Location: Bristol, UK
Capacity: 3,500
Motion began life as a skatepark, with its eccentric founder Tom Kilford living onsite in a converted bus. After-parties on the ramps bred nights on the terrace and, as Bristol institutions from Just Jack to Arcadia to Love Saves the Day became involved, the site became a haven for students, locals and travelling clubbers alike. Eats Everything owes much of his illustrious career to the club and, after 10 years of the lauded In:Motion series (and 15 years in total), it now stands as one of the finest clubs in the UK.
That a club of Motion’s renown and status in its home city of Bristol should find itself concerned for its survival tells its own story about how difficult the last 18 months have been for nightlife. But, after being forced to lay off much of its staff during the pandemic, the West Country behemoth is warming up again.
A new space has opened — the Container Yard — to ensure its open-air events stay dry even when the weather has other ideas, with Eats Everything and Ellen Allien among the first to helm the decks. The club has also recently reached an agreement with the local council which means not even the rapid transformation of the surrounding area can silence the party. Look out too, for the six-year anniversary of local label Shall Not Fade outdoors, as well as intimate shows with the legendary DJ Shadow and the playfully experimental five-piece Squid in the Marble Factory. As the indoor spaces re-open, the return is a timely one for dancefloor heads in Bristol and beyond.