Following a few minutes in the car, we arrived at a public car park on the bank of the River Avon where our first 2 pubs of the day are located. The weather, and it being a Saturday, had brought people out and the car park was relatively full with people sat on outside seating of both pubs enjoying drinks in the sunshine. Soon, we would be amongst them. A stone's throw away from where we parked the car was our first stop, The Chequers Inn.
Following a long period of closure, the pub reopened in 2014 after a major refurbishment and was subsequently taken over by Young's in 2017. The curved frontage, set on a raised level behind a brick wall, overlooks the River Avon with lots of windows making the most of the light. Inside, the pub is divided roughly into areas for drinking, both formal and informal dining and for easy access to the outside terrace. The décor has a modern rustic feel with a wide variety of seating. As well as the terrace of the pub itself, several picnic style benches and a reasonably sized patio area are located on the riverbank with a BBQ also available on days like the one on which we visited. The bar is roughly L-shaped and located to the right of the main entrance to the pub. 4 handpulls are situated on the bar, 3 of which were in use on the day, offering a choice of Bath Ales Gem, St. Austell Proper Job and Young's Special. I have a significant soft spot for St. Austell beers so decided on the Proper Job. This was excellent and somehow tasted even better when drunk in the June sunshine on a riverbank on the hottest day of the year so far. The first pint of the day certainly went down very easily and soon we were ready for another. Luckily for us, the next stop was only next door!
Pub number 2 of the day was the Old Lock & Weir.
This is actually a returning entry to the blog having previously had our attention on a particularly inclement February day approximately 2 years ago on a return trip from Glastonbury. Still, the chance to visit in much better weather couldn't be passed up! The Old Lock & Weir is a riverside cottage pub over 2 levels. The bar area is located on the first floor with flagstone floors and tall bar stools, whilst downstairs are 3 linked drinking rooms. There is a large patio area at the river's edge, heated in bad weather but definitely not today, although it is very busy with drinkers and their dogs. The aforementioned bar features 2 handpulls, the options being St. Austell Tribute and Bath Original. It seemed fitting to continue the theme I'd begun so I chose the Tribute and happily carried this out onto the patio where we sat for a while, discussing all manner of things including the impending Download Festival and trying to catch the attention of the numerous canines that were recovering from hot walks or being boisterous and overexcited. It seemed a shame to leave the riverside when the weather was this favourable but if we didn't go now we never would and we had the car so that wasn't really an option.
The trip back to Matt's flat was over in a few minutes and then the walking part of the day began. We headed up the long hill behind Hanham High Street and Matt's flat, making our way towards the Kingswood area where a couple of pubs would be deserving of our scrutiny. The first of these is a new addition to the area that already seems to have attracted attention for its quality and range of beers. We entered the aptly named Lyon's Den.
The 5th micropub in Bristol, this newbie opened just one month ago in premises formerly occupied by a charity shop at the eastern end of the main street. The bar area is simply furnished with a number of tables and chairs scattered around and a largish bar in one corner. Outside, a simple wooden bench runs underneath each window for outside drinking. A corridor to one side leads to the toilets and a small snug. Beers are dispensed from taps protruding from the wall behind the bar with those available displayed on a retro computer screen on the wall above. I love a good micro and this certainly ticked a lot of boxes before I'd even looked at the beer list and I wouldn't be disappointed on that front either! There are 9 pumps in total with 8 of these dispensing ale and cider and the other given over to a keg beer. There was certainly plenty of choice! For the ale drinker, the choices ran as so: 4Ts Old School Mild, Flying Monk WPA, Twisted Nomad, Bexley Redhouse, Twisted Urban Legend and Teignworthy Beachcomber. The 2 cider choices on the day were Bristington Brain Twister and Bristol Beer Factory North Street. I've always been a sucker for an intriguing beer name and to that end, I went with Urban Legend (4.3%) from Twisted Brewing Co. in Westbury, Wiltshire. Matt opted for the Beachcomber and we found some space on the outside benches to soak up both our beers and the atmosphere. The Urban Legend was excellent! This is a golden beer with both UK and US hops involved dominated by Citra. The mouth-feel is smooth with a fruity palate and a distinct mango aroma. Matt's choice of the Beachcomber proved to be a cracking one as well and I was already glad that we'd braved the hill to get this spot. It's a little gem of a place! We moved inside shortly after and sat at one end of a large table with the other end occupied by a local couple who engaged us in conversation about beer and pubs. It turned out that the male half of the couple was from Hampshire, specifically Alton which led to some light-hearted banter when I revealed my Portsmouth heritage. As Matt said afterwards, only I could travel to Bristol and meet somebody who grew up only a few miles from my home town! I thoroughly enjoyed The Lyon's Den and I hope for the chance to visit again in future. It's the embodiment of everything that's good about a micropub so fingers crossed it keeps going for a long time!
