Since 2010, Bristol Cycle Festival has been pulling together the best events the city’s vibrant cycling community can provide.

A DIY festival

In 2010 the first ever Bristol Cycle Festival was founded with support from the council.  It was great, loads happened and it put the idea out there that we should be recognising and celebrating the unique cycling culture of our city.

Subsequent years have been different: we started out with very little, apart from a band of enthusiastic volunteers who wanted to make it happen again. We constituted ourselves as a community group. We put on the legendary Vintage Velo which raised enough money to make the festival happen.  We hope to continue putting on the festival annually, with events contributed by members of the cycling community.

How it works

It’s a fringe festival – which means that events can be staged by anyone with an idea. It’s not-for-profit. If there is a small charge for an event it is to cover the cost of putting it on. The Festival, which runs over 9 days, is the banner under which all these events are being programmed and promoted.

Some events have become regular fixtures within the Festival and should be appearing again this year. We’ve got the Two-wheeled Drive-in Cinema, a filmgoing experience like no other, and we’ve also got the UK’s only cycle carnival, Carnivelo.

This festival is a truly community run event, by the people for the people, and that’s how we like it.

Here’s a video with some highlights of the first edition, and interviews with some of the organisers: 2010 Bristol Cycle Festival