Bloc Indoor Climbing Wall

No more joining fees, great! We love this place! I take our kids (8 and 10) pretty often plus some evening climbing each week with friends. The kids both did Clip and Climb in the past but we all boulder now. The routes have a great range, easy to get started and plenty of challenge for later on. Everyone is really welcoming and helpful, staff and customers alike. One request I would have would be an up/down vote place for the music. It is usually great and sometimes… absolutely dire. I’m sure everyone feels the same way and if we could all vote, maybe it would be changed? 😅

I e been climbing here on and off, several times a week, since it opened in 2015. Overall bristol has a massive range of options for climbing, which given it’s got one of the only inner city gorges, says something. Pros… Bloc is unique because it has great natural light. Lots of free-standing areas to walk around. Generally, I climb more at Bloc than any other centre, where I spend more time on the ground trying to unlock routes in my mind. So also more fun and therefore best value for me right now. In short, to climb more and progress faster, I go to Bloc. It’s independent with lots of free parking and outside the congestion charging zone. Plenty of hand sanitizer on the front desk is always a win. Coffee is awesome. So pleased to see a full set of kettlebells in the new gym. Cons. The bathrooms smell badly of poor hygiene. The setting is sometimes (often) left with a crux at the final move. The moves are a mix of comp style and indoor style routes than harder static moves. Grading is wider and softer to other centres (perhaps why I climb more here). For atmosphere, I’d prefer to know which sessions are louder energising music and which are the more chilled folk or sundown vibes. Consistency here would be good. Lighting above some routes is too bright and dazzles, needs diffusers. Too hot in the summer (but shouldn’t we all on real rock instead?!) Ideas. Host a local DJ for weekend evening sessions. Sell liquid chalk and refills. It feels commercial and corporate; therefore lacking ‘Bristol vibez’ that are imho inseparable from climber culture.

Currently (Nov 2025) £16.50 per approx. 45 min of climbing (remaining 15 min is spent on safety brief and harness setup - all very important, but means you don't climb for the full 60 min). There are approx. 20 climbing stations but the session can cater to approx. 25 people (based on the online booking site) which translates to longer setup time and waiting time for a free climbing station - all eating away from the remaining 45 minutes. Saying that, our last session only had about 7 climbers which made for a totally different experience with plenty of free stations and shorter setup time - so possibly a luck of the draw here. It is definitely fun for the kiddos and we've been going there for the last 2+ years - usually as a rainy day treat. The climb setup did not change at all during this time so if you go there often, it may start being a bit repetitive. We only go a handful of times a year so it remains a relatively fresh experience. The waiting area is a bit dated with sofas in particular flaking badly, and there is underlying low level smell of stale sweat - not overbearing and presumably expected as it is a sport activity venue, however it may come to some as a shock when they just wanted to have a coffee and a chat whilst the kid burns some energy climbing. Technical note, you can get vouchers for this venue, and we did get a couple as presents for our sprog's birthday (thus avoiding dreaded toy clutter). However you cannot use them to book a session online. You have to call the office to make the booking over the phone...unless you decide to go on the day during the weekend, then you cannot call because the office is only opened Mon to Fri. You can still use it in the venue and buy a ticket over the counter with the voucher,but if you go as a part of a group you will worry whether there will be any spaces left for the session the test of the party already got tickets online. Also not all staff know the different formats the voucher comes in (email or plastic fob) so you may need to have a chat with someone who's been there longer to confirm how to process your voucher. All in all, it's a good rainy day gap filler that will give your kid a nice kick of adrenaline, though at these prices and with no improvements to the climbs or the venue, it will

We were really excited to come here, it was my girlfriends birthday and we thought we’d make the trip to Bristol from Exeter. Upon entry, we were asked if we had climbing experience, to which we said yes (while covered in climbing tape, holding shoes and chalk bags) the Staff member then decided to hold a QUIZ which we both had to individually answer his questions so “we couldn’t help out each other out with answers” The tone absolutely made us feel like children trying to sneak into a climbing gym (we understand signing waivers and getting questioned but the patronising manner was almost funny) At last he finally deemed us worthy of entry at bloc 🙏🙏🙏🙏 PHEW that was a close one We then asked for 2 day passes and some rentals (our shoes were brand new and still breaking in) And it was a grand total of 30 big British pounds (£5 for rentals wtf) I almost laughed at this price. At our gyms in Exeter shoes are £3 if basically brand new or completely free (and they’re a tarantulas) The rentals were cheap, saggy and had no grip to them. ONTO THE ACTUAL CLIMBING 🧗🏻 Honestly… Uninspired, they’re very straightforward with not much creativity or problem solving needed and had no clear starting holds, we were honestly bored but wanted to try and get our moneys worth. It was such a shame that the routes were so lack lustre. They need a good clean for sure as some of them were caked in chalk and rubber, whilst some of them oily somehow. The space itself was actually really nice, it was open, contemporary and a lot of room. There were an abundance of climbs, and there were only about 6 other people there so room to do a lot. Sorry for the harsh review but it was expensive, a demeaning start and the staff looked freezing and need a cheer up; you’ve trained them to be rule sharks.

Really brilliant gym on the outskirts of the city, roomy, plenty of low and high percentage holds and moves. Routesetting isn’t morpho, and the grading thresholds are in my opinion, generous until you start pulling on the whites at v6/7a and up. Plenty of room to chill, sit and stay out of people’s way when on mats, plus higher comp style routes and angles which is a big bonus. Staff were friendly, up for a quick chat with good options for drinks and food (tenzing, liquid death and even ice lollies!) It’s in a fat warehouse, loads of space for ventilation, at the consequence of no air con, which made the wall quite warm, but I doubt aircon would do anything in a warehouse this big. Missing one star based off of the sparing warm up equipment, I like the fact the warm up spot is even a thing, which many gyms slack on, but even a pinch block and some static bands and stuff would be great, maybe I missed them but I did bring my own gear. Honestly a great gym.