The Climbing Academy - "The Church" — Attraction in Bristol

Love this place. My 7 year old son was getting into climbing by having lessons at another climbing centre in bristol. I wanted to learn to climb so as I could belay for him and found an offer on the beginners course here.

Needless to say it was great. Our instructors (Fish and Alex) were great and really made the course enjoyable for all of us (4 students per course). I am far too fat to climb and was only doing this course to take my son as I’ve said, but I loved it so much I now climb twice a week here myself and love it!

After the course I looked around for options to join one of the various climbing centres in bristol. By this time I had visited most of them to see what they were like. There is something about undercover rock (UCR). It’s really friendly and supportive whilst still being strict on safety which I love. Not to say the other places weren’t good, some were, but this place just feels like home if that makes sense.

I was going to grade this review as 4 stars as the changing facilities and cafe aren’t as good as other places (they are still good though!). But here’s the thing... the cafe is good enough, serving great coffee, cakes and snacks to eat upstairs whilst you watch the lead climbers do their thing. And who cares about a posh changing area when the rest of the place is so great and friendly!

On top of these reasons to give 5 stars (and bother writing this review) is the pricing. No hobby like this is cheap and climbing centres are clearly not cheap places to build or run. But I pay £48 per month for me and my son for unlimited climbing and THIS INCLUDES the same at there other site, The Climbing Academy, TCA (really good bouldering centre in bristol). Again, not cheap but I think great value all things considered.

Should the prices go up or they remove the ability to use both sites on your membership then I would maybe start to look elsewhere but as things stand I am well chuffed.

I have since put 4 friends in their direction for beginners courses and everyone has loved it like me.

If there was one real downside I would have to say parking. It is all on street and the place is full of cyclists using a cycle lane route that can be a little dangerous at times (visit and you will see what I mean, they really zip by!). There are UCR signs on the local roads asking climbers not to park there but unless you want to walk a distance with your kit there is no other option. That said, I have never actually failed to find a space so please don’t let this put you off. In fact, I have found it just as difficult parking at some other centres in bristol who have car parks! I’ve also just read the reply to this review from UCR... you can park at better foods after 6pm... awesome, thanks guys!

In summary, this is a friendly place with skilled and passionate staff, a great atmosphere and really fair pricing with the benefit of the bouldering centre for monthly paying members.

Wow, this is a rambling review... give it a go, you might love the place...

A day before me and my kids went I called the centre to check if my kids were allowed to go I even stated their ages, we also asked if we needed any equipment or training the centre said no and gave us the address. So the next day we went and waited in the queue, and at the beginning my child went and asked one of the staff of their was priority for kids or if it’s suitable for kids, the staff then replied it’s for everyone, so we returned to the queue, then my second child went and asked how long it was going to take they said 10 more minutes so after waiting more than an hour we went to have our turn, however then the staff went and told us it wasn’t for kids. Even though she probably knew kids were in the queue because we asked her many times, we then went to the other centre for kids and we were told we had to wait another hour. We called the manager and he started telling us about the virus and we never even complained about the time we only complained why we weren’t told from the start it wasn’t for kids stating that we waited for nothing. It seems as if he wasn’t even listening to us only trying to fustrate us telling us something completely different, that we weren’t talking about. Do not come here...

This place was Excellent, Great staff prepared to take time and help young climbers on there 1st time out. I went with a group of kids aged around 9/10 my daughter was Very apprehensive but the staff got down on her level, talked & explained what was going on, I step back & 10 minutes later she was climbing! When we went in she was adamant that she was Not going to do it & thanks entirely to the staff she tried it and did really well, to the point she would like to go again, Thank you Undercover Rock, excellent staff. Nice coffee to, please get rid of the latter and americano or at least have just "Coffee" on your menu board, to confusing for an old F**t...