Scour the streets of Bristol and you’ll struggle not to find a cutting-edge piece of graffiti art decorating the city’s walls. Along narrow alleys, down side-streets and through under-passages, across building walls and boldly displayed on bridges, a piece of graffiti art soon jumps out depicting wry humour and subversive displays of pop-culture.
Bristol is also where Banksy hails from; the elusive graffiti artist extraordinaire has an enormous collection of artistic works featured on streets, walls and bridges all over the world, and has inspired a new generation to take to the streets to create innovative and dynamic art.
For the largest and most diverse selection, make a trip to Stokes Croft, join the weekly Bristol Street Art Tour, or the Ultimate Bristol Walking Tour for an insider’s guide. Alternatively you can download the Banksy Bristol Trail app which will guide you around the remaining Banksy artworks in Bristol, or listen to A Piece Of…..Banksy! while you explore the city. This fully narrated audio and visual exploration of Banksy in Bristol features some of his earliest works, up to more recent activities in 2021, with exclusive and archive photos.
Want to have a go at making your own Banksy-style artwork? Join a workshop with Graft, who run regular stencil spray art workshops, or join one of the weekly ‘no mess’ spray painting sessions from Where the Wall.
For a taste of the new talent on the scene, be sure to check out the streets of Southville and Bedminster, where Bristol’s street art festival Upfest and a thriving creative community ensures there's plenty of street art to see all year round. Take an Upfest stories and street art walk with Yuup to hear how a selection of them were created.
There’s also a burgeoning street art scene in the nearby seaside town of Weston-super-Mare, just half an hour from Bristol by train and an hour by bus, where the annual Weston Wallz urban art festival creates an ever-changing line-up of murals across the seaside town. In 2024, the festival takes place from 31 August - 14 September - find out more here.
Other areas of the city where you'll find some fantastic street art are:
You can use our Bristol street art map to guide you around the city.
