The Climbing Academy - "The Mothership"
Information about The Climbing Academy - "The Mothership"
Opening hours
- sunday: 8h-20h
- monday: 7h-22h
- tuesday: 7h-22h
- wednesday: 7h-22h
- thursday: 7h-22h
- friday: 7h-22h
- saturday: 8h-20h
Our comment from FitFit UK about The Climbing Academy - "The Mothership":
The Climbing Academy - 'The Mothership' in Bristol is a vibrant and welcoming bouldering gym that caters to climbers of all ages and skill levels. Many climbers praise the centre for its excellent facilities, including:
- A diverse range of climbing problems that are changed regularly, ensuring a fresh experience every visit.
- Friendly and helpful staff who create an inclusive atmosphere, making it an ideal choice for beginners and experienced climbers alike.
- A well-equipped gym with training boards and a relaxing café area that serves good coffee and snacks.
- Clean changing rooms and toilets, although some users have noted areas needing more frequent cleaning.
- Great community vibe, with many users complementing the overall atmosphere and friendly environment.
Despite the many strengths, some climbers have mentioned occasional cleanliness issues and cramped conditions during peak hours. Additionally, a few users have expressed concerns over the new 'shirts on' policy and the grading of some climbs feeling challenging.
Overall, The Mothership offers a fantastic climbing experience with a strong sense of community and ample opportunities for growth and fun!
Services, Machines and Guided Classes
The Climbing Academy - "The Mothership": Opinions
Positive experience: I’ve been coming here for years and it’s always been my preferred climbing gym because the climbs were fun and interesting problems to solve. But now it all feels completely sandbagged and bit boring. It’s starting to take the joy out of climbing when it feels like there are less climbs you can do, and there are less climbs to warm up on and get into it. Everything feels 1-2 grades harder, e.g a climb graded at 5+ is definitely more like a 6a or 6a+. Just don’t enjoy climbing here anymore.
Hi Jessica, Thanks for your feedback. We take this very seriously. Grade creep is something that we monitor. It's very important for us (as well as for you our regulars) that there are a great number of easy, entry-level or warm-up climbs as well as more technical and challenging climbs. We always aim to create the very best climbs that our customers can enjoy. This feedback has been passed to the setting team and this will be addressed. Don't leave us just yet. You will see changes in the coming re-sets although this will of course take time to rotate entirely.
Fantastic experience: I love this bouldering gym. Staff are very friendly (shoutout to the manager who helped us today when our padlock got jammed!) The changing and toilet facilities are excellent - they include individual changing cubicles, a communal changing area with lockers, unisex toilets and a shower. I find the problems here are my favourite of the gyms I visit - even at the lower grades there is lots of novelty and opportunity to learn new techniques. Other notes: Downstairs there is also a gym with weight equipment, stretching area, and training boards (including a tension board 2)
Thanks James, we really appreciate you taking time to review us.
Fantastic experience: Best place in Bristol No 1
Cheers Lorena!
Fantastic experience: climbing in its purest form, simple as
Thanks for the great comment - commenting in its purest form!
Glad you had a great time, looking forward to seeing you back for a session.
Fantastic experience: Excellent little gym with a good variety of problems. Friendly staff. Decent shop & cafe area. Oddly enormous changing rooms! Parking in surrounding roads is free.
Hi Paul, Thanks for the kind words, we're really glad you had a good time!
Fantastic experience: @Tricky_Banana. I feel your review is unreasonable. I was climbing when you were having this issue. You decided to ignore the shirts on rule and were kindly asked to dress appropriately. You were even refunded your entry. Yes it’s hot at the moment, yes climbing with no shirt is more comfortable. May I suggest: Leaving a bad review because you were asked to play by the rules of the business is not a good look. You let yourself down. Please think about your actions more deeply next time.
Thank you for this wonderful response! We really appreciate it! TCA is always committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Fantastic experience: Relaxed and inclusive vibe. I go regularly on my own and with my children on weekends and this gym really supports whatever experience you are after. They change the routes with enough frequency to keep it fresh and positioning of the holds is safe and high quality.
Thanks Daniele
Negative experience: I was really excited to climb here but I was body shamed out of this place and would not recommend to anyone. There was what appeared to be pubic hair on the ceiling of the showers too
We’re very sorry to hear you left feeling this way. That is never the experience we want for anyone who visits us.
To clarify for others reading, we do have a tops-on climbing policy. This isn’t about body image, but about ensuring everyone feels comfortable and respected in our community space. The policy is explained in our waiver and applies equally to all climbers. When you raised concerns, we immediately processed a full refund for both you and your partner.
