Talking to: The Underground

There is a unique energy to Bristol nightlife, one that is ever-evolving, showcases a spectrum of underground talent, attracts crowds near and far to be inspired in the many vessels that hold and nurture the buzz. A vessel of this twilight music momentum is The Underground which takes its name seriously as the UK’s largest subterranean venue.

With the recent news of its impending closure, the venue has announced one final weekend in February. Before the last hurrah we had the pleasure of chatting with Jack Scales, one of the main three cogs behind the whirring mind of the venue:

Everyday Mag: Firstly, how did you come across The Underground as a location, and was there a moment where you made the decision with your partners?

The Underground: The venue originally ran my partners Tom and Luke’s other event, Alfresco Disco - which is always in pop-up spaces, not your normal clubs. They’re really good at finding (unique) spaces.

Tom originally approached the galleries wanting to do a party in the shopping mall — literally inside the shopping centre. He thought it would be great.

He got in touch with them and the manager basically said they couldn’t do it because of the shops, public access, and potential damage. But he said, “Let me show you downstairs. I’ve got an interesting space you could do something with.”

He took him down, and Tom was blown away. The fit-for-purpose nature of the venue was incredible — insulation across the whole roof, perfect for absorbing sound instead of being a concrete box.

Over about three years, they did a bunch of Alfresco Discos there first — I believe six — all of which sold out instantly. They felt they’d put so much time into the space and it was so fit for purpose that they wondered if they could programme artists and do more with it.

That’s where I came in.

I went down to one of the Alfresco events and thought it was incredible. I knew Luke and Tom already and said I’d love to put DJs in there.

The partnership came from there.

They asked me to programme bits. Originally I was hiring the venue, but then I said I thought I could make a big impact, so we created a partnership where I helped curate the whole season. It’s a joint effort.

Everyday Mag : Wicked. So what have been your top moments so far?

The Underground : Gosh — so many. The Mall Grab show we did was absolutely electric. It might have been the first time we set the venue up with people all around the booth — such energetic vibes.

Then the week after we did Gorgon City. It snowballed from there.

Recent ones — Ghetts was great, D Double E was great.

The Teletech show on the opening weekend of this run was insane. The level of production they wanted was huge. We have to set the space up in such a short time, so we don’t usually push production that hard. But they wanted to make it special.

They brought in a big team and built a massive video wall we didn’t think was possible. If you throw enough people at something, you can make anything happen.

Everyday Mag: Last year you had a line of events then there was a break in between, and then you came back this year. How did that come about, and were there particular periods in which things had to change?

The Underground: Summer is always a difficult time to be open for a nightclub. One of our USP’s is we don't have to be open if we don't want to be open. We operate per event. A typical brick-and-mortar club has to pay rent every month.

If it's festival season, we don't want to compete with people wanting to be outside. That's not to say we wouldn't do something in summer — we were waiting for the right thing to come along.

Everyday Mag: How important is collaboration and giving people space to try new things in the nightlife ecosystem?

The Underground: I think it's super important. We're working with a bunch of other promoters I've worked with for years — Electrical Sound System, The Blast.

The Teletech show was a collaboration between Team Love, The Blast, and us.

DNB All Stars always do New Year's Eve and have done it again this year.

To not let other promoters use the space would be a shame. It’s been incredible for Bristol.

We’re also in communication with other venues like Prospect to make sure there are no clashes — Bristol is only so big. We want everyone to do well and for customers to have variety. There is no point having two techno shows the same weekend.

Spacing things out is important.

Everyday Mag: Running the UK’s largest subterranean nightclub — are there unique challenges that come with that?

The Underground: Absolutely. It’s a working loading bay. The Galleries and shops are still open and receiving deliveries until around 4–5 PM.

That only gives us three to four hours to set up the venue.

Then we have to pack it all down at the end of the night. As soon as it hits 4 AM and we close, the team is ripping out the staging, speakers, everything. Even if we have a show the next day, it all has to go aside so deliveries can come in at 7 AM. Then we set it all up again.

So logistics and infrastructure are the biggest challenges.

Everyday Mag: How important is The Underground’s role in bringing big names and rising names to Bristol?

The Underground: Some artists would end up in Bristol anyway through other venues, but it's important for us to offer things that wouldn't normally come to the city.

Recently we hosted Odyssey Sound System, they’ve never done anything in Bristol before, and the show sold out with no line-up announced.

We also had Sim0ne doing Club Zero, which was a huge success. It’s important to showcase up-and-coming talent that might not otherwise get shows in Bristol.

Everyday Mag: Do you feel a responsibility as a venue to lead by example?

The Underground: Yeah. We're always thinking about diverse lineups — not just filling bills with white men. It's important to programme variety, and every venue should be thinking like that.

We feel a responsibility to book responsibly.

Everyday Mag: You allow a canvas for promoters to be creative. How do you balance external promoters and your own curation?

The Underground: It’s a hard balance.

If I can’t find a promoter, I think about exciting things we can present ourselves. We also balance risk — external hires don’t cover all costs, so we need the bar to do well. We also take risks on our own shows.

There's no set formula — we feel out how much risk we can take.

Everyday Mag: How is it managing that relationship with your two partners?

The Underground: Working with Tom and Luke has been fantastic. They’re open to ideas. They have event experience but not in programming a full series like this, so they've let me lead using my experience.

They support me and let me get on with it.

Everyday Mag: How have you kept momentum with all the talk of the clubbing crisis and development closures?

The Underground: I consider us incredibly lucky to have had the years we have had in the space.

It's a unique venue, and people are excited about the space and the artists. We've been vocal that it wouldn’t be there forever.

People aren’t going out as much, but it feels like there's an uptick. This season has been a very special way to close out our time here, and we are grateful to be able to have a final closing weekend in February 2026.

I think people want unique experiences. Headline DJ-led shows — unless the artist is really hot — feel less exciting for people now.

People want to be part of something, they want community. Clubs should think more about that.

Everyday Mag: Bristol has nostalgia for the golden days, but younger generations push things forward. How do you see the generational shift?

The Underground: I’m getting older, so I can only give my perspective.

This new generation is still working out what clubbing is after COVID. Stats show they’re lonelier, have higher anxiety.

Clubbing gave me confidence and friendships when I was younger. I’d love to see the younger generation get out more, meet people, experience new things — it shapes you.

We have young people working with us who bring their own view of clubbing, which is great.

For example Liv from Bad Bitch Dubz — seeing her smashing it, creating an inclusive collective — it brings me joy.

Everyday Mag: Do you feel The Underground remains an accessible and welcoming space?

The Underground: Yes. Inclusivity is key.

Our security team reflects that — they say in briefing: “We are the good guys.” They’re the first people customers meet, so it sets the tone.

Bookings, staff, the whole approach — we want to be welcoming and safe.

Everyday Mag: Final question — what lies ahead for The Underground and the Alfresco guys?

The Underground: We have a new space called Sawmills. It's exciting, with lots of different areas. We don't fully know what it will look like yet — we haven't done enough events there.

It's temporary-use like The Underground, so we don’t know how long we'll have it.

But we’re always looking for new spaces and figuring out what the company might look like going forward.