Originally published fortnightly, Venue gained a reputation for the quality and authority of its coverage of the local arts and entertainments scene.

It continued to play a significant role in nurturing and promoting local art, theatre, film and music until its closure in April 2012.

Stand-up comedian Mark Watson and comedy scriptwriter Stephen Merchant both worked for Venue when they were younger.

The takeover by BUP was controversial with many readers, advertisers and staff, particularly because the conservative political outlook of the Daily Mail was very different from that of Venue.

The Weekend magazine was relaunched with issue 252 (31 March 2017) as a larger-format publication, but still carrying many of the original Venue-style listings.

Following the demise of the printed Venue magazine, the website continued to include event listings, music, theatre and comedy reviews, augmented by selected features from the Bristol Post's Weekend supplement and several of the annual guides, and included a popular free personal-advertisements section.