We retraced our steps for our next stop and made our way back down the hill to a pub we'd passed on the way up. It was now time to visit The Star.
This Greene King run pub advertises itself as a popular and friendly local and there's nothing to detract from this viewpoint as we enter. The bar is directly opposite the main entrance with seating to both sides, possibly reflecting the presence of two separate bar areas in the past. There is certainly a visible divide but in this case between rival football fans. The evening of our visit coincided with the Champions League final between Liverpool and Spurs and each side of the bar had been claimed by those in red and those in white respectively. The décor is modern and rustic with lots of seating and a couple of TVs. There is also a moderately sized beer garden complete with smoking shelter and picnic style tables. 3 handpulls occupy the bar, on this occasion offering a choice between Abbot, Greene King IPA and Wadworth 6X. Eschewing the Greene King offerings at this juncture, I instead went in for the 6X, as did Matt. This proved to be a well chosen pint as it was kept perfectly.
The evening was going rather well by this point so we now continued down the hill to another pub that has previously made an appearance in these pages. Almost within visibility from the back of Matt's flat lies the Queen's Head.
Refurbished in September 2016 and under new management since August 2017, the Queen's Head is a relatively large and comfortable pub with a central bar, a small bar area to the left and a larger, airy restaurant area to the right as well as a snug to the rear left for those wishing to drink quietly. There is also the benefit of a substantial beer garden, accessed through patio doors to the side or through a latched gate from the front yard which contains a small area for outside drinking. Two sides of the bar boast handpulls, 4 in each area making 8 in total with half of these in use on the day. These are doubled up between Wadworth IPA and Wadworth 6X, not surprising given that Wadworth are the current owners. It was 6X again for both of us here and we headed out into the beer garden to a large picnic table, where we were shortly joined by Jess following a day spent at the allotment. Matt welcomed her with a gin and tonic and made the most of the pleasant weather, though it had turned chillier now it had gotten towards dusk. Jess shortly decided to head home whilst Matt and I decided to squeeze one more venue into the day's activities. This would be the last pub of the night and was another returning property, last frequented on our previous visit in February.
Heading a few doors down from Matt and Jess's flat, we would end our evening at the local Spoons, The Jolly Sailor.
We arrived to find that the pub wasn't too busy for a Saturday evening, although this was likely due to the football. We also discovered that, on the downstairs bar, 3 of the available 5 handpulls were in use and we faced with the choice between Abbot Ale, Ruddles and Box Steam Piston Broke. We both very quickly decided on the Piston Broke (4.5%). This is a deep golden ale, with bittersweet fruity aromas as well as being refreshingly hoppy thanks to a combination of Goldings and Cascade hops. We made our way into the rear beer garden which was significantly quieter and managed to find a table whilst we supped our pints, followed by one more. We also shared a bottle of Thornbridge Versa (5%), a delicious weissbier with all the banana and yeasty flavours and a subtle spiciness from the esters. It was a pleasant surprise and wrapped up the day rather nicely. Once the bottle had been sunk, we came to the mutual decision that food and sleep would be the next things on the agenda and so we made our way back to the flat, via the local take away, watched some episodes of Taskmaster and called it a night.
It had been, by and large, a cracking day. We couldn't have asked for better weather to visit the pubs by the river and the newest micropub to Bristol's expanding portfolio was definitely worth the walk. It was nice to be able to further explore a few of the smaller, quieter venues away from the big, bold premises in the city centre, particularly on an evening when it would likely have been very busy with sports fans and those caught up in the excitement. Day 1 of this impromptu adventure had drawn to a close and successfully. Day 2 would promise something quite a bit different, along with new locations, new beers and new experiences. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment