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Understanding New Turf

Cranes on the waterside in  Bristol.
Cranes along the waterside in central Bristol.

We’ve spent the last five days relocating from Penzance to Bristol, mostly stressed and exhausted, but with a bit of time to begin exploring the pubs in our neighbourhood.

What we’re going to do this time, having learned valuable lessons in Penzance, is going to every single one, at least once. Even the ‘shite hole full of clowns’, at some point.

One reason we didn’t do this in Walthamstow all those years ago was that Boak grew up there and so knew all the pubs, although we wonder with hindsight what we might have missed. Certainly when Bailey’s Dad dragged us into The Duke’s Head we found a pub less rough than received local wisdom had led us to expect.

So far, in our bit of Bristol, we’ve been to:

  • one micropub
  • two regional-brewery craft ale gastro lounges
  • a community pub [further information required]
  • a vast back-street inter-war improved pub with no real ale
  • a hipstery place with tapas and board games and
  • one that looks like a gastropub but feels like an estate pub.

And there are a few more to explore yet, although not much in the way of ‘classic pubs’ as far as we’ve noticed.

We don’t know yet which ones will end up as regular haunts but there’s only one we’ve really taken against (terrible beer, as much atmosphere as a Debenham’s cafe).

We’ll keep you posted, no doubt, especially on Twitter where the flow of pint-n-crisps photos will be the same but different, once we’ve got comfortable and don’t feel so anxious about soiling our own vestibule.

7 replies on “Understanding New Turf”

You won’t be surprised to learn that the one that immediately sparks my interest is the “vast back-street inter-war improved pub with no real ale” 🙂

“two regional-brewery craft ale gastro lounges”

We’ve got one from that chain up here in Shropshire. For someone like me, who has to find a compromise that includes the wife and 7 year old, the food’s decent and the beer is definitely acceptable. But if I didn’t have to compromise I’d be down King Street as often as possible before you could say “Small Bar”.

That would have been my guess as to the place with “terrible beer, as much atmosphere as a Debenham’s cafe”, awful places.

It’s been a couple of years since I have been to Bristol. I travelled a lot for work, about three times a year to Bristol.The Three Tuns was always my favourite. If you are not familiar with it this site is worth a look;
http://pubsandbeer.co.uk/

Enjoy Bristol, lovely place, walk up to Clifton and look at that Bridge, amazing.

Regards

Mick

Welcome to our fair city. If you would like to tick another pub off the list and meet some tame homebrewers come to the Miners Arms, St. Werberghs on the third Thursday of the month. We meet upstairs from 8ish to drink beer and talk nonsense.

Any particular reason why you’ve left Penzance ?
I’m not prying but I’m looking to re-locate to the West Country myself within the next couple of years and we’re mulling over a few places.
The missus wants smaller by the seaside – I’m opting for somewhere busier nearer a city such as Exeter.
If it’s personal then feel free to tell me to mind my own business.
Ta very much.

It’s not so much that we’re leaving Penzance as moving to Bristol. Closer to family, mostly, plus work stuff.

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