please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Pleasant pub, nice atmosphere and friendly staff. Slightly disappointed by the food on my last visit but perhaps that was a one off, as all other visits its been great. This time however, various items on the menu weren't available, and the food when it arrived was merely average. Shame as this used to be a great pub, and I hope that i just visited on an off day. I'll definately be back to find out!
|
Pub number 3 and this most certainly is a Bath Ales stronghold. I had the Spa which was good and then on my 2nd visit the following day I had 3 pints of Dark Side which was excellent.
As well as Bath Ales on tap they had their cider and a some good quality European lager.
It was a Saturday afternoon and Rugby was just finishing over at Bath Rugby club so it was nice and busy with a fairly mixed crowd of tourist, rugby fans and locals.
Wooden floorboards throughout and a decent range of seating.
Really decent pub.
Gift packs are for sale to take home.
|
Dinky little place, always one I like to pop into when in Bath along with the Green Tree and the Star. A bit like a shop conversion but well done, the Bath Ales are as you'd expect always on pretty good form. A solid eight from me...
|
Didn't feel quite as home here as I hoped. It's all a bit Done. Never seen so many Bath Ales in one place. The boss has the Spa which she says was delicious and I had the porter. Now that was a heavy drink. Gets a 7 cause I love a pub where there are beers to suit all tastes even when it's a tied pub.
|
Much as in the same way that one may expect a biography of Peter Andre to be consistently mind-numbing and dull, one can expect a visit to The Salamander to be the polar opposite: a consistently interesting and enjoyable experience, perhaps on a par with trying a hundred different types of cheesecake. I recently had the pleasure of visiting and had a thoroughly enjoyable time indeed. I was a little drunk, and failed rather spectacularly in my efforts to ingratiate myself with a girl I believe may have later described me as 'particularly annoying and crass'. Still, this did not have a significantly negative impact on my friend and I enjoying ourselves as we soaked-up the welcome, the atmosphere, the overall good-humour, and rather more booze-laced drinks than were otherwise good for a declaration of sobriety.
By way of a statement of the almost-obvious, Bath's Salamander is a boozer... and a rather good one at that. It is a clean and civilised establishment with a dollop of sophistication and something of a gloss of elegance, the combination of which successfully repels any ill-educated, tracksuit-wearing chavs intent on honking about football while simultaneously attempting to explode their own kidneys. It is one of Bath's more appealing bars in which to sit and engage in the consumption of booze-laced beverages, the selection of which, courtesy of Bath Ales, is particularly splendid and appreciated even by men without beards.
Sadly, I have yet to find anyone interested in buying me lunch or dinner at The Salamander. This is particularly disappointing because even a cursory glance of the menu is enough to make one drool like some kind of pest. That said, I did try the 'proper chips' not too long ago, and while I think the name 'proper' is somewhat misleading since they are priced at three quid, are not wrapped in newspaper and not swimming in four gallons of fat or served by a bearded twenty-stone grandmother in a hairnet, they are some of the best I have ever had the pleasure to gobble down too quickly, scalding my epiglottis as I did. Fear not though, for The Salamander is not your typical gastropub filled with estate agents and too-highly-paid council executives squawking into Blackberries and babbling about shoes. Sure, the chips err on the side of 'a little bit pricey an' that, innit', but they are good value. And judging by the menu on the screen of my laptop I happen to be drooling upon right now, the same should be said of the 'chorizo, fried egg, garlic and parsley frittes (sic)' priced at a paltry 'almost-eight quid'.
Overall, all things considered and to conclude... The Salamander is an awesome pub. Clearly not the place to meet girls while a little on the drunk side of sober... or Me, but great for consuming good booze, dining on what appears to be well-produced and drool-satisfying comestibles, avoiding oiks, and having a thoroughly pleasurable time indeed. The staff are friendly, welcoming, and care about what they do, and the decor is very much on the right side of pleasant. I recommend The Salamander much as in the same way I quite like cheesecake.
|
Fantastic Bath ales pub, every beer in the range is well-kept and the Gem is definately one of the best pints in Bath...keep up the good work
|
Very pleasant Bath Ales pub. Modernish, but "distressed" Beers good, service OK
|
Usually our meeting point and it is not unusual to stay put for the night.
|
tied up a visit to the 'Sally' with a trip to the brewery to pick up the Christmas festivity. The draft version is on top form. Good lunchtime had by all. Problem with Bath there are too many good pubs.......
|
A warm welcome greeted us when we walked in from cheery bar staff. A couple of pints of Jem went down well whilst we decided what to have from the menu. I have to say that we had one of the best pub meals I have had in a long time. A very pleasant evening all round.
|
A good pub but not great because it only has Bath Ales on, no guest beer on when we went there. Nothing wrong with Bath Ales but it is nice to have a change during an evening.
|
As previously noted, it does look a bit like a shop. I nearly walked past it, but was really glad I didn't.
|
A pleasant modern take on the city centre pub. A wide range of Bath Ales. We had some lovely good-value food.
|
As Driking_Bull has said, this has recently had a refurb although apart from a lick of paint giving it a lighter, airier feel I didn�t really notice too much difference. It�s a pleasant enough pub, even though from the outside it looks more like a shop with a selection of items from Bath Ales displayed in the window. It was quite quiet on a recent Monday evening with only a couple of other punters in there, besides a few who had gone upstairs to eat.
