Old Market Street drill hall, Bristol


The Old Market Street drill hall is a former military installation in the Old Market district of Bristol.

History

The building, which is located on the site of a former sugar warehouse and refinery, was financed by George and Henry Wills as part of arrangements to provide alternative accommodation for organisations displaced by the construction of the Wills Memorial Building. The new drill hall was designed as the headquarters of the 4th Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment, who had relocated from the Queen's Road drill hall in Clifton, in June 1915.
The 4th Gloucestershires was converted into a searchlight battalion in 1938 and transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1940. It was headquartered at Badminton School, Westbury-on-Trym, for much of World War II and the drill hall was used instead to accommodate US Army troops. These troops created some adverse publicity for themselves when they became involved in a serious brawl in the street outside the drill hall in July 1944. After the war the drill hall was decommissioned and fell into disrepair; it has since been converted for residential use.