Spike Island is Bristol's free contemporary art gallery on the harbourside, open Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm to 5pm. Exhibitions are always free and you don't need to book, which makes it one of the easiest cultural stops to fold into a walk along the water near SS Great Britain.
What Spike Island actually is
Spike Island occupies a former Brooke Bond tea packing factory, a Victorian building right on Bristol's docks. It's been an artists' organisation since the mid-1970s, originally set up by painters, sculptors and printmakers as Artspace Bristol Ltd to secure affordable studio space in the city, and it took its current name, Spike Island Artspace, in December 1998.
Today it's home to over 70 working artist studios, Spike Print Studio, and Emmeline, the on-site café. It's also a member of the Plus Tate network, the group of UK galleries that partner with Tate on programming, alongside places like the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh and Nottingham Contemporary. Turner Prize winner Veronica Ryan OBE RA has exhibited and worked here, which gives a sense of the calibre of artist the space attracts.
The main gallery is a genuinely large, museum-scale space, so shows tend to be ambitious rather than a couple of rooms of work. What's on rotates through the year, so expect something different each visit rather than a fixed permanent collection.
Visiting: hours, cost and what to expect
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Gallery hours | Wednesday to Sunday, 12pm–5pm |
| Café hours | Monday 9am–3pm, Tuesday to Sunday 10am–4pm |
| Reception hours | Monday to Friday 9am–5pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am–12pm |
| Entry | Free, no booking needed |
| Address | 133 Cumberland Road, Bristol BS1 6UX |
Food and drink aren't allowed inside the gallery itself, so save your coffee for Emmeline café afterwards. Dogs aren't permitted in the gallery either, guide and assistance dogs excepted, but they're welcome in the café. Photography is fine as long as you skip the flash.
If you'd like more context on a show, Spike Island offers free short introductory tours, around 10 to 15 minutes, for groups visiting between 1pm and 5pm Wednesday to Sunday. These need booking ahead through their website rather than turning up and asking.
Access-wise, the main entrance, café, gallery and public toilets are all step-free and wheelchair accessible, and there are baby changing facilities on the ground floor.
Getting there
It's about a 15-minute walk from the city centre: cross the Prince Street Bridge, follow the harbourside past M Shed, and at SS Great Britain turn onto Gas Ferry Road, then right onto Cumberland Road. From south Bristol, use the Gaol Ferry Bridge or Ashton Avenue Bridge.
By bus, the M2 stops at SS Great Britain from Redcliff Hill, Temple Meads, Cabot Circus and Broadmead, and also from the Long Ashton Park & Ride via Ashton Vale and Ashton Gate. By water, the Bristol Ferry Company and the Number Seven cross-harbour ferry both call nearby. Bedminster station is a 20-minute walk, and Temple Meads about 30 minutes.
If you're driving, parking on Cumberland Road is 30 minutes free then £2 an hour (up to 3 hours) on weekdays and Saturdays, free all day Sunday, and free overnight and on bank holidays. There are three blue badge spaces directly outside. Note that Spike Island sits inside Bristol's Clean Air Zone, so check whether your vehicle is affected before you drive down.
Pairing it with the rest of the harbourside
Spike Island sits in a cluster of free or low-cost things to do around the docks. It's a short walk from SS Great Britain, and easy to combine with a wander through Hotwells and the Cumberland Basin or Wapping Wharf for food afterwards. If contemporary art is your thing, it's worth comparing with Arnolfini on the Harbourside itself, and Spike Island fits naturally into a free weekend in Bristol itinerary alongside Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.