Categories
bristol pubs

The ghost of The George Inn, Bristol

That corner of Kingsland Road and Days Road in the Dings, Bristol, simply feels as if it ought to have a pub.

Instead, it has the skeletal remains of one.

Just the ground floor, now, breeze-blocked and whitewashed, buddleia sprouting from its brickwork.

You don’t have to look far to find pictures of The George Inn, as it was, looking relatively intact.

Flickr users Neil Hobbs and ‘Myk’ photographed it in 2007 and 2008 respectively, with upper floors and even some remains of the roof.

A derelict pub with flyposting and weeds.
See the original on Flickr
A different shot of the same derelict pub.
See the original on Flickr

It only ceased trading in the 1990s, as far as we can tell. It doesn’t take long for an unoccupied, unloved building to start tumbling and tearing.

Go back further, to 1979, when Chris Petit was in Bristol filming his cult black-and-white British road movie Radio On and you can see it intact, in situ, surrounded by factories and gasholders.

A shot from the film showing the pub surrounded by industrial buildings.

In 1975, local pub guide authors Fred Pearce and David Wilson described it like this:

12 whiskys on display, also peach brandy, very good miniatures range – and the beer’s good as well. Old wooden benches, flowers on the bar, one main bar with two small intimate side rooms, piped music, very friendly staff behind the bar, man comes round in white coat selling cockles and mussels.

Look at historic maps on the Know Your Place website and there’s even more context.

When Bristol Council surveyed the city in the 1950s it recorded The George by name.

Across the road, where the Moor Brewery is now, was a general store and a ‘motor depot’.

The George shared its own block with a hardware store and a barbershop.

A little further along the road was a fish and chip shop, a grocer and post office.

This was a place where people lived.

On that map, though, the description of number 88 Kingsland road offers a glimpse of things to come: it says, simply, ‘Ruinous’.

2 replies on “The ghost of The George Inn, Bristol”

From “Ruinous” to ruins😕
I wonder what the council meant by that word? Seems odd for a local govt map/survey to use such a value judgement term! Was it perhaps a place to find pros of the oldest profession. Or infamous for fighting, illicit late opening? I think someone needs to dig further!😊

“Old Wooden Benches” – the perfect name for a craft amber ale.

The Seventies seemed to stress this feature of a traditional pub, along with wooden floorboards, wood tables and chairs, bartops, wood casks (especially) – wood everything in fact.

Except velour and flock wallpaper. Somehow they escaped the cellulose embrace.

Comments are closed.