How UK walls grade
Two walls twenty minutes apart can describe the same move as a green circuit, a Font 6A and a V3. None of them is lying. This is which system each wall actually uses, and the colour ladders they publish — so you know what you are walking into before you pay.
The systems, briefly
- Colour circuit
- Coloured holds or tape define a band. No numbers. Easiest for beginners, vaguest for everyone else — and the bands are set locally, so a wall's "green" means nothing at the next wall.
- Font
- Fontainebleau: 3, 4+, 6A, 7B+. The default bouldering scale in the UK and Europe. Open-ended and unforgiving at the bottom.
- V-scale
- V0 to V17, from Hueco Tanks. More common in the US; some UK walls dual-grade with it.
- French sport
- 4, 5, 6a, 7c+ for roped routes. What almost every UK lead wall uses indoors.
- UK trad
- Adjectival plus technical — HVS 5a, E2 5c. Rare indoors, but the reason indoor and outdoor grades never quite line up.
Convert between grading systems →
What walls use for bouldering
V-scale (V0–V12) (22)
Boulder Exe Boulder UK Boulders Cheltenham City Bouldering Aldgate CityBouldering Climb Leicester - The Tower Climbing Centre Climbing District London Fields Climbing District Tottenham Hale Creation Climbing Centre Far Peak Climbing Fenrock Onyx Climbing Ravelin Sports Centre Climbing Wall (University of Portsmouth) Red Spider Climbing Redpoint Bristol Surrey Summit, Surrey Sports Park The Boathouse Climbing Centre The Boulder Bunker The Lock Climbing Wall The Nest Climbing University of Edinburgh Climbing Wall University of Portsmouth Climbing Wall
Colour circuit (15)
Big Depot Climbing Leeds Depot Climbing Birmingham Depot Climbing Leeds Pudsey Depot Climbing Nottingham Eden Rock Newcastle Freeklime York Hampshire Boulder (Hampshire Fitness Centre) Newcastle Climbing Centre Red Goat Climbing The Climbing Hangar Bristol The Climbing Hangar Liverpool North The Climbing Hangar Plymouth The Climbing Hangar Reading The Climbing Hangar Sheffield The Project Climbing Centre
Font (6A, 7B+) (9)
BlocFit Boulder Brighton Gallery Bouldering Indy Climbing Wall Nottingham Climbing Centre The Climbing Works The Face Climbing Wall, Wirksworth Leisure Centre The Foundry Climbing Centre The Wall @ ROF59 Climbing Centre
In-house system (5)
270 Climbing Park Boulder Shack Climbing Gym Highball Climbing Centre Substation Brixton Volume 1 Climbing
Font + colour circuit (4)
V-scale + colour circuit (2)
Ungraded (1)
What walls use for roped routes
| System | Walls | Where |
|---|---|---|
| French sport (6a, 7c+) | 33 | Blue Spider Climbing, Climb Leicester - The Tower Climbing Centre, Creation Climbing Centre, Dyno Climbing Centre, Green Spider Climbing, Indy Climbing Wall, +27 more |
| In-house system | 1 | Clip 'n Climb Derby |
| Colour circuit | 1 | Kempston Indoor Climbing Wall (Kempston Outdoor Centre) |
The colour key is almost never online
We went looking for a published colour-to-grade key at every one of the 20 walls in this directory that grades by circuit. Not one of them publishes it on its website.The key almost always lives on a board inside the building — which is fine once you are through the door, and no use at all when you are deciding whether to drive there.
