Facilities, free clinics and venues

On this page

• Sports facilities
• Free clinics
• Libraries and collections
• Venues to hire

Sports facilities

Members of the public are welcome to use the University’s sports facilities, which offer a wide range of exercise classes and sports options. These include:

• a swimming pool in Clifton
• the indoor sports centre in Clifton
• the sports complex in Coombe Dingle.

You can take up tennis or swimming lessons with our friendly, expert coaches running sessions for adults and children.

Costs for using the sports facilities

Explore our public membership packages. There are different price options including memberships designed for juniors.

You can also access many of our sports facilities, including swimming, the sports hall, classes, and personal training, on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Sports Medicine Clinic

Our sports medicine clinic offers a comprehensive sports medicine service for all. You can book a physiotherapy, osteopathy or massage treatment with one of clinicians.

Free clinics

Benefit from free services provided by the University, including free dental care from our dental students and free legal advice from our law students.

Free dental care

Our student dentist training includes treating volunteer patients. You may be able to access free dental care by volunteering to be a patient at our Dental School in the city centre.

Free legal advice with our law clinic

If you need legal advice and cannot afford a solicitor, our law clinic may be able to help you.

In addition to the law clinic, we also offer a drop-in law clinic at our Barton Hill micro-campus, located in the café at the Wellspring Settlement.

Inquest support

If you are a bereaved family member and going through the inquest process, our students can advise you through our free inquest service, part of the law clinic.

Support includes advice on the inquest process, reviewing evidence, helping you draft your own statements, and even advocating on your behalf in court. Students are supervised by one of our supervising solicitors with extensive inquest experience.

Libraries and collections

We have a variety of libraries, collections and reading rooms open for public access.

• The Arts and Social Science Library is open to anyone over 16 years old.
• The Little Library at our Barton Hill micro-campus based in the Wellspring Settlement is a free library service. You can get a cup of tea and use the library service to borrow and return books.
• Book an appointment to visit our Special Collections, a curated archive of printed books and journals, archival resources and artefacts.
• Research using one of the world’s largest archives of British theatre history at the Theatre Collection, and see the ongoing exhibitions held there.
• You can explore our virtual museum, The Uncertain Space, and experience artefacts from our different collections. You can use a Virtual Reality headset to experience the virtual museum at our Theatre Collection Reading Room.
• Visit the EarthArt gallery, book an appointment to access unique minerals, fossils, rocks and maps in our Earth Sciences collection, and find out more about our current projects.

Venues to hire

The University has a large number of buildings across the city. Spaces in and around these building are available to hire for a range of events and purposes.

• Explore a huge range of venues to hire across the University campus and beyond including conference rooms, event spaces and wedding venues.
• Hire the Linnaeus Study Room, situated in the Botanic Gardens, to run courses, seminars, meetings, exhibitions and more.
• The Engine Shed, located near Temple Meads train station, offers co-working areas, meeting rooms and event spaces to hire.