It�s a single room bar with two smaller areas at the rear and opening out to a larger room at the from with some big windows out on to the street. There�s a mixture of bench seating with green wood panelling behind, and a few tables and chairs scattered around. There was a fireplace at the rear, but unfortunately this was not lit. That would have made the whole place a lot cosier seeing as it was well below freezing outside. There is also another room upstairs, although I believe this may be more geared up for eating. Barman seemed friendly enough.
Beers on tap were all from the Bath Ales stable with their Ginger Hare, Jem, Festivity, Spa and Barnstormer. The solitary cider was (naturally their own) Bounders.
|
A Gem of a pub. Bath Ales is the bizzo
|
A nice little boozer sitauted in a side street away from the shops, Quite an upmarket hooray henry crowd in post when I was there as well as the odd American tourist. Bath ales Gem in superb condition, a clean and tidy pub.
|
Had a bit of a refurb this year; the leaky loos have been replaced and they've gone for a lighter, leaner look. Now that the smell of paint has finally vanished it's not too bad, apart from the perennial problem of not enough staff when the place is busy. Don't bother with the food, and get there early if you want to drink SPA. Almost every time we're in they run out after we've had one pint.
Still worth a visit, but not quite what it was a while back.
|
A very pleasant Bath Ales pub and though not a great fan of their range, enjoyed the Golden Hare. Great place to be entertained by some of the conversations of pompous twonks from hereabouts!!
|
Another friendly,busy and small City centre Pub. Bath ales available were Spa and Gem both of which were good quality. However, Spa was room temperature whilst Gem was very cold which seemed strange. Worth a visit but expensive.
|
I always enjoy popping in here for a couple of pints from the excellent Bath Ales' brewery. Service is friendly, pub is tastefully decorated and generally very comfortable & relaxing. No intrusive TV nor overly loud music, great for browsing through the day's papers - of which a good selection is provided for customers.
|
I was a regular user of this pub until it became a bit shabby and run down. (See my previous review dated August 2008)
Haven't bothered with it again until this week, and was pleasantly surprised. It's been tidied up considerably and the decor has improved.
The beer was good, as always, and very reasonably priced for the centre of Bath. A bowl of pork crackling for �1.50 was well worth it.
|
Reliably good beer from Bath Ales. Don't know where mattbeer(below) gets his prices from as all real ales were �2.65(Spa) - �2.95(Golden Hare) on my visit which seems pretty reasonable. Food used to be good but is now over-priced : �9.95 for a small burger served on a bit of wood(how pretentious). Would have been ok for a fiver and served on a plate in the way normal people eat their food. Still, however a nice pub and worth a visit for the beer.
|
That should have said "not long until they have the �4 pint in Bath"
|
Visited here on Sunday 9th May before the Bath City v Woking play-off final (Bath City won 1-0 and got promoted to Conference Premier ;) ).
Only 2 other people in the pub (well, it was 11.50am), bar maid very friendly.
Me and my friend each had a pint of Dark Side. Very nice pint - and very expensive - �3.35 a pint! Yikes - I should have remembered to remortgage the house!
My previous rating of 8 has been lowered to 7. I know tax etc has gone up - but are they trying to scare customers away? Long until they have the �4 pint in Bath!
|
Pub No.2 on our crawl of Bath. A Bath Ales Brewery pub with friendly staff who knew their range of beers on offer. Today there were Gem, Barnstormer, SPA, Golden Hare on draught and Dark Side on keg. I'd recommend the Gem and Golden Hare.
|
Bath Ales House just off the main streets in Bath. The beer was well kept, the Gem being delicious. I did'nt partake but the sunday roast looked very tasty. Well worth a vist
|
Very pleasant pub selling well-kept beers from the Bath Ales range. Well worth seeking out.
|
Popped in to visit along with the Raven and preference would be for the latter. However, I should add that I am not a great fan of Bath ales. Both of the ales I tried did not seem quite right, not quite ready to serve I feel but they were drinkable. Pleasant clean pub, service was OK. If you like Bath ales then I would not put you off this pub.