We also take cleanliness very seriously. Our showers are cleaned regularly throughout the day, but we will review our procedures again to make sure they’re meeting the highest standard.
We value all feedback and remain committed to providing a safe, welcoming environment for everyone. We hope you reconsider your review as it feels unfair to receive a poor rating when staff members were simply implementing our policies.
Fantastic experience: Some climbing gyms give off a bit of an unwelcoming/elitist vibe, however TCA The Mothership (and The Church: their other location in Bristol) couldn’t be further from that stereotype. Everyone was super friendly and welcoming. The renovations look great and I will definitely be going back.
We're really glad you had such a good time, looking forward to seeing you back here :)
Positive experience: Nice climbinghal with gym on two floors, 14 pounds entry, but dirty. The holds are dirty, the backboards are cut up, and there is magnesium all over the place which is bad for the lungs. The shower and bathrooms are even more dirty, hairs all over the place, afraid to touch the walls.
Hi there, thankyou for your review, and we are pleased you enjoyed the climbing. Sorry to hear you had a poor experience with the cleanliness of the centre. We reset the routes by area each week and there are 7 areas in the centre. Every time we strip the routes we clean the holds, so all of our holds are cleaned once every 7 weeks. As the downstairs area is one of the oldest bouldering facilities in the UK (we opened in 2008), that area of wall has seen a lot of love over the years! Lots of screw holes from years of setting and re-setting routes. That said, we do daily and weekly checks, and have an annual wall inspection from on external provider, and we can say with confidence that our walls are completely safe.
I can appreciate climbing centres can be chalky places. We have several hundred climbers coming through the door each day, all using chalk. However we have tried to mitigate this where possible. We hoover our mats daily, we use extractor fans, we hoover, clean and dust surfaces, and we have more recently invested in some state of the art chalk filters to reduce the amount of chalk in the air. All of this conforms with the guidance around chalk management from the ABC.
With regards to the cleanliness of the changing rooms and showers, we can only apologise. We have cleaners that come in daily, and as part of their duties they clean the changing rooms, showers and all of the toilets. As these are used throughout the day they can get dirtier again, so we have hourly checks to ensure there is soap, toilet paper and the changing room, toilets and showers stay at an acceptable level of cleanliness. Maybe you can provide me the details of when you came so I can check in with the duty manager to make sure these checks were being completed? You can email [email protected] with more information.
Fantastic experience: Absolutely love this place! Fantastic facilities. Staff are super friendly. Their toddler session is great and their coffee is even better!
Hey Lucas, that's great to hear! Really glad you enjoy the Tiny Academy, I will pass on your feedback to our instructors. The coffee is pretty great as well, I can't fault your taste ;)
Positive experience: Previously rated 5 star. Love the setting at this centre and amount of diverse problems. New renovations are good. Visited on Bank Holiday Monday and it felt chaotic, families with too many unsupervised children. Witnessed one child fall off because no adult to support them, children running round including underneath adults climbing. As climbers we can offer words of advice if unsafe behaviour witnessed, but during our visit I didn't see any staff walking the floor or having a word with parents. Other centres have rules about how many unsupervised children under a certain age parents can take in, it seems like it would be useful here unless staff are prepared to challenge. It worries me that a child will be injured. More indepth induction is perhaps required, in genuinely felt like some didn't understand the risks involved.
Hi Ruth, I'm glad you love the setting at The Mothership and you are enjoying our new renovations, and I'm sorry you experienced a busier than usual centre over the Bank Holiday Monday. We do have policies in place where children (unless signed off to be unsupervised by an instructor) must be supervised by a competent adult with a 2:1 ratio (two children aged under 16 to one adult).
Our staff members are also required to do floor walks a minimum of once per hour, but during busier periods this would be much more frequent.
We also require everybody to pass a competency test prior to entering the centre, as well as sign to say they have read and agreed to out 'TCA conditions of use' to ensure all are aware of the risks involved with climbing and adhere to our safety policies. When staff members notice these aren't being adhered to we will talk to the individuals involved.
You can find out more about our safety policies by navigating to the 'Policies' section of our website, and please don't hesitate to email [email protected] with any feedback you may have.
Fantastic experience: great customer service in the cafe and the staff matt and yakub were really nice when I cut myself and needed a plaster
I'm really glad you had a good time, I'll pass on your feedback to Matt and Jakub.
