Bristol youth club with Banksy’s early graffiti is sold for £650,000

A community centre that’s home to some of Banksy’s earliest artwork has been sold.

The Dug Out youth club in Barton Hill, Bristol, where street artists like Banksy and Inkie started out, has gone for £650,000.

They were able to hone their graffiti skills when parts of the building were effectively turned into a giant canvas in the 80s, thanks to the Barton Hill Aerosol Art Project.

The building has housed the Barton Hill Amateur Boxing Club in recent years. Wellspring Settlement, the charity that sold the building, has been approached for comment.

The club, which is formally known as The George Wills Memorial Hall, opened in 1926 and became a music venue in the 70s, hosting bands including Adam and the Ants, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Massive Attack.

Wellspring Settlement previously told the BBC the building was “a financial liability we can no longer afford to maintain”.

Alexander Smith, from the Barton Hill History Group, said he was “surprised” the building had “sold so quickly”.

The reaction to the sale had been mixed, Mr Smith said, explaining that there were fears from many it could be “bulldozed” to make way for housing, while others were a “bit more optimistic”.

Mr Smith told the BBC how the hub had provided the foundation for “quite a number” of Bristol’s iconic street art and graffiti artists, and had over the years hosted a huge range of community events.

“Over the 99 years it’s been there it’s always had some part in the community, and so the memories many Barton Hill residents both past and present have are pretty deeply ingrained,” he added.

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