please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Found this pub by chance on a sunny afternoon and wasn't disappointed.
A warm welcome with a good selection of beer (forgot what I had but it was in great condition) in a welcoming two bar room with a lot of interesting photographs on the wall. Drank outside in the tiered beer garden which was a sun trap along with a quite a few others, (a mixed crowd of young an old), who had the same opinion.
A fine place to while away a couple of hours.
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With some local hostelries closed due to some anarchist demonstrations, we decided to head up the hill to the Hope & Anchor where a beer festival was in progress. The interior is quite nice and at the rear is a garden on a hill where the beer festival beers (and ciders) were being served. The garden was very pleasant indeed in the early afternoon sunshine. Ales available were Alechemy Starhopper, Dark Star Hophead, Black Iris Bajan Breaskfast & Rise and Shine, Saltaire Trio, Bad Co. Honey Hi, Dorset Piddle Slasher, Red Squirrel Mad Squirrel IPA, Crate Rye, Bristol Beer Factory Bristol Export, Good Chemistry Big Bang, New Bristol Brewery Supernatural, Gloucester Mosaic & Glamorgan Welsh Pale. Ciders and perries were Brislington Brain Twister, Hecks Vintage Dry, Thistly Cross Whisky Cask, Sandford Orchards Devon Red, Original Cider Company Pheasant, Westons Family Reserve, Lilleys Red Rabbit & Somerset Scrumpy & Worleys Red Hen. CAMRA discounts can be had. Although the barman at the festival counter was struggling to add up the price as it was and ended up a bit flummoxed. Another excellent Bristol hostelry.
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Bit of a trek to get to this one but well worth it. Good choice of beers and amazing menu.
Garden out the back, very steep backing onto the hill.
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A bit gastro-ish for some hardcore beer lovers but justifiably popular, both on the beer and the food fronts.
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Went back for a second visit, and found it once again to a high standard..
The Gammon, Egg & Chips was great, and Pints of Cheddar Ales Potholer & Palmers IPA in top condition..
All in all, very impressed. A really welcoming & solid pub option for Beers, and for Food..
A perfect place to launch a session from, in fact...
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In someways its a pity that this is well known as a food pub , as this pub sells great beer.
There is always always a large and varied choice of Ales.
Ale quality exceptional? yes I think so.
By the way the food was pretty good as well.
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A popular pub usefully located midway between Clifton and Hotwells. It�s a single room, L-shaped pub with the bar counter immediately in front of you as you enter. The floor is stripped back to the boards and the rest of the d�cor is in a similar vein with chunky wooden tables and wood backed bench seating around the perimeter.
Theirs is a pleasant terraced garden out the back which is unusual in this area, and not at all obvious, either from the outside, or indeed inside. This is quite a good size with plenty of tables and benches, although it�s quite shaded so doesn�t get too much in the way of sun.
There�s a decent looking pub grub menu and a few specials chalked up on a board as well. We�ve eaten here previously and the food was ok as far as I recall. This time we ordered the �major� chilli beef burger which at �6.95 seemed good value, turning up with two massive beef patties sandwiched in a bun. It had a home made look about it, and you could clearly see the pieces of chilli mixed in with it, so we had high expectations. Unfortunately there was far more gristle than meat, several indigestible pieces in every single mouthful. We struggled through about half of it and then gave up. To be fair though, burgers seemed the most popular dish on the menu and most plates were going back empty. Either we were unlucky, or nobody else minded, I�m not sure.
There was a good range of beers on tap with Butcombe Gold, Exmoor Gold, Otter Ale, Cotleigh Tawny Owl, Wickwar Premium Spring Ale and Palmers Dorset Gold. The solitary cider was Ashton Press.
In spite of my experience with the food, I still like this pub and will mark it accordingly. I�ll just make sure I don�t have the burgers next time.
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Had a really impressive Sunday Roast here recently...as the fellow reviewer says, the Roasts are available throughout the afternoon, which is handy...
Also, the pint of Exmoor Gold that i had was first class...
Service was polite and enthusiastic, and the pub itself very pleasant...can recommend....
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Beer is varied and well kept (especially TT Landlord) and although you might pay a few pence more for a pint here, if food is on the agenda then this place is definately worth a look.
Huge portions of quality food, pub grub the way it should be.