Fantastic experience: Great climbing for all ages and experience levels
Thanks for the 5 star review Adam, really glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic experience: Awesome climbing gym! Really light and open reception area with tea, coffee, cake and other snacks! Lovely shop area with seating. Huge changing area with lots of lockers. Bring plenty of water as there’s no water fountain however the friendly staff will fill your bottle behind the counter. The downstairs climbing area is really cool. Slightly old school walls with modern choice of holds and a great training area. Lots of circuit boards too which I love. The upstairs area feels modern with high walls, 2 top out boulder islands and an insane comp wall. The setting throughout was really good with a mix of technical problems and some really powerful climbing. Would happily climb here again when I’m next in Bristol.
Really glad you had a great time Tim! Our reception and shop have been recently renovated so it's brilliant to see this is having a positive impact for our community. It's also nice to hear you enjoyed the setting, I'll pass on your feedback to our setting team!
Positive experience: Great gym. The rennovations are taking forever which is limiting the gym area for a while now, so -1 star. But otherwise very nice setting. Staff is very friendly, especially Matt and Jakub :)
Fantastic experience: Jakob and kat have great customer service ✨
Amazing! I'm glad you had a great experience with our customer service, I will pass on your kind words :)
Fantastic experience: The team here are always very relaxed and helpful. Thank you especially to SW Bookings Manager Christoph who was quick and kind when answering my many questions via email. Loads of different kinds of people come to climb here which puts me at ease as a beginner. It's cool seeing the pros practicing alongside parents and kids, groups of young women, and older people too. Thanks for being so welcoming!
We're so glad you had a great time! I'll pass on your good feedback to Christoph.
Positive experience: As a veteran of Bloc for many years, it was great to find a new place. As a comparison: - Staff are far friendlier, as are the average climbers there - It opens at 7am weekdays, earlier than Bloc, and makes it much more credible to go before work. - However, the walls are - in general, and certainly downstairs - lower than at Bloc. - But, in return, the climbs are more technically challenging, with even the first few grades being more technically demanding than Bloc On an early weekday morning, it wasn't too busy until around 7:45 when suddenly the upstairs was roped off and everyone compressed downstairs. I'm not sure if it was just bad luck that day or whether the upstairs always closes in the early mornings, but given the only walls you can top out on are up there it was a shame. Locker space was great, and there a great soundtrack playing throughout. There's also a nice little coffee area for a drink afterwards. I’ll definitely be returning and glad I found this place!
Hi Paul, Amazing feedback! we're really glad you had a great time!
It's great that you found the staff friendly, If you feel comfortable enough to ask for their name to write in reviews, then the individuals that served you will receive recognition from TCA for a job well done.
Sorry to hear the upstairs was closed during your visit. This is not a normal or regular occurrence, we are currently undergoing renovations at the Mothership ready for an exciting new reception, shop and café due to open at the start of March. Last week we were spray painting and therefore unfortunately had to shut the upstairs.
Looking forward to seeing you again!
Fantastic experience: Cool bouldering centre on two levels with gym and cafe. Note photos taken pre covid !
Thanks for sharing about our facilities - it's something we've put a lot of work into the last few years and we glad you came down to experience it!
Fantastic experience: Just started climbing and really happy to have discovered this place. Great climbs, good vibes & awesome cheesecake in this cafe!
Haha, the cheesecake has been very popular recently! Really glad you enjoyed your experience, thanks for the great review!
Positive experience: Nice atmosphere but some of the holds are quite worn down and could do with a bit of a refresh.
Thanks for the review, We're really glad you enjoyed the atmosphere, and we will pass on your feedback about the holds to our setting team. Did you spot the retextured holds by Contact, designed to help prolong the life of holds and reduce waste?
Fantastic experience: Brilliant climbing, brilliant coffee, brilliant staff.
Thanks for the kind words Simon!
Positive experience: Great climbing gym, great coffee and cakes, the place has improved so much (especially on route-setting) but... lopping off a whoppin' two stars for the music, it's either The Prodigy relentlessly on repeat or dubstep from ten years ago. I wish I was joking but the experience really is dog at times to the point that our group has left early. I now skip sessions if I'm not on top form as I know I'll get overstimulated and irritated. Some recommendations: 1) Volume down - just enough so people aren't getting battered every time they walk near a speaker, and can maintain a conversation 2) Chiller music - I'm not talking lo-fi study beats, just something less loud and erratic
Hi John, Thankyou for your comments about the climbing, coffee and cakes, and I'm really sorry to hear about your poor experience with the music. As you say, music is something that plays a major part in the customer experience, and we have a music policy that states our music should be a reasonable volume and varied to cater to different tastes. I have passed your feedback on to the staff on the night and reminded all staff members of our music policy. Please feel free to email [email protected] with any additional feedback.
