On Monday, 8th April a group from SI Bristol were taken on a tour of the Bristol Beacon, formerly known as the Colston Hall.
We started by going down to the Cellars, the venue for jazz evenings and also private hire for parties and weddings, amongst other events, where there is also an educational facility for visiting school children. Accessible from Colston Street there is also a restaurant situated among beautiful brickwork pillars which are original but filled in with concrete in order to be weight bearing.
We then went back upstairs to visit the Lantern, a large space where the Little Theatre used to be. It is a very versatile area with a stage and seating areas with a raked area at the back which can be emptied of chairs and the steps retracted to make a larger flat space for different events.
From there, we went into the concert hall itself which is very different from how it was, but fits into the same space.
A huge amount of attention had been given to the acoustic and, because there had been a pop concert the previous Saturday, we were shown how different the acoustic is, mainly done by curtains and blinds
to accommodate the different required sound.
Lastly we went down to the Green Room, the area where orchestras, bands, singers etc use before concerts. The space is still quite limited but has segrated dressing rooms and a much more pleasant environment
Some of us have already attended performances here. It is a wonderful new musical centre and we are very fortunate that Bristol City Council was committed to finishing it and that so many people have been involved in providing such an innovative and amazing space for the city.
Lynda Bryan-Brown