A lovely little back garden up a few steps with lots of little benches amongst the greenery, well worth a visit.
P.S. Try the home made chilli burger, fantastic!
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Was expecting good things but the beer range was fairly unadventurous, Tim Taylors Landlord was �3.50 and there was also 2 from Otter, Bombardier and 6X. The food was good though and this pub has a warm feel to it. If its craft breweries beer you are after, try the pubs at the bottom of Jacobs Wells Road
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Pleasant traditional pub with fairly basic interior and large number of beers (at least 6 when I was there). I had an excellent pint of Cheddar Potholer. Was serving food at 4:30 pm on a Saturday.
On the downside, it's not cheap, and there are too may beers in the 4.0-4.5 abv range
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Popped in on a snowy January evening,and was very impressed with what i discovered. Six handpumps featured ales from cheddar ales and BBF, the pint of BBF "Bristletoe" was the finest dark pint i have sampled in a long time,the beer = 10/10 the pub = a well deserved 8/10
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Quite expensive, but quite nice. Swings and roundabouts perhaps?
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To Gill in the last review,the only ale I ever noted to be �3.40 was Tim Taylor LL,however I suspect BBF Exhibition may have be the culprit. The LL wasn't on on my recent visit,the Cheddar was �3.10 I believe and was very good. There were 3 bar "boys" and a 50something manager type behind the bar for about 10 punters but none looked anyway interested. The khazi's I alluded to previously were serviceable but by no means clean,although I hear the pub read this site when all that rubbish was going on a while back. Not worth calling in,just go down the Bag,for all its faults its much better.
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Visited this pub on a Good Beer Guide crawl and just had a half of a Bristol Beer Factory beer as they were charging �3.40 A pint for it. I thought it was a bit steep. Nothing wrong with the beer.
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Well said Quinno, let's stick to reviews of the pub...
A popular pub usefully located midway between Clifton and Hotwells. Gets very busy at times although was fairly queit on a recent Monday night visit. There's a terraced garden out the back which is unusual in this area, and worth checking out.
Good choice of beers on tap including Cheddar Ales Potholer. Also Ashton Press cider.
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After writing the previous review, I decided to revisit the place tonight with my girlfriend. The merlot was 3.30 for a 175ml glass, and extremely nice. The Milk Street ale that i had was ok but a little tired. We ordered bangers and mash, and nut roast at 8.50 each. Both were very tasty and neither of us could finish our portions. (not many gastro's that you could say that about.) We both had a very pleasant time in the garden communicating with a local robin.
I decided to investigate the 'orange mould' that AEM reported, in the gents. I think that his eyes might be failing him, or his imagination might be running away with him. I saw nothing of the sort, rather the usual crystalline build up associated with these places.
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This is a great pub. The original gastro in bristol, but it still feels very much like a pub. I have eaten here plenty of times in the last 24 months, and the food has always been fine. Martin even had the cook/chef serve me cheese on toast one day when I was feeling insistent. (which you would not get in any other gastro pub in town. Asking for cheese on toast in many places is a hanging offense.) Usually a good selection of beers, and always in a good or better condition. The prices a a bit high, but as the place always seem to be very busy, I would not say that they are too high. I guess that many posters here have no idea about how to run a business. I personally would rather pay 20p extra a pint for nice decor and ambience. Mind you I refuse to drink in JDW's so I'm used to normal prices, (not aggresively low ones.) The terrace garden is one of the cosiest in the city.
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STOP PRESS!!! Rating and review downwardly revised,absolutely disgusting gents with urinal full of orange mould,not cleaned for eons. Cubicle out of service,with an ignorant "Consult google maps for alternative facilities" unfunny printed notice on the door. What is the cellar and kitchen hygiene like I ask? Definitely not good value at �3 plus a pint now! Avoid.
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Most reviews are correct. Nowadays �3.50 though for Landlord-WTF! My Cheddar Potholer was excellent at �2.90. Though the bargirl was bemused somewhat after my response to her "anything else" on ordering my pint being "no thank you,just one at a time please." Strange observation though about Cheddar Ales-why are they only available in pubs in Bristol that make your wallet cry? No grub being eaten but plenty little waifs giggling and making noise over crisps,crunchies and halfs of cider. Could do better,and should do better at the price. But good ale no doubt.