Fantastic experience: Very diverse range of climbs. Great atmosphere and very beginner friendly.
Amazing Review, thanks Billy, we're really glad you had a great time!
Negative experience: The risk of injury is very high due to the very tight space. Boulders were good though. Would recommend but not when it is very crowded.
Hi Max, sorry you had a negative experience at The Mothership due to there being large crowds. Unfortunately it seems like your visit fell on a university taster evening so crowds were larger than normal. Having said that this is something we are aware of and the planned refurbishments to The Mothership over the coming months will take into account increased floor area for fall zones. If it fits with your schedule, I would also recommend trying to come during our off peak entry times? It is much less crowded and also cheaper during off-peak hours. You can find more info about times and pricing through our website. Feel free to contact us via: [email protected] if you have any further feedback.
Fantastic experience: We to see the osteopath, really good and highly recommend, all the staff were friendly and welcoming.
It's great to hear your feedback, thanks Jacqui!
Fantastic experience: Cool centre, we found the setting to be fantastic! Centre staff were super friendly too!
Thanks for the great review, we're really glad you enjoyed your visit!
Positive experience: Great bouldering gym super nice staff and a great atmosphere. Definitely worth a visit
Thanks for the great review Cole! We're really glad you enjoyed your visit!
Fantastic experience: Only been twice but so far so good. Lots of route's to choose from. Nice helpfull staff. Very good vibe.
That's great to hear Gerald, Thanks for the awesome review!
Fantastic experience: Great atmosphere and friendly staff. Was lovely to be able to come here when visiting Bristol. Quick induction process if you've been bouldering before.
Thanks for the amazing review Jason, we're really glad found the staff and atmosphere so great!
Fantastic experience: Excellent bouldering gym in Bristol. Has a good mix of new and old school features that you don't see in brand new gyms.
Thanks for the great review Jordan, we're really glad you had a good time!
Positive experience: Seems expensive compared to many alternatives, route setting can be a bit hit or miss, but a good climbing gym otherwise If you go during school holidays expect it to be very busy
Hi Oliver, thank you for taking the time to leave a review, and sorry you felt that the route setting was a bit hit or miss. If you go to the quick links section at the bottom of our website you can find a link to our setting page where you can submit a setting feedback form. It's always useful for us to know what customers think (good or bad) so that we can adjust our setting accordingly and continuously improve.
We do peak and off-peak times where it is cheaper and quieter during our off peak hours. You can find further details about specific timings through the pricing section of our website.
Fantastic experience: My go to climbing gym in Bristol. Staff have always been friendly to me and the diversity of routes is great.
We're really glad you have had such a good time at The Mothership, thanks for leaving us a review!
Positive experience: I like the Mothership, but I keep finding sharp screws left on the mats (3 separate times in the space of a couple of months). A very rare one off I can understand, but this is an issue. Landing on one of these the wrong way could cause a horrible injury. I emailed them about this fairly significant safety issue, but Sam simply replied that he's forwarded my message onto the setters and that they'll be in touch with me (they haven't). Really it's not up to me to chat with the setters on this, I've raised the issue so TCA might do something about it. I would have expected the issue to be taken seriously - it feels like a matter of time before someone will get hurt
Hi Christopher, I'm sorry that you have noticed a recurring safety issue. After any instance of stripping routes or setting we do carry out safety checks, which includes a thorough check of the matting before we open the area to the public. However as you pointed out human error can play in to these checks. I have passed on your feedback to our setting team with a reminder to continue being vigilant, however if you do come across items on the mats please bring them to reception and let a member of staff know so that we can log it in our near miss report and track how often these incidents occur.
Positive experience: Good gym but dirty and unfriendly staff
Hi Luke, We are sorry that you thought we only warranted 3 stars. Our staff should not be unfriendly. That is not something we commonly hear so I'm really sorry that your experience was not as good. We are always interested in feedback, so feel free to email the centre if you experience any bad service.
The Gym at The Mothership is a climbing centre gym in an active climbing space so it will inevitably have chalk dust on it from the climbing. This is different to gym-only establishments. Users need to bear this in mind. We do clean regularly but chalk does return. If there is anything more serious in terms of cleanliness, please report this to staff in the centre or email [email protected].
Fantastic experience: Great variety of routes, lovely staff. Good facilities and cafe.
Fantastic experience: Nice place, lots of routes to climb, nice atmosphere
Thanks Alon. We're glad you had a good time!
