Much like Manchester, Bristol is going all-in on creative industry and capital over the next few years, nowhere more so than with the planned 2028 opening of YTL Arena at Brabazon Hangars on the city’s former Filton Airfield, once home to the iconic Concorde. The 10.5-hectare facility’s middle hangar is so massive it could swallow the seating bowl and stage of London’s O2 arena whole. A festival hall is planned for the east hangar, while the west hangar will serve as a community hub with a food hall, work spaces and leisure facilities. Carbon neutrality is a given in the UK’s first official Cycling City and the 2015 European Green Capital. Bristol’s middling rankings for Theatres & Concerts (#47) and Nightlife (#34) will also improve, now that the town that gave the world artists like Massive Attack, Portishead and Banksy has reopened the Bristol Beacon music venue, following a five-year, €154-million transformation. The city’s strong talent base – evident in its rankings for University (#12) and Educational Attainment (#25) – underlies the region’s push into nuclear and renewable energy, with the opening of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station an hour south of the city, now scheduled for the end of the decade. And local aviation innovator Vertical Aerospace completed transition testing – the final stage of its piloted flight programme – in 2025 and announced it will begin hybrid-electric flight testing in 2026.