One of my best pals lives in Bristol so I tend to visit with my friendship group once or twice a year. These visits normally just involve drinking cider by the harbour and hanging out. But last month was an extra special trip as we went to the Bristol Sounds festival to see the one and only Craig David.
No judgement, he’s amazing.
So rather than the usual plan of allocating a friend to be the designated driver and having to leave at 10pm in order to make it home before said driver gets too tired, we decided to make a night of it and stay the night in Bristol. Our accommodation of choice? Rock N Bowl Motel.
Rock N Bowl Motel, Bristol
Now honestly, I don’t think I fully appreciated the best parts of this hostel, as it’s attached to the infamous institution that is ‘The Lanes’, a bowling alley come pizza parlour come live music venue. I mean, that’s pretty cool right? And from what I can tell this is the main attraction of this place. You pretty much don’t need to leave the building for a fab night out!
But obvs I had my homeboy Craig David to go see down by the harbour, so my night was pretty much all booked in. And it was a really good night by the way, we had pre-drinks near the harbour, sang along to the awesome gig (Craig really has so many bangers, who knew?!), and danced to cheesy music in a nearby bar afterwards. Followed by the obligatory kebab shop gossip of course.
So it means I kinda missed out on this side of the hostel.
But what I did realise on returning home, this place is LOUD at night. The live music in the club downstairs goes on until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights and you could really feel the base vibrating through the bunk beds upstairs. It didn’t bother me too much because years of travel have given me the ability to sleep through anything. But I know it kept a few of my pals up.
Rock N Bowl are pretty upfront about this on their website though, you just have to know what you’re getting yourself in to. But you will likely be down in the club anyway right, so it’s all good.
The rooms themselves are everything you need. I stayed in a mixed 6 bed dorm and the beds were comfy, there were plugs and night lights on each bunk and there was space for your stuff. No complaints.
The only thing I would say is that I had my own booking, just for me staying in a dorm, and I had to pay a £10 key deposit. Which is pretty standard. But the 6 friends I was with booked a 6 bed dorm next door to me and because they booked the whole room and it counted as a group booking, they had to pay a whopping £150 key deposit. Which I think is quite excessive. So FYI I would just say book separately if you don’t want this massive fee. You can always ask to be put together afterwards.
Something I really liked about Rock N Bowl is that the whole hostel is covered in colourful graffiti / street art. It feels very Bristol-esque and cool and edgy. I liked it a lot. Plus the common rooms have games and comfy sofas and all that jazz. Plus a big kitchen for making your own meals.
Breakfast was included with my room but honestly it was nothing to write home about – cereal and fruit kinda vibes. And a kettle that took 10 mins to boil. Just saying.
But I always think that when you’re staying in a cool city, you kinda want to go out for breakfast anyway right? Me and the gang actually went to Ironworks around the corner from Rock N Bowl to have a slap up brunch – totally recommend it.
Overall I think this is a pretty cool hostel to stay in whilst you’re in Bristol, and really affordable too considering its central location (it was walking distance to the harbour). Like I said, I think the best part is the nightlife that’s available though so I will definitely need to give it a go on my next visit! Head over here if you’re interested in booking this bad boy!
What do you think of Rock N Bowl? Would you stay here?
Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @HeelsInBackpack!
Total Blogger Transparency: I enjoyed a complimentary stay at Rock N Bowl but all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I wouldn’t play you like that, shorty.