At-Bristol Science Centre celebrates record visitor numbers!

At-Bristol science centre, an educational charity and one of the UK’s leading interactive science centres, is celebrating a record number of visitors for the last financial year; it has welcomed over 304,000 visitors through its doors, including 62,100 schools visitors. At-Bristol aims to inspire curiosity in people, and make science accessible to all ages and groups; the sizeable 13% increase from the previous year means that more people have experienced At-Bristol than ever before, the highest since opening in 2000.   

The increase has been seen in visitors of all ages; from toddlers coming to Toddler Takeover events, through to family visitors to the venue, education visitors (which includes schools and home educators), At-Bristol Members and adults coming to enjoy ‘After Hours’ evenings.  People can also experience At-Bristol beyond their physical visit, through the Explore More technology on exhibits, and At-Bristol’s YouTube channel – the world’s most subscribed YouTube channel for a science centre.

A contributing factor to the dramatic rise in visitor numbers was the opening of the revamped Planetarium, the UK’s only 3D digital Planetarium, which has welcomed 123,358 visitors since reopening in April 2015. Frequently quoted as a highlight of a visit in visitor research*, more people are choosing to visit the Planetarium than ever before. The success of the 3D Planetarium, as well as visitor feedback has allowed At-Bristol to start up weekly ‘Planetarium Nights’ evening events.  

The growth in visitor numbers helps to support key strategic initiatives and charitable aims, such as At-Bristol’s ‘Hello Community Open Weekends’. This scheme builds relationships and works with communities, encouraging visitors from areas of Bristol to come and experience hands-on science and learning for themselves for free. The last Hello Community Open Weekend welcomed over 1,900 visitors to the venue, one of the busiest yet; now the number of ‘Hello’ events has increased in frequency from four to six events a year.

Phil Winfield, At-Bristol’s Chief Executive said:

“We’re delighted with the new visitor figures; I’d like to say an enormous thank you to our staff, volunteers, visitors and supporters for helping us get to this point – we wouldn’t be where we are without them all.

We’re dedicated to sparking and fostering that natural curiosity that people have about the world around us, and we’re trying to create the maximum impact by giving people a genuinely inspiring experience here in At-Bristol. We’ve been working hard on an ambitious plan, and have been listening to what our visitors say, so it’s great to see that hard work paying off. We’ve got lots of exciting initiatives in the pipeline at the moment, and we’ll continue to collaborate, innovate and improve on what we do.”  

Kathryn Davis, Head of Tourism for Destination Bristol added:

“I would like to congratulate the At-Bristol team on such an incredible achievement and it is richly deserved.  To reach such a milestone is testament to their continued investment and innovation. They continually develop an enhanced and improved visitor experience appealing to a broad cross section of visitors, whether local, domestic or international. 

At-Bristol Science Centre has succeeded in being  popular as both a conference venue and as a visitor attraction that is genuinely appealing to all ages; this is not an easy achievement by any means, but clearly demonstrates the passion and drive of the organisation and its team to break the mould in how science centres operate.” 

For full information about At-Bristol, please visit www.at-bristol.org.uk

*Regular visitor research is carried, by a combination of external parties as well as At-Bristol’s Marketing Team. All statistical information comes from At-Bristol’s Finance department.

Image credit: Lee Pullen