Throughout 2025 one of our long-term visions for The Old Drumbank Studios became a reality! The building in Bristol has been home to a diverse range of different artists, makers and small businesses since we opened it up as a co-working space in early 2022. It’s still a work in progress, and since day one we’ve slowly and steadily continued to make improvements. The aim has always been for it to become a hub for the local community and well as provide affordable, flexible workspace for the city’s creatives. So, following some incredible help from the wonderful team at Bristol Business & Enterprise Support, what was previously an art studio and adjacent small, public shop space (the former home to Disk Frisk + Yarn & Sew / Woollyak!) has now been transformed into a brand new cafe & shop space, in collaboration with Nathan Worm and Hot Wax Records Bristol.
These pictures show the space in some of its previous iterations, in the early days of the project, as well as the refurbishment process. We always hoped one day we’d be able to open a ground floor public cafe, retail and events / workshop space in the building one day! Our thinking was that would act as a communal hub and meeting point for those working in the building, as well as fit in with Gloucester Road’s famous spirit of entrepreneurship, supporting local and independent businesses. After a few years of the ground floor spaces being used by various different individuals and businesses, in 2025 we were ready to start work! The first job? Stripping everything back and a bit of plumbing.
Following that the painting and decoration began. Before we took over the building, it was home for many years to Drumbank Music, and the part of the ground floor in question used to be a musical instrument shop as well as band practise & rehearsal room. There were a whole load of sound insulation as well as old shop signs and other relics of this former usage to remove. Luckily we managed to repurpose the majority of the materials, before donating anything we didn’t need to someone else who could make use of it.
Next came re-purposing what was essentially a temporary plasterboard wall, put in to keep the old band practise room separate, into a lovely, natural divider. As you’ll see later, once it was opened up we were then able to cover the entire wooden structure with plants – just like we envisioned 🙂
Throughout the refurb our aim was to use reclaimed, recycled and secondhand materials as close to 100% as possible. We feel it’s such a waste that so much perfectly good scrap-wood gets thrown away all the time, and we found everything we had was perfectly adequate to re-purpose into building the bar, furniture and shelving.
After A LOT of painting, decorating, drilling, woodwork, hoovering and cleaning, the rustic feel we intended for the space started to take shape. We also embarked on some large scale painting of menu boards, signage, walls, ceiling and (excruciatingly) the entire floor!
After some unexpected delays earlier on in the year, we gave ourselves the deadline of opening by the first week of September 2025 – no matter what happened! Perhaps it was ambitious, but it’s always good to aim high right? Luckily we got everything sorted in the nick of time – with Hot Wax Records joining in the space just 1 month later in time for an official launch party in early October.
And here we are now, over 6 months in! We’ve met so many lovely, local people and visitors on this new journey so far, as well as having the pleasure of working with some amazing local and ethical suppliers.
Our coffee is supplied by the awesome team at Bristol’s own Radical Roasters, and customers can also purchase ground coffee and beans to take home with them. We’re stocking lovely loose-leaf teas that are sourced and grown in the surrounding countryside, we’re selling delicious cakes and pastries from various local bakeries and on top of that we’re stocking artwork and creations from the makers upstairs in the building, such as Urraca Studios.
So, do pay us a visit if you’re ever in the Gloucester Road area of Bristol, and we’d like to say a huge THANKYOU to everyone who’s passed through our doors and supported us so far! You can check out our opening hours below, and we host Events & Workshops throughout the year too – so keep an eye on our socials for that 🙂
THE OLD DRUMBANK STUDIOS
CAFE & SHOP SPACE – OPENING HOURS
Monday: 11am-3pm
Tuesday: 11am-3pm
Wednesday: 8.30am-5pm
Thursday: 8.30am-5pm
Friday: 8.30am-5pm
Saturday: 9.30am-4.30pm
Sunday: 10.00am-3.30pm