as it is now known, will open with a double-whammy on Early May Bank Holiday weekend (May 4 & 5). The opening night will see the award-winning DnB club night Rumble in the Jungle taking over the solid concrete building – with the likes of Skepsis, P-Money, Alcemist & Coco, Dillinja B2B Randall and many more. Keeping the party going the following night, techno superstar Amelie Lens will headline on Sunday.
The future of The Galleries looks highly likely to be demolished and replaced with a mix of residential, office and retail space in the next five or so years. Could The Underground foreseeably fit with these new plans? We’re not convinced. But with 15 huge events lined up from an “exciting selection of promoters”, this new nightclub is giving the shopping mall the send-off it deserves.
To learn more about The Underground head here.