Fantastic experience: We had a great climb at the Climbing Academy. It’s a beautiful setting. A great variety of routes including lots of top roped climbs, we really enjoyed them. Very family friendly ☺️ nice coffee too! Very welcoming and helpful staff. Thank you
Thanks for taking the time to review us! We're glad you had such a good time.
Fantastic experience: Great bouldering venue, friendly with good coffee
Thanks John. Glad you like it!
Positive experience: good gym, don’t go when it’s busy as hard to climb due to so many people and the layout meaning it’s quite thin in padding and can be full of people
Thanks for the nice review. Foam matting is regulation thickness. They are inspected weekly and replaced when they need to be. Fr anyone who prefers a bit more space, we always recommend climbing in off peak hours, which is pre 3pm or post 8pm on weekdays. See web for more details.
Fantastic experience: Friendly staff, well kept and prepped routes, and always decent music!
Thanks for the five stars Matt
Fantastic experience: First time back here in ages, the new extension looks great and the gym is absolutely mega.
Nice to have you back Gaz, thanks for the 5 Stars. Always great to see on a Monday morning and glad you like the improvements! Fingers crossed more to come!
Positive experience: Generally good climbing centre with a relaxed atmosphere, if you avoid the busy periods. Also check when they're doing maintenance or working on routes, because large areas of walls will be cordoned off.
Thanks for the great review L! We do try to minimise disruption when setting is going on, although for reasons of safety this is sometimes difficult.
Fantastic experience: Great bouldering centre, reasonably priced
Thanks Taran. Glad you like it!
Fantastic experience: Friendly staff, lots of well varied boulders, well stocked food and drink, beer and pizza for £10!
Thanks for the rave review Ben!
Fantastic experience: excellent wall with great variety of angles and well set problems. friendly staff and nice cafe.
Thanks for the kind words Jonathan!
Fantastic experience: Been coming here for nearly two years now. Fantastic route setting, friendly staff, good coffee (and cake!). Routes are reset regularly and the competitions they occasionally run are done well and fairly. They use the Griptonite App here which they keep up to date if you like keeping track of your climbing metrics or just want to check what grade the route you’re stuck on is! Definitely drop in if you’re in the Bristol area and give this place a go.
Hi Formalis, Thanks so much for the great review!
Fantastic experience: Nice, colour coding is different to the newsroom, but easy enough to pick up. Good facilities, two floors, pretty well stocked work out area as well
Thanks Daniil. We're glad you had a good time and always great to hear our gym us well stocked.
Fantastic experience: Love to come back here so far, can’t really compare to other locations but this one is cosy, plenty of walls, routes, small gym with all weights, upstairs large open space, also coffee place just by the entry. Like it very much.
Thank you Lukas! We're glad you like it.
Fantastic experience: Super fun, friendly and inclusive climbing gym. Climbed here for years now and I always feel so at home and welcome. Excellent route setting and super kind and friendly staff. They also have a well equipped gym and a seriously competitive membership price. I highly recommend this gym whether you’re a complete beginner or seasoned climber.
Thanks for the kind words Jamie! We're glad you feel at home!
Positive experience: Tops on rules stupid, other than that brilliant gym
Thanks for the review Jack
Positive experience: Edit. Still a good facility but dropped a star due to a new "shirts on" policy.
Thanks Jim! Glad you're enjoying the facilities we have. It's an area we're continually looking to add to and improve on.
Fantastic experience: perfect gym
Thanks!
Negative experience: Lovely place and friendly staff but the gym area needs a clean, there's literally inches of dust building up!
Hi Faheem, We are aware of the need for additional cleaning in this area. I will share your feedback with the team. Having a gym in the same space as climbing walls creates a daily build up of chalk dust. Anyone planning to use our gym should be aware of that. Having said that the extensive gym facilities are highly valued by our community. I hope that this won't put you off returning.
Fantastic experience: First time down at the mothership, thought it was great. Facilities really good. Friendly and helpful staff. Cant wait to get back. Will be buying an annual pass very soon!
Hi Pete, Thanks for the 5 stars! Great to hear you had such a good time. We look forward to welcoming you back. Just speak to one of our desk staff about setting up a membership or check out our options online!
Fantastic experience: Amazing place and staff!
Glad to hear you had a good time!
Positive experience: Best priced Bristol climbing centre! 2 floors with nice new toilets upstairs, but climbing felt very tight together. Lovely staff as well!
Hi Seb, Thanks for the 4 stars - we're always grateful for the feedback! We know it can be a bit of a squeeze particularly on a busy evening. Hope you had fun anyway!
