Millennium Square is acity square in theCanon's Marsh area ofBristol,England.[1] It was built in the late 1990s as part of the harbourside regeneration andWe The Curious (then named @Bristol) development, and has become a popular public area and event space.[2] The square is a 55 by 40 metres (180 by 131 ft) pedestrianised space,[3] joined at its northeast corner to the smallerAnchor Square, forming part of the Brunel Mile, a sequence of traffic-free and low-traffic spaces forming a route through central Bristol.[2]
The square sits above a 2-storey underground car park and is flanked by ten ventilation towers.[4]
We The Curious, a hands-on science museum, stands to the north in a grade II listed former railway goods shed, behind areflecting pool that runs the length of the square. The museum's planetarium – a 15-metre (50 ft) diameter sphere clad with mirrors designed to appear to float in the pool – is a prominent landmark in the northwest corner of the square.[2]
Along the east side of the square is a large water sculpture, Aquarena, designed byWilliam Pye,[5][6] containing fountain walls and terraced cascades, which is often used as apaddling pool on warm days.[2]
Millennium Square regularly hosts free public events, such as music and entertainment during theBristol Harbour Festival.[7] It is home to aBBC Big Screen,[8] which was installed in 2008 and upgraded in 2020.[9] which has been used to screen sporting events,[10] and state occasions.[11]
There are several permanent statues and sculptures in the square, including:
Alongside these, the square regularly hosts temporary art installations and touring exhibitions, which have included the Bristol Whales, byCod Steaks, in 2015,[17] and installations forBristol Light Festival since 2020.[18]
The area now occupied by Millennium Square had been a railway yard handling cargo forBristol Harbour, and in 1906 theGreat Western Railway built agoods shed – the present We The Curious building – pioneering the use ofFrançois Hennebique's reinforced concrete system.[19] After the decline of the city docks in the mid-20th century, the derelict became a makeshift surface car park from the 1970s while the future of the site was considered. Regeneration proceeded slowly, and by the mid-1990s the only developments to have been completed wereCanons House and Lloyds Amphitheatre, adjoining Millennium Square to the south, and the conversion of some of the quayside transit sheds to hospitality and cultural uses to the east.[20]
Millennium Square, alongside Anchor Square andPero's Bridge, were part of a package of investment in thepublic realm and cultural facilities made in the late 1990s intended to accelerate the wider regeneration of the site, supported in part byNational Lottery funding through the Millennium Commission.[20] The square was designed by Bristol-based Alex French Architects,[4] and construction completed in 1998.[2] Construction of commercial buildings facing the west side of the square followed in the mid-2000s.
In 2010,Hooters opened a restaurant facing onto the square, prompting a campaign against the chain led by Bristol Feminist Network. The branch closed two years later having lost money.[21]
51°26′59″N2°36′01″W / 51.449835°N 2.600375°W /51.449835; -2.600375
