Banksy and other street art hotspots in Bristol

Visiting Bristol is like browsing an outdoor urban gallery. Tour the city’s streets and you’ll struggle not to find a brightly-coloured, cutting-edge piece of spray can art embellishing the walls. The birthplace of Banksy, Bristol’s constantly-evolving graffiti culture has made street art one of its most famous attractions and hunting it out is an exciting way to discover the city and tap into its independent creative culture. To help you on your graffiti-hunting way, we’ve put together a list of Banksy murals and street art hotspots in Bristol:

• Banksy in Bristol

One of the greatest enigmas of recent times is the Bristol-born graffiti artist, Banksy. His identity remains one of the best-kept secrets and topics of interest throughout the world and the second the media hears wind of a potential new ‘Banksy’ piece, it immediately makes headlines. Thanks to his Bristol roots, the city is home to many of his early works and he has returned to the city twice to hold extraordinary exhibitions – one at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery and another, Dismaland in Weston-super-Mare.

Image - Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

How to find Banksys in Bristol

By using a smartphone App

The Banksy Bristol Trail by Cactus Apps is a smartphone App that helps you find Banksy artworks dotted around the city (with an option to visit the older, less visible pieces too if you want to be thorough). The App is packed with in-depth features on Banksy and his formative years in Bristol in the 80s/90s street art scene. There are also interactive map guides, plus a 25% discount for the bestselling book Home Sweet Home which celebrates Banksy’s street art in Bristol.

• Download Banksy Bristol Trail for iOS
• Download Banksy Bristol Trail for Android

Guided street art tours and experiences

Choose to discover Banksy and other street art hotspots in Bristol by joining a scheduled street art tour run by professional artists.

Where the Wall street art walking tour

Where The Wall run Bristol Street Art Walking Tours on weekends throughout the year and weekdays during the holidays, which offer insights into the world of Banksy and other iconic graffiti artists who have worked their magic with a can on Bristol’s facades. Tickets cost between £9.80-£12.50 for adults and £5.50 for kids) – visit the website to book. All proceeds from the Bristol street art tour go towards creative projects promoting the creative culture of Bristol. 

Where the Wall also offer Street Art Spray Sessions, Stencils and Banksy Art every Saturday. All ages and abilities can try their hand and you can take your masterpieces home. Tickets cost £12.50 – click here to book.

Image - Where the Wall, credit Anna Kilcooley

Graft street art walking tour

Graft will also whisk you on a private group tour around the city to show you some of the key graffiti spots in Bristol. Take in murals from Banksy to Inkie as well as some of the lesser-known artists and hear the stories behind the culture that make Bristol the European graffiti capital.

Budding Banskys can also get their hands on the cans with Graft every couple of months at the Island, a former police station. Learn graffiti history, styles and techniques in the cells and paint the walls of the prisoners’ exercise yard! Adult tickets cost £45 per person and include a street art tour – click here to check when the next session will take place.

Image - Graft

Blackbeard to Banksy The Ultimate Bristol Walking Tour 

Learn about Bristol’s fascinating history, dating back 1,000 years, while you look for the city's best street art on a Blackbeard to Banksy The Ultimate Bristol Walking Tour (11.30am Thurs to Sunday). The two-hour tour guides visitors around medieval areas of the city, old pirate hang outs and Bristol’s buzzing Harbourside. Tickets cost £8 for adults, £4 for children or £20 for a family ticket and are available from Bristol Tourist Information Centre or you can book online here.

Virtual and self-guided walking tour

Go on a virtual Banksy tour before venturing out and discovering the real artworks with Visit Bristol’s free, self-guided Banksy Walking Tour of the city

Get your hands on the cans with Graft every couple of months at the Island, a former police station. Learn graffiti history, styles and techniques in the cells and paint the walls of the prisoners’ exercise yard! Adult tickets cost £45 per person and include a street art tour – click here to check when the next session will take place.

• Stokes Croft

The epi-centre of street art in Bristol, this nonconformist neighbourhood boasts an eclectic selection of graffiti. Many of the businesses in the area commission street artists to paint their buildings, so entrenched is the art form in the community.

The Canteen on Stokes Croft has an enviable back-drop of some of the most-famous pieces of street art in the city. One of Banksy’s most well-known murals, ‘Mild Mild West’ reigns high above The Canteen’s outdoor space, just above a Banksy street art tribute by Soker and opposite a 30ft breakdancing Jesus mural, painted by London street artist Cosmo Sarson. 

Image - Mild, Mild West, Banksy

• Southville and Bedminster

As the site of Europe’s largest graffiti and street art festival Upfest, a large percentage of the walls around North Street in Bedminster have been decorated with incredible pieces of street art, all within a short walk of each other. From a Church courtyard, to Redpoint Climbing Centre and the side of The Tobacco Factory, the murals here are given a makeover at the festival each year (although note, 2019 is a fallow year for Upfest), so you’re sure to see something new even if you’ve been here before.

Image - Nomad Clan

• Nelson Street

Once a fairly mundane central Bristol backstreet, Nelson Street was transformed during the See No Evil urban art festival a few years ago. Although many of the artworks have vanished following the street’s redevelopment, there are still several pieces that remain and they’re pretty difficult to miss! Still making quite the statement are Nick Walker’s suited man (at 20 metres in height!), as is the humongous ‘Wolf Boy’, Stik’s Stik ‘person’ and the striking ‘Woman and Child’ painted by Walker, Aryz and El Mac.

Image - The Ultimate Bristol Walking Tour

• Park Street

One of the most recognisable and hilly (!) shopping streets in Bristol, Park Street is no stranger to a street art – it even has its own welcome sign emblazoned in graffiti by Bristol legends Inkie and Cheba at the top (next to Friska).

On the other side of the road from the sign is Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. Banksy paid Bristol City Council £1 to hire the museum for the 2009 Banksy versus Bristol Museum extravaganza and the event generated tens of millions pounds for the local economy. One of the exhibits can still be seen inside - Banksy Graffiti Paint-Pot Angel.

Further down Park Street, (but best viewed from the small bridge that crosses Frogmore Street on Park Street near College Green) is Banksy’s Well-Hung Lover.

And, if you wander all the way down Park Row (just off Park Street) towards the Bristol Royal Infirmary, keep your eyes peeled for Banksy's 'Police Sniper'.

• Bristol Harbourside

While not so much a street art ‘hub’ as some of the other places listed here, there are still a couple of great pieces to see along the waterfront. Banksy’s ‘Girl with the Pierced Eardrum’ can be found on the Harbourside walk, just along from Brunel’s SS Great Britain and M Shed museum is currently a temporary home to Banksy’s Grim Reaper.

Image - Girl with the pearl eardrum, Banksy

• NASS Festival

Adrenaline-fuelled action sports and music festival NASS Festival is set to take place from 11-14 July 2019 at The Royal Bath and West Showground. Alongside banging Drum n' Bass, Dance, Hip Hop, Grime and high octane action sports, NASS often collaborates with Upfest to present a programme of live and curated art by some of the best local and international street artists in the game, who bring their unique styles to the NASS Skate and BMX Park.

Image - Nass Festival, Paul Box

• Upfest

Upfest, Europe’s largest street art festival is a visual spectacle that takes over North Street every July (although the festival will be taking a break in 2019). Over 300 artists from all over the globe descend on south Bristol to create eye-popping murals while onlookers watch. A family-friendly event, there are always plenty of activities to keep kids entertained, plus street food markets and live musical entertainment to accompany the art. And who’s to say Banksy isn’t also in the crowd?

Image - Kobra