Fantastic experience: Excellent facilities, good vibes, love this place
Thanks Andy! Glad you had a good visit.
Fantastic experience: The staff could not have been more helpful when my son wanted to try climbing for the first time and I knew nothing about it. Have since been back several times. Large centre, very clean and good coffee shop on site too.
Thanks for the great review Victoria. I'll pass your feedback on to the staff. We pride ourselves on being an open and welcoming centre for climbers of any level. Glad you enjoyed the coffee too!
Fantastic experience: Best bouldering centre in Bristol! Problems are changed regularly and are set well by the fantastic team of route setters. lots of different angles and hold types. Staff are always friendly and very inviting to new people. Real sense of community here with fantastic competitions they also look after their staff
Thanks Lucas. Glad to hear you had a good experience with us. Building communities is one of our main focuses so it's great to hear your kind words.
Fantastic experience: Best climbing area in Bristol in my opinion
Thanks Thomas - We think so too! Glad you enjoyed your visit and hopefully see you again soon.
Fantastic experience: Large variety of climbs over two floors. Great fun and exercise for all ages.
Thanks for the glowing review Bella! Glad you had a good time.
Fantastic experience: Comfortably the best wall in Bristol, and home to some of the best setting in the country!
Thanks Dale! Very kind words
Fantastic experience: Great bouldering centre, fun routes and really friendly staff:)
Thanks Jack. Much appreciated!
Fantastic experience: Climbed here when I came down for a visit. Great space that just keeps going! Lots of interesting routes and training boards for every ability. Would recommend
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! We'll hopefully see you again soon on your next visit.
Fantastic experience: This was the first of the bristol bouldering gyms to open and for a a while it suffered from not being able to innovate passed those early beginnings, but since they opened the top floor up its really come into its own, it now has a fully stocked weights area, and some very cool modern bouldering to get stuck into. They set even easy routes to make them interesting as they realised these were the most used, (both by beginners and as a warm up for advanced climbers) This is where I learned to climb and for that it will always have a place in my heart.
Thanks for the comprehensive review, Dann! We're continually looking at ways we can improve the centre, both in our facility offering and our setting, so we're glad you've been noticing our efforts.
Fantastic experience: Great range of climbs
Much appreciated Matt!
Fantastic experience: Great place!
Thanks for the 5 stars James!
Negative experience: Scammed. Paid for a lifetime membership but they changed the pricing structure before I and my friends could get the benifits of it. Tried to E-Mail to resolve the issue but they stopped responding. Will not be returning.
Hi Matthew, I'm very sorry that you have not had a positive experience. Please forward your email correspondence to helen(at)theclimbingacademy.com and we will look into this for you asap.
Fantastic experience: Great Wall with freindly staff, nice routes and even better cake and coffee. Good selection of routes from beginner all the way to really hard! Nice cafe area and other training facilities. Lockers provided and nice clean changing rooms to use too.
Thanks Lewis! Great to hear you had a good time in our centre. Hopefully see you again soon.
Fantastic experience: Have climbed here for a few years and yet to find another bouldering gym that compares. Lovely staff, friendly fellow climbers, inventive setting and variety of styles/routes for all abilities. Plus the playlists are always on point! Downstairs has shorter bouldering walls, 2 circuit boards, a lattice board and a moon board. Upstairs has taller bouldering walls, including some that top out and a competition style wall, weights and gym equipment, hangboards, campus boards and space for stretching. I might have forgotten some stuff! Equipment is all kept in great condition and the routes are regularly rotated. All round it's a welcoming space to climb with something for everyone!
Hi Al, Thanks for writing such a detailed review sharing the services we offer onsite - we love to hear that you feel the centre has everything you need and I'll be sure to pass on the good feedback about our staff and setting back to the team as well! Thanks!
Fantastic experience: I can't believe I've not yet reviewed this place - best bouldering wall in Bristol. In fact, I'm sure I have reviewed it before. Said the same. I'm sure I mentioned the fact that it has proper weights - I love lifting almost as much as climbing. Great to be able to combine
Hi Danny, Thanks for taking the time to write a review and we love hearing the work we've put into The Mothership has been well worth it!
Fantastic experience: Get in! Bouldering heaven Bouldering Haven, nice cafe so a good excuse to get social and meetup. If you want to avoid peqk times, climb with your kids, try to choose mid morning or afternoon.
Thanks for sharing such a positive review and some great advice to others as well - very much appreciated!
Fantastic experience: Friendly and helpful staff, great community atmosphere, problem routes to suit all skill levels. Highly recommend.