This is the single biggest gap in UK indoor climbing information, and it is entirely self-inflicted: a beginner cannot tell whether a wall starts at something they can climb, and a visiting climber cannot tell whether the top circuit will bore them. Several of the walls below explicitly say the colours are explained in-centre.
| Wall | City | System | What the site says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Depot Climbing Leeds | Leeds | Colours | Depot's about page describes colour-coded circuits organised by difficulty level and hold style. |
| City Bloc Leeds | Leeds | Font + colours | Difficulty is set by coloured holds. The FAQ page equates the yellow and purple holds at City Bloc with roughly Font 6B/6C, but no full colour ladder is published. |
| Climbing Hut Shrewsbury | Shrewsbury | V + colours | V-grades are indicated by coloured start tags which correspond to a grade chart displayed on the bouldering walls. |
| Depot Climbing Birmingham | Birmingham | Colours | Depot's group about page describes colour-coded climbing circuits graded by difficulty and hold style. No colour ladder is published, and no Font or V-scale grades are stated. |
| Depot Climbing Leeds Pudsey | Pudsey | Colours | The about page states climbs are colour-coded by difficulty and hold style; no numeric grade bands are published there. |
| Depot Climbing Nottingham | Nottingham | Colours | Depot describe colour-coded circuits; the colour ladder itself is not published on the pages read. |
| Freeklime York | York | Colours | The beginners guide states the routes are colour-coded by difficulty; no colour ladder or numeric grades are published. |
| Hampshire Boulder (Hampshire Fitness Centre) | Whitchurch | Colours | Problems are organised into colour circuits described as beginner, intermediate and advanced. No colour-to-grade ladder is published. |
| Mount Palace | London | Font + colours | Bouldering grades range from F3+ to F7A. The wall uses 'one coloured tag at the start of the route to denote both the highest starting hand hold and the difficulty'. |
| Newcastle Climbing Centre | Newcastle | Colours | The facilities page describes the dedicated bouldering wall as having 'colour graded climbing circuits'. No colour ladder or numeric grades are published on the site. |
| Red Goat Climbing | York | Colours | The centre's website describes its problems as graded by colour across a range of abilities. No colour-to-grade ladder is published. |
| Rockcity Climbing Centre | Hull | Font + colours | In La Cantina and The Pit the difficulty of the blocs is marked by colour and also graded by tags attached to the starting holds, in Fontainebleau circuit style. The Abyss holds longer climbs that are graded as routes instead of boulder grades. |
| The Climbing Hangar Bristol | Bristol | Colours | Colour-based system; the FAQ says 'There are boards at each centre which explain which colours relate to which grade' but does not publish the colour ladder online. |
| The Climbing Hangar Liverpool North | Liverpool | Colours | Each problem is set using holds of a single colour and the colour of the hold represents the difficulty level or grade. Grades deliberately overlap so climbers can try problems above their level. A reference board at reception shows the colour-to-grade key. |
| The Climbing Hangar Plymouth | Plymouth | Colours | Problems are colour-coded by difficulty level; a board at reception explains which colours correspond to which grades. The colour ladder is not published on the website. |
| The Climbing Hangar Reading | Reading | Colours | Site states "Each problem is set in one colour and each colour represents a particular difficulty level or grade." |
| The Climbing Hangar Sheffield | Sheffield | Colours | Each problem is set using holds of a single colour, and the colour of the hold represents the difficulty level or grade. Boards at each centre explain which colours relate to which grade. The grades are deliberately designed to overlap so climbers can try problems slightly above their current level. |
| The Climbing Station | Loughborough | V + colours | 11 coloured boulder circuits spanning VB- to V8+, plus additional circuits aimed at children. |
| The Project Climbing Centre | Poole | Colours | The about page states 'here at The Project Climbing Centre we don't officially grade problems'. Problems are identified by colour and staff give loose guidance on difficulty. |
| Three Wise Monkeys Climbing | Fort William | Font + colours | Bouldering uses Font-style circuits for the easier problems and then individual grading. Roped climbing is graded 3 to 8a. |
Walls that deliberately don't grade
A small but real movement — the argument being that a grade tells you what to skip.
Grading systems are read from each wall's own website. Walls change systems, dual-grade, and re-band circuits without announcing it. Grades are opinions in any case — treat any conversion as a starting point, not a promise.