Good sites in the Bristol area?

[Skullchewer]

I have friends in Bristol interested in trying Airsoft, so I'm gonna go over there next month and show them the fun.

Any site recommendations?

Ta.

[JamesAirsofterAgent]

2 hours ago, Skullchewer said:

I have friends in Bristol interested in trying Airsoft, so I'm gonna go over there next month and show them the fun.

Any site recommendations?

Ta.

Spartan Woodland (lots of trees, some hills, decent enough and big site), black ops cribbs (Old army base, healthy mix of close-mid range stuff with the odd sight line if you've got a rif capable of slinging bbs far enough, black ops portishead (Woodland, nice site), Spartan CQB (Old college, really fun CQB albeit the games are usually a bit unimaginative. 

Had fun at every one of those sites, the only bug bear I remember is the break times at spartan being annoyingly long although I haven't been for a year so could've changed

[Skullchewer]

Nice one, plenty of choice.

[Druid799]

Be aware the head marshal for both Black ops sites Dave passed away at the end of lockdown in ‘20 and when it reopened there’d been a big change in management who unfortunately are 100% fixated on recouping as much lost revenue as possible(can’t blame them it’s a business after all)due to Covid , BUT since everything started back up at the Cribbs site it’s been run with little if any consideration to play satisfaction on game days(unlike Dave who’s mission was for everyone to have the best possible gameday they could)as they’ve been running multiple events on the site at the same time . Previously on a normal Sunday walk-on it was just Airsofting on site , but now at the same time they’re running paintball , archery , quad biking , kids Airsofting parties and even clay pigeon shooting ALL on the same day on the same site ! So where as previously you could roam the whole site to play now at most you get 2/3rds of the site but mostly it’s less than half the site and frequently only a 3rd as sections of the site are ‘out of bounds’ due to these other activities going on at the same time . But they still charge full price for the game day of course !

Full disclosure I actually was banned from the site last summer for complaining about this very situation to the site owners wife (he refused to speak to me about it) but obviously as it was my home site for near 8yrs I made a lot of good friends there I’ve kept in contact with and they’ve all said nothings changed and several have left the site for this reason . So just FYI you could be sorely disappointed at Black ops Bristol . 

[JamesAirsofterAgent]

19 minutes ago, Druid799 said:

Be aware the head marshal for both Black ops sites Dave passed away at the end of lockdown in ‘20 and when it reopened there’d been a big change in management who unfortunately are 100% fixated on recouping as much lost revenue as possible(can’t blame them it’s a business after all)due to Covid , BUT since everything started back up at the Cribbs site it’s been run with little if any consideration to play satisfaction on game days(unlike Dave who’s mission was for everyone to have the best possible gameday they could)as they’ve been running multiple events on the site at the same time . Previously on a normal Sunday walk-on it was just Airsofting on site , but now at the same time they’re running paintball , archery , quad biking , kids Airsofting parties and even clay pigeon shooting ALL on the same day on the same site ! So where as previously you could roam the whole site to play now at most you get 2/3rds of the site but mostly it’s less than half the site and frequently only a 3rd as sections of the site are ‘out of bounds’ due to these other activities going on at the same time . But they still charge full price for the game day of course !

Full disclosure I actually was banned from the site last summer for complaining about this very situation to the site owners wife (he refused to speak to me about it) but obviously as it was my home site for near 8yrs I made a lot of good friends there I’ve kept in contact with and they’ve all said nothings changed and several have left the site for this reason . So just FYI you could be sorely disappointed at Black ops Bristol . 

Jesus that sucks to hear I absolutely loved Cribbs when I went with friends, and when the front of my RIF fell off (fronts not supposed to fall off) Dave was kind enough to take me into one of those huge man-cave bunker things and help fix it for me mid game. Like you said can't blame them for wanting to make up lack of revenue but running all those at once and closing that much of the site? Oh dear.