Thanks so much for the kind words Shaun - it's great to hear and i'll be sure to pass on the great feedback to our team!!
Fantastic experience: Brilliant. I come here once a week, (I'm a member) and have had lessons here for years. It's fantastic, everyone is friendly and nice.... It's just a great place.
Thanks for the 5 star review - we also appreciate the feedback on our Cafe. COVID has reduced what we are able to sell and was limited to pre wrapped goods which come at a premium however we are returning tray cakes this week and we have upped are sandwich selection and we always have our forever faithful flapjacks. We have also introduced meal deals recently to go with our coffee and cake deals to save costs. Plus if you are a prepaid/Monthly paying member you get 10% off all Cafe prices too!
Fantastic experience: Really good boulder problems at all the grades I tried and really good variety within the boulder circuit I was working, some technical crimpy problems, some great overhanging routes, plus a good range of individual routes upstairs on the comp wall! Lovely friendly staff and good snacks at the cafe, what's not to like!
Thanks for the review Elise! Glad to have you back climbing. Glad you love the current sets as well, I'll pass your feedback back to the team!
Fantastic experience: My favorite climbing gym in Bristol by far.
Hi Rob, that's really great feedback to receive, thanks for sharing!!
Fantastic experience: An amazing bouldering gym with an actual gym upstairs too. Best prices in Bristol and a lovely atmosphere and the staff are very friendly. Nice little sitting area where you can grab food and a drink, and a small shop for climbing gear. A bit busier than other climing gyms but if you go during off peak hours then you won't have an issue. Fully recommend.
Thanks for leaving such a detailed review about TCA, it's great to read on a Monday morning! I'll be sure to pass this great feedback to our team! Thanks again
Fantastic experience: Great place for some bouldering with everything you'd expect to see. Plenty of problems, grading system, crash mats, lockers etc... Downstairs the ceiling is quite low but circuits are great, upstairs there are large walls with some comp problems, a gym area and plenty of space. Also has a nice looking cafe but I didn't have time to indulge in the coffee and snacks, maybe next time...
Thanks for such a detailed review about your time, we love receiving feedback. We do love our coffee and flapjacks so we recommend it for next time too!
Fantastic experience: Really enjoyed my first experience there. Its really good for all skill lvls
Thank you. We're really pleased your first experience was a good one. Hopefully you'll have lots more fun climbing at TCA.
Fantastic experience: Really nice staff, always clean and enjoyable!
Thanks for providing some info about why you like our centre Matthew! I'll be sure to pass on to our staff that the great job they are doing is being noticed! Happy Climbing!
Fantastic experience: Lovely atmosphere and good quality varied setting. The fairly recent expansion upstairs is outstanding, best indoor top-outs around.
We really appreciate the positive comments Andrew and glad you are enjoying being back climbing with us!!
Positive experience: Great place. Sadly close at the moment
Thanks for the positive review, we hope to be open as soon as we can and have our fingers crossed for April!
Fantastic experience: What a great evening! Thank you Mothership and all the great staff working there!
Thank you for your kind review
Fantastic experience: Got invited by a friend who gets a free guest pass every month! Never bouldered before but felt totally welcome. Safety/instruction video to watch at the start, form to fill and shoe hire £3. Really great atmosphere, totally buzzing with people climbing. Loads of different walls and difficulty levels that you can choose from and there's even a little gym type bit upstairs for general strength. Will definitely be back, I had so much fun!
Thanks Isobel. We're delighted that you had a good experience. Hopefully you'll be back after lockdown.
Negative experience: Have been climbing at TCA now for a few years and have never had any problems however recently I had an encounter with a member of staff who was incredibly rude and condescending towards me when there was really no need to be. I think it's a bit of a joke, especially during the current COVID rules which are easy to forget but there is no need to enforce them in such a rude and horrible manner. I have seen this staff member also walking around without a mask on which is even more unacceptable.
Hi Peter, I'm so sorry your last visit with us wasn't up to our normal standards. As you can appreciate it's a difficult time at our centres with new restrictions and rules and that our staff are there to try and keep everyone as safe as they can while the centres are getting busier and do this by enforcing the rules onsite such as ensuring social distancing and mask use, however we do expect this to be done demonstrating our usual high standards of customer service. I'm keen to understand a little bit more about the interaction so I can find out what went wrong on this occasion and who it was that you interacted with, I'll send you a little message shortly to follow this up with you to make sure you can have confidence that we are doing all we can to improve our services for our community. We always encourage you to get in touch directly using our enquiries emails if you have any specific feedback like this so we can manage it directly.
