Exchange

72-73 Old Market, Bristol BS2 0EJ

Exchange is a community-owned music venue in the Old Market area of Bristol, opened in August 2012 and notable as the first community-owned music venue in the city. It became a Community Benefit Society in 2019 after raising more than its target through a share offer, putting ownership in the hands of the people who use it. There is a record shop, run by Specialist Subject Records, upstairs, and a 250-capacity room that trades on grit rather than gloss. The programming sits squarely in punk, hardcore, DIY-spirited and adjacent scenes, with a roll-call that includes Fucked Up, Yard Act, Shygirl, Melt Banana, Discharge and Svalbard. Adam Devonshire of Idles tended the bar here before the band took off, a neat illustration of the venue's roots in Bristol's grassroots underground. Recent years have brought funding pressures, but its community ownership has helped keep the doors open.