Seminars and company events
Arnos Vale hosts conferences and away days for up to 140 people, outdoor team days for 80, and its venues can be combined for larger programs. The site is a 45-acre Victorian garden cemetery on Bath Road in Bristol, with listed chapels and a woodland centre that are hired out for meetings, parties and weddings.
Two indoor buildings take day meetings. The Anglican Chapel holds up to 140 guests and is used for conferences, away days, talks, film screenings and concerts. The Spielman Centre also takes up to 140, with a bar and access to a terrace, and suits corporate events and celebrations as well as meetings. Both come with Wi-Fi, a projector and a screen, and refreshments are prepared on site.
The Underwood Centre, in the woods, is an outdoor base for up to 80 people with a firepit. It is used for team building, workshops, wellness sessions and summer barbecues. Parking on site is free, which saves delegates a search for a space close to the city center.
Christmas and summer party packages run each year. Christmas menus have come from Pieminister pies and Wild Pizza Co wood-fired pizza, with drinks from Bristol breweries and distilleries.
Weddings and receptions
Venue hire is offered any day of the year, and the spaces can be combined over one day. The Spielman Centre is licensed for civil ceremonies and partnerships for up to 90 guests, and holds 140 for an evening reception with music. The Anglican Chapel is licensed for church ceremonies for up to 100 guests and seats 100 for the wedding breakfast. The Underwood Centre takes outdoor weddings for 80, with 60 seated and 20 standing, and dogs are welcome.
Rooms and capacities
The Anglican Chapel takes up to 140 for conferences and performances, and 100 for a ceremony or a wedding breakfast. It has staged ticketed theatre, including adaptations of A Christmas Carol and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
The Spielman Centre takes up to 140 guests and has a bar, a terrace and the cemetery café.
The Underwood Centre is an outdoor woodland space for up to 80, with a firepit.
Capacities for each layout are available from the events team.
Catering
Refreshments and catering are arranged on site. For summer parties the venue has offered a seasonal buffet by FED, wood-fired pizza from Wild Pizza and barbecues by Pickled Pumpkin. The café in the Spielman Centre serves visitors during opening hours.
History and setting
The cemetery was laid out in the late 1830s to designs by the Bristol architect Charles Underwood, and the Anglican Chapel was built in 1839. The chapels and lodges stand among Victorian Gothic monuments in 45 acres of woodland and historic landscape. Arnos Vale also works as a filming location and runs public tours and events, so day visitors share the grounds outside the hired spaces.
Getting there
The entrance is at West Lodge, Bath Road, Bristol BS4 3EW, on the A4 south-east of the city center. Bristol Temple Meads station is about 1.5 miles away, and Bristol Airport is the nearest airport. Free parking is available on site.