Fantastic experience: Great facility for people just starting to get into the sport. After being sent away at a previous location (due to "lack of experience") we were very appreciative of the friendly and welcoming staff. Great facilities with lots of potential for beginners to start off easy and progress to harder climbs. Sign on when arriving was easy and we had shoes and were climbing the walls within 15 minutes of arrival and climbed away for a good 3 hrs. Highly recommend!!
I'm so glad you found our staff so welcoming and your first time with us so enjoyable, we pride ourselves on our customer service and supporting new climbers into the climbing community. Thanks so much for the 5* and such a positive review and we hope you can come back to visit us soon!
Fantastic experience: Great fun. Friendly people.
We love the community vibe we get in our centres so I'm glad you see it too, thanks for the positive review!
Fantastic experience: Walked in as an absolute beginner and had a great time, plenty of greens and pinks to get stuck into!
Thank you for the 5 stars Ollie we appreciate the great review!
Fantastic experience: Lovely staff and good walls, im a beginner but there was lots of choice between difficulties and I didn't run out of walls to do the whole time I was there, 1.5 hours.
Thanks Harriet. We are glad you had a good time.
Fantastic experience: Very friendly and good prices
Thanks Chris
Fantastic experience: This was my first time back after lock down. I really missed this place. I go to all the climbing centres in Bristol but this is the best for problems, staff, atmosphere and music!
Hi Tim, Thanks for your review. This means a lot to us, especially as we get re-established after lock-down.
Fantastic experience: Great, super friendly team. Nice place to climb and super for bringing a young one
Hi Mark, I'll feedback to the team about the amazing job they are doing and great that you are coming with your family - we love to see mini climbers crushing it!!
Fantastic experience: Cracking bouldering wall; lots of great route setting, all levels catered for, recently expanded with training area and lovely staff and refreshments. What more could you ask for!
Thanks Joe!
Negative experience: Would not have a coffee here. The heavens use blue milk
Hi Richard, sorry to hear you havent enjoyed the coffee with us. I'm not quite sure what you mean about 'the heavens use blue milk' but happy to assist on our milk choices. We usually have on site blue top milk (chosen for the majority of our hot drinks) and some green top milk for preference as well as oat and soya milk too. I apologise if you couldnt get the milk you liked tonight but I'll see if I can find out more from my cafe manager and hope you will come back for a drink soon as the coffee we have is pretty good and locally made aswell! Feel free to get in touch if you have any other concerns and we would be happy to assist you.
Positive experience: Great center with frequently updated routes. Cost effective if you take out a membership, and it means you get entry to TCA the church (undercover rock). As negative points, the changing rooms consist of a bench in the toilet, and the customer service is really slow. Overall I would recommend the center based on location, the good size of the center and the quality of the routes.
Hi Llion, thanks for the 4 stars and glad you see the value in our memberships and our setting, i'll be sure to pass onto the setting team so they keep crushing it!
Thanks for the additional feedback on the changing rooms, to keep you in the loop we are currently starting the next phase of the expansion and you'll be seeing new toilets, changing rooms and locker storage upstairs in a few months time to support the growth of the centre we are just as excited to get the space as you!
I also apologise that you think our service is slow, I would be intrigued to here more so whether it is a result of our membership base growing over this busy rainy winter period, we normally pride ourselves on our positive customer service. I'll also ensure I discuss this with my team too to get there opinions. As a note we are making some changes to the cafe space and counter team to help things move more efficiently in the busy winter periods so we hope this will make a positive impact and do feel free to share with us either way as we value your feedback as it allows us to keep making TCA awesome!
Fantastic experience: Very sociable and friendly atmosphere combined with excellent ever-changing walls make this one of the best climbing centres out there.
Thanks for the positive feedback , we are so glad you enjoy the facilities we offer, looks like you're all making great use of the problems we have too! Thanks so much and see you again soon, TCA Team
Fantastic experience: Really good for kids, amateurs and experts. Wide range of climbing challenges. My daughter loved it. Definitely going again 10/10
Hi Rich, I'm glad you both managed to find plenty to climb within the centre. Ill pass the feedback to the setting team about the great job they are doing and we will see you again soon Many Thanks, The TCA Team
Positive experience: Lots of boulder problems unfortunately the new room is not heated at all and the routes downstairs are often a little bit to short.
Hi Max, from our point of view it's good that customers have a choice of heights to climb to - some people really like downstairs where the problems are around 3.5m high whilst others prefer upstairs where it's 4 and 4.5m. Upstairs is quite cold at the moment but hopefully by the time you've warmed up it's OK.
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