The Lanes is a bowling, music and bars venue in central Bristol, housed in the Listed red brick classical former Labour Exchange designed in 1931 and tucked into the densely built up urban fabric between Nelson St and the line of the old City wall.

We have made a Listed Building Consent and Planning Application to enclose the rather gloomy rear courtyard to form a new auditorium with a new garden on the roof. The new auditorium will provide a medium size (approx. 150) live music venue with much improved (i.e reduced) noise break-out, a serious consideration since the recent conversion of the adjacent former Nat West Court offices into residential and hotel use. The new garden adjoins Tower Lane, a pedestrian route that follows the line of the old City wall through an intricate maze of buildings from the Pithay round to Corn St and creates a new green pocket, one of several in a chain that brighten this dense section of the City.

Almost all the new work is within the existing extent of the building, the exception being a single floor addition to the polygonal end of the south wing to create a new fire escape route serving both the second floor Hostel and the new auditorium below.

The application was lodged in October 2022 and a decision is still awaited if not anticipated.