|
As strangers in town the Salamander looked intersting so we chanced it. It was Saturday afternoon and busy without being rammed. Service was good, we had the Gem and Barnstormer. Both were very nice. All dark wood it has a good atmosphere. Could have sat there much longer bat had places to go. The upstairs dining room looked very nice too. A good find.
|
Haven't been in for a few years but the Salamander rarely disappoints. Had a pint of Dark Hare on quiet Saturday lunchtime - top condition.
|
Good little pub this!, Gets packed to the rafters at the weekend which can overwhelm the bar staff. Great beer always but not a pub for a quiet chat!
|
This is a fine little pub with dark wood panelling, some good bits of glass around the place and wooden settles and stools. It�s a long thin bar with 6 handpumps serving the Bath brewery range. I had a pint of the Gem which was pretty good. It�s no longer in the GBG (2010) but it�s still a decent pint. We called in on a Wednesday early evening and it was busy but the one girl behind the bar was coping. We tried again on Thursday evening and the place was rammed, there was still only the one girl behind the bar and no-one was getting any beer. We left.
|
I like this pub, especially as I remember what the place was like before Bath Ales got hold of it. Excellent for an early evening drink, although they closed early (10 pm) a couple of months back because we were the only ones in there.
It certainly does seem to have slipped a bit from it's previous top form, and is emptier of late, but still has excellent beer and I see no reason not to pop back in a week or two.
|
The Bath Ales are what attracted me to this pub, and the fact that they are listed in the Good Beer Guide (2005 vintage). The beer certainly didn't disappoint as it was first rate! What started out as a quiet drink with the wife, soon descended in to a bustling drinking establishment full of students. Nothing wrong with that of course - just not what we wanted at the time, so we made our way to a more spacious pub to continue the art of quiet conversation. For this reason, I can't quite fathom the comments regarding the quietness. No evidence of that on a Friday night!
|
Visited at a quiet time but was meeting old friends so it was ideal to sit and chat over a few decent beers. The whole Bath range, both draught and bottled, seemed to be available and in good condition. They also have an organic lager. I imagine it can get a bit claustrophobic when it�s packed but for a long afternoon beer it was ideal.
|
Decent Bath Ales pub conveniently located just behind Milsom Street. Fairly traditional interior with lots of wooden benches and flooring, and some decent rustic grub.
Usual range of Bath Ales beers, plus their new Bounders cider, which was much better than last time I tried it at The Hare on the Hill.
As others have said, can perhaps be a bit quiet.
|
The pub itself is worth a visit, the Bath Ales were reasonable but the atmosphere in the bar was quiet, almost library like. Good if you like to read your paper in silence, but not great if enjoy a bit of banter.
|
Was here a couple of weeks ago. Prices have gone up and it's still more expensive than the other Bath Ales pub on Upper Bristol road the Hop Pole! Pint of Gem was excellant as usual. My friends stag-do in May will include a trip to the Bath Ales bewery in Warmley, Bristol. Can't wait!
|
Visited last month and it seems it is getting siome much needed improvement work done. Having said that, the 2 Bath Ales we had were the best condition I have had this holiday. So clear and clean, and tasted perfect.
|
The comment from Hodge1 dated 16 Sep 2008 is misleading as he is obviously referring to the nearby Raven and not the Salamander.
|
A body was found in the gents a couple of days ago (apparently surrounded by syringes).
Apart from that I like the place.
|
I used this pub for years when it was Hatchetts and a Miners Arms Brewery Pub (remember them?), its new incarnation as the Raven seems to have bedded in nicely now and the beers are always ok. Just a shame the superb jukebox disappeared in the refurb.
|
I used this pub at least once a week for ages, but stopped after a couple of poor bar meals and because they seemed to be reluctant to put the heating on when it was cold. I got used to drinking elsewhere, but returned to give it another try recently. Good points are the excellent beer and the very reasonable prices. Unfortunately it has become a bit shabby inside and could do with smartening up. Of the six lamps above the bar two were not working. The white ceiling is stained yellow and needs repainting. There is a blackboard hanging inside the front window, and an advertising banner hanging outside the window, and the consequent loss of light makes the inside look gloomy.
I believe there has been a change of manager since I had my poor bar meals, so the food may have improved. If you're not bothered about the rather shabby surroundings but just want some good beer then this is recommended.
|
Fantastic Bath Ales run pub. Can get busy. Never had a bad pint in here.
|
Visited here in the hottest week of the year (July 2008). Air-conditioning was a blessed relief, and the beer was delicious and well priced. A real find.
|
Good beer. Good pub food and surprisingly good restaurant upstairs. Can get busy but then what good pub doesnt!!
|
Lovely old style pub. Ales always good, and a delight to visit.