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Basically a pub for the upwardly-mobile boho ale drinker, which is reflected in the achingly trendy muzak, stripped back interior and the expensive prices.
Nonetheless the ales available are usually in excellent condition and they carry the sublime Butts' Barbus Barbus. The staff are also polite and courteous, so that's always worth a couple of extra pence on the pint price in my opinion.
So whilst this is an essential stop-off for a pint of the Barbus, there won't many of you who feel they could afford to stay for more than a couple, especially with the Eldon House and Bag O Nails only a couple of minutes away in either direction. It is still a fine place though.
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Drink reguarly in this area , and visit this pub reguarly because of the excellent beer they serve , polite ,and friendly Beer staff.Downside - meal I had for the first time in ages still lousy , chops weak ,should have had a steak knife , chips tasted like they had had been hanging around for ages, not even trying to compensate quantity for quality ,as only had 3 pork chops instead of 4 , also less salad,and chips , although as they were so naff , perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing . as said beer excelent , food awful .9/10 for beer 1/10 for food.
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Called in last month and had a Bristol Beer Factory beer that was in good condition. Pricey though.
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the barbus barbus is a bloody gorgeous pint, but really , this place IS too expensive. i had a pint of cotleigh buzzard in the wspoon for 99p and this place charges over 3-3.30 per pint
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Just got back from pub crawl in London and beer in this place is more expensive than in Westminster. A pocket clenching �3.30 for a pint of Landlord? At least the beers are kept in good condition for the price. Seemed to be full of people there for the food and emptied out considerably after 9ish, pleasant atmosphere though. In short, goodish pub with tasty ales and the cash point is just at the top of the road
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The Beer is quite good , but expensive .
i've been very disapointed with the food last couple of times i've been there for meals , last time sausage and mash was absolutely saturated in gravy , so much so I thought about changing my knife and fork for a spoon , on a previous occasion the meal seemed to be saturated with peas . too much quantity overcompensating for quality ? with the price of a meal not cheap.
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"The lamb curry (�7.95) looked like one of those Vesta packet mixes... cubes of mushy, overcooked meat festered on a bed of alarmingly orange rice in a pool of murky, watery sauce"
"All you could discern was industrial-strength tomato peree"
"It's one of the few occasions when I've cut the meal short - not because I feared that the puddings might be bought in, but because I was worried they might not be"
"How can a place that majors on food churn out stuff like this and get away with it?"
All quotes from Venue Magazine 25 April - 5 March 2008
Marc Crewe, Food and Drink Editor
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Best in Bristol?? I think you should get out more lol. Have you eaten there recently? The food is overpriced and definitely not worth it. Go and see for yourself.
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For all round beer, food and atmosphere, is probably the best pub in Bristol. Is the best pub food in Bristol that I know of - it all tastes great, massive portions, normal prices.
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Very friendly pub - the landlord offers free beer tasters. Food is very good and a pretty good choice of beer, but not as good as the Bag O'Nails down the road.
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Tried it again last night. It's a bit foodie and �2.90 a pint is taking the p*ss a bit, especially when the Bag O'Nails is 5 minutes walk away. The Clifton factor I presume?
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Simply a wonderful pub! The atmosphere, the beer, and the food were all a most welcome find during a conference in Bristol. The enormous portions of excellent food is highly recommended.
A fine example of how a pub should be run!
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A rather good range of beer when I last visited, including the excellent Butts Barbus Barbus. The beer garden is a pleasant location to eat and drink, weather permitting. I thought that the prices were a touch on the high side, but then there are some advantages to targeting a certain market segment..
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Good pub with friendly atmosphere. Primarily a real pub but does serve the mass produced cack for the masses. Excellent food. Beer choice occasionally puzzling; draught marstons pedigree, london pride and timothy taylor aren't what you'd expect in a pub of this calibre.
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At times I have slipped into an almost transcendental state whilst merrily giddy (if that's not a contridiction) on Butts Barbus Barbus, stuffed on the excellent food and mesmerised by some truly stunning barmaids. I once had the termerity to take some apples from the lovely old tree in the garden and then make an apple crumble. Needless to say, it was also greta. Touched by the Hope magic. It can get very busy at weekends though, but do what you must to secure a table then allow yourself to transcend the hordes...
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An unsurprisingly high rating for what the proprietors somewhat arrogantly, but probably accurately, bill in local