Edit - Should point out that all those recommendations are based off of how the sites were in January 2020 which was sadly the last time I managed to play airsoft, and evidently the sites have changed a lot

Edited April 11, 2022 by JamesAirsofterAgent

[Druid799]

4 hours ago, JamesAirsofterAgent said:

Jesus that sucks to hear I absolutely loved Cribbs when I went with friends, and when the front of my RIF fell off (fronts not supposed to fall off) Dave was kind enough to take me into one of those huge man-cave bunker things and help fix it for me mid game. Like you said can't blame them for wanting to make up lack of revenue but running all those at once and closing that much of the site? Oh dear.

Edit - Should point out that all those recommendations are based off of how the sites were in January 2020 which was sadly the last time I managed to play airsoft, and evidently the sites have changed a lot

Yea it’s quite shocking the way loosing an important person and then a catastrophic business damaging even occurring can effect something so badly . I used to travel from Swansea to play there I liked the vibe of the site that much , but when it started back up after lockdown the moment you arrived you could see the old ‘airsoft family’ site was gone and it was just another soulless ‘get em in , get their money and get em out’ airsoft business . 
Classic example of nothing lasts forever I suppose .

[JamesAirsofterAgent]

15 minutes ago, Druid799 said:

Yea it’s quite shocking the way loosing an important person and then a catastrophic business damaging even occurring can effect something so badly . I used to travel from Swansea to play there I liked the vibe of the site that much , but when it started back up after lockdown the moment you arrived you could see the old ‘airsoft family’ site was gone and it was just another soulless ‘get em in , get their money and get em out’ airsoft business . 
Classic example of nothing lasts forever I suppose .

 

I'm glad I found out here and not on a much looked forward to game day. I will most likely try it again to be sure as I am quite easily pleased and my friends are all itching to go back, but at least now the shock wont be too great if it is still as disappointing as you found. 

[Chicken pie]

Interesting as I was looking to go to Portishead but might put a trip to spartan ahead of that now??

[Madhouse]

Anyone been to Bristol Airsoft? mid-week games work best for me and now my super-local Z-mart aren't doing them anymore I need to find somewhere new to get my fix.

 

Bristol Airsoft seem to run games all through the week which would make fitting it into the diary much easier, but it'd be good to know what it's like before driving the hour there. The other option (also an hour) is Strikeforce CQB.

[Asomodai]

1 hour ago, Madhouse said:

Anyone been to Bristol Airsoft? mid-week games work best for me and now my super-local Z-mart aren't doing them anymore I need to find somewhere new to get my fix.

 

Bristol Airsoft seem to run games all through the week which would make fitting it into the diary much easier, but it'd be good to know what it's like before driving the hour there. The other option (also an hour) is Strikeforce CQB.

 

 

 

 

[Madhouse]

thanks! I searched Bristol airsoft before posting on here but somehow managed to miss those!

 

Sounds like the Bristol one is super close, may visit the Gloucester one first.

[JamesAirsofterAgent]

5 hours ago, Madhouse said:

Anyone been to Bristol Airsoft? mid-week games work best for me and now my super-local Z-mart aren't doing them anymore I need to find somewhere new to get my fix.

 

Bristol Airsoft seem to run games all through the week which would make fitting it into the diary much easier, but it'd be good to know what it's like before driving the hour there. The other option (also an hour) is Strikeforce CQB.

Bristol Airsoft courthouse was probably my favourite site, had some amazing fun there especially when it was only about 10 of us at a game. Sadly though the site has shut down for the foreseeable. 

[Asomodai]

27 minutes ago, JamesAirsofterAgent said:

Bristol Airsoft courthouse was probably my favourite site, had some amazing fun there especially when it was only about 10 of us at a game. Sadly though the site has shut down for the foreseeable. 

 

 

Just checked the FB account and it seems like that the Courthouse is permanently closed. 

[goon1001]

Courthouse is closed.

 

https://www.facebook.com/HollowPointAirsoft/

 

and there is https://sierragolfoneairsoft.co.uk/

 

https://cqb-airsoft.co.uk/

[KirbyHCI]

I heard that the person who owned Bristol Airsoft at the old crown courts was planning on opening a new central Bristol site if/when possible. Does anyone have any news on that, folks? I have no means to travel....

Although also if anyone plays regularly at a nearby site and has transport and a regular spare space for a person and some gear, I'd love to be brought into that loop! Fuel contributions and such obviously available.

Edited September 11, 2022 by KirbyHCI