Well done.
|
One of my favourites, excellent beer, friendly atmosphere. Don't know about bar food, but have eaten in restaurant upstairs which was good.
|
favourite pub in Bath, nice building, excellent beers. Toilets however leave a little to be desired but it won't put me off going there!
|
Superb beer and a really excellent, friendly pub. The pint of Bath Ales Festivity was sublime. Food pretty good too.Along with the Raven over the road, well worth seeking out. !0/10
|
My favourite pub on my Bath pub crawl. Very friendly staff and a faultless pint of Bath Gem in the cleanest pint glass i have seen for many a year. Nice atmosphere and food looked a big hit. Very highly recommended.
|
Pub which we managed to get served quickly despite it being very busy, the beer was excellent.
|
I came here with a mate while our partners went to the Jane Austin Museum. We got there just before 12:00 on a Saturday and it was a good air conditioned pub. They had a selection of the morning papers that had not yet been touched. A good selection of Bath Ales were on offer, I don't however remember seeing any guest ales.
|
On my two day visit to Bath this would be at the top of my list. I was there early but I can see the potential for it to get busy. Excellent well kept ales and efficient service with people actually talking to each other. What more could you want?
|
There's absolutely nothing wrong with this pub other than the fact that it can get very busy at times - but one can hardly fault a pub for being succesful. The beer is excellent - Bath Ales full range and an occasional guest - and served in always perfect condition. The food is very fine indeed and reasonably priced. The atmosphere is great, all background conversation and cultured civility. Probably the best pub in the city centre - and almost as good as the Royal Oak and the Star.
|
Excellant pub - when it isn't busy! Cheapest pint of Gem in town at �2.30. Good bar staff, nice interior. Good alternative to the Hop Pole on a wet winters evening when you can't be bothered to walk out of town!
|
Great city centre pub, none of the social stigma attached to the green tree. good food and the choice of beer is fine. Even some non Bath Ales on which is good for them. Manager is a friendly guy who keeps the beer well and cares about it.
|
Mixed reviews thus far for the Salamander. Personally, I have always found it, and all other Bath Ales counterparts, to be nicely-balanced houses which create a comfortable, cosy, traditional-yet-modern pub feel, and a fitting backdrop for showcasing their excellent ale range. I can see how some might view them as snooty or trendy; maybe there is an element of well-heeledness about most punters. But this is Bath, and Bath Ales were right to recognise that this sort of blueprint will appeal to a large share of the local market. That said, the Bath Ales pubs in Bristol are similar in design, and yet draw a slightly more diverse and gritty customer base.
Anyway, I think they do well, and this pub must be congratulated for offering a good range of beers and beyond, excellent food, and in my experience, very pleasant friendly service. It is a must on any city crawl, and I believe can appeal beyond middle-class gourmets and ale enthusiasts.
|
Bath Ales, so top notch beers and good attention to detail in the pub itself. Excellent food downstairs at lunchtime- the FT fish and chips are phenomenal. Food in restaurat upstairs was good too, but not the best in bath. Chef actually walked out when we were eating, which was quite funny- we already had our mains so didnt really care if there was no more food =)
|
Well designed, pleasing on the eye Bath Ales pub, but not as good as it thinks it is, or as good as it ought to be. Both beer quality and staff attitude have been variable (I'm feeling charitable) on recent visits.
|
If only Bath Ales knew half as much about running pubs as they do about brewing beer, this and their other pubs would be worth visiting. Unfortunately they don't, and they're not.
anonymous - 22 Jul 2006 17:43 |
A bit trendy for me, ales in good enough condition although the Bath range isn't my favourite. Worth a visit although not my favourite pub in the city.
|
Best Gem I've ever tasted resides here. Quality pub all round
|
Seems to be getting more guest ales on these days rather than relying on the slightly bland Bath Ales.
Good but not great.
anonymous - 28 Feb 2006 15:37 |
Good beer and crisps, really nice in the daytime or on quiet evenings but a bit too crowded most of the time.
|
Very reminiscent of every brewpub on in the Western USA, an American style Yuppie place. But the Bath Ales are decent, the service was good, & though I didn't want to like it, I can't run it down
|
A great town centre pub. Always packed when Bath RFC are playing at home. Superb food, all the Bath Ales, some good guest ales and good cider. Restaurant upstairs.
|
Tip Top Bath Ales pub, excellent interior with good food upstairs
|
best pub
serena - 6 Nov 2004 21:43 |
Old victorian chop house, lots of Dark wood, Bath Ales beer and normally two guests also Erdinger Wheat beer. Good food, friendly staff, but don't go in when Bath RFC are playing at the Rec if you want a quiet pint
Mick - 14 Oct 2004 12:14 |
