Why Bristol's creative scene is the UK's best-kept secret, forget London
Emerging artists don't need to leave the city to chase their dreams. Bristol has a vibrant creative community across the arts.
When people think of creativity and opportunity in the UK, London usually takes the spotlight.
Meanwhile, Bristol has been having all the fun, but very few have noticed...
Meet Sambee
Solo Jane
Ssadcharlie
and Nat Oaks
The Opportunity
Love Saves The Day Festival
Love Saves The Day is Bristol's annual music festival. This year featured a diverse lineup of over 175 artists across eight stages, attracting more than 30,000 attendees each day.
The 2025 lineup showcased a mix of electronic, drum & bass, hip hop and house music, with headliners such as - Nia Archives, Giggs, Shy FX, A Little Sound and Ms. Dynamite.
The festival emphasises sustainability and inclusivity, implementing a cashless system, promoting eco-friendly practices, and maintaining a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination and harassment.
The annual event has influenced Bristol's culture, social and environmental landscape. Musicians Ssadcharlie and Solo Jane both said they always wanted to perform at the festival when they were younger.
Love Saves The Day features established artists and emerging talent, which reflects the evolving UK music scene and supports the growth of local acts.
'Full circle moment'
Alongside Sambee, three musicians living in and around London played before the festival's headliners.
Ssadcharlie
Bristolian rapper Charlie Copp, known to their fans as Ssadcharlie is extremely passionate about the Bristol music scene.
The 19-year-old is currently living in London and moved to the city to develop their career studying a sound engineering degree.
Ssadcharlie is passionate about "pushing" the Bristol music scene to the world.
The rising star said: "Bristol has given me my biggest opportunity yet."
Ssadcharlie had a 10 minute slot before rapper Giggs at the festival.
Nat Oaks
Nat Oaks, 23, from Gloucester lived in Bristol whilst at university.
She moved to London for her day job as a civil servant, but hoped to expand her music at the same time.
The pop-hip-hop artist said she's always returning to Bristol for new opportunities, even though the capital has been kind to her: she will be performing at UK rapper Little Simz' Meltdown Festival on the 19th of June and also warmed up the crowd before a back to back DJ session with Groove Armada and Eats Everything.
Solo Jane
Sophie Cook, 28, currently lives in Essex, but lived in Bristol for many years.
She describes the Bristol music scene as vibrant.
The freelance singer and songwriter said: "Anywhere I go in Bristol almost every-other person is a DJ or a creative."
"I miss that about Bristol."
The up-and-coming artist mentioned that Bristol helped define her sound, performing deep-house and dance music. Solo Jane was a R&B singer, but after taking part in Big Team CIC's artist development programme, Next Level, she was advised she might have more success switching her genre.
She performed before A Little Sound.
The three musicians described the Bristol creative scene as a 'community' and echo the support from venues, grassroot collectives and from the people.
Ssadcharlie said: "Everybody wants to see you do well, its the best."
"It's not like I'm going to sell out the O2 arena in Bristol am I, because they don't have one."
The question to ask, if everybody in the city is wishing for people's success, then - why do creatives chase the London dream?
Presenter, model and actress Maya Jama grew up in Bristol. She knew from the age of 16 she wanted to be a presenter and moved to London to make that happen.
Nat Oaks explained London has exposed her to opportunities with corporate giants such as Amazon Music and PRS, which are not based in Bristol.
Ssadcharlie acknowledged that some Bristol-based creatives may feel the need to leave the city after hitting a "ceiling" in terms of career growth and opportunities.
However they insisted that was not the case for them. "I moved because I wanted a change, to expand and meet new people. Not because the city has limited possibilities."
Although Nat is strengthening her creative network day-by-day in London, she said: "In a couple of years I will probably move back to Bristol."
In 2023-24 financial year period, the Bristolian production house The Bottle Yard Studios and the Bristol Film Office contributed an estimated £30 million to the local economy.
Bristol city is the home of Aardman Animations - the creators of Wallace and Gromit, who earlier this year won two BAFTA's for: Best Animated Film and The Children's and Family Film Award.
The city has three of the UK's major network channels - BBC, ITV and Channel 4. It is also the home of the BBC's Natural History department, where some of national treasure David Attenborough's programmes are made.
Hollywood Star Christopher Walken, agreed to film three seasons of Outlaws, a BBC Three series filmed in Bristol, co-written and directed by Stephen Merchant - a Bristolian actor that has worked in Hollywood and best known for his West Country accent.
According to Original by Bristol, which is an organisation which provides an overview of the city's values, strengths, infrastructure investment, and investable opportunities - between 2010 and 2018, Bristol's creative economy expanded by 30 percent.
They have also discovered Bristol is the second largest media hub in the UK after London. The city has 189 film and TV production and post-production companies.
In addition, a report called the West of England Cultural Sector Economic Summary found out in 2022:
The film and TV industry has countless accolades; what's missing for Bristolian musicians?
"It's the lack of big major labels," said Solo Jane.
"It's not like I'm going to sell out the O2 Arena in Bristol, am I, because they don't have one."
So who is making sure the city's musicians and creatives are having long, sustainable and tangible careers?
Photo by Nat Oaks
Photo by Nat Oaks
Photo by Jack Oliver
Photo by Jack Oliver
Photo by Solo Jane
Photo by Solo Jane
Big Team CIC
Meet Javeon
The Next Level Programme is a partnership with music venue, Bristol Beacon.
Bristol Beacon is a renowned venue located in the city centre. It has undergone significant transformations and is making an impact through its inclusivity, sustainability and musical excellence. They aim to create £13 million for Bristol's economy every year.
"The beacon is the project that truly confirms Bristol's reputation as a world-class music city," said Phil Gibby, Arts Council England Area Director for the South West.
Meet Shana Rose
Shana Rose is making her dreams a reality in London as a producer and social media content producer at BBC 1Xtra.
The 31-year-old was born and raised in Bristol and worked as a Journalism Coordinator at BBC Bristol.
Although Bristol is classed as the second largest media hub in the UK, Shana said London had more of the opportunities she was interested in.
"Even though Bristol has media opportunities, it was the genre, it wasn't clicking with me."
She added: "It was more factual and natural history programming. I'm more drawn to entertainment based media."
Shana did not deny entertainment work is possible to attain in Bristol but mentioned she would have to work as a freelancer and do a lot of "digging" to find the right work for her.
"We are a city that holds over 8,000 music events a year, where many people attend a gig at least once a month, spending a whopping £42 million a year on events. The music industry is a big business for us and a vital positive contributor to the city's prosperity, with many millions of pounds generated annually for the local economy," said Carl Heath, night time economy advisor at Bristol city council.
Bristol has always been a noted city that channels creativity, activism and passion.
Creatives such as Banksy, Massive Attack and Portishead are just the tip of the iceberg.
The city has a long list of accolades leaving some to wonder how they can achieve greatness in their West Country home.
Yet it is Bristol's strong sense of community, inclusion and indomitable spirit that continues to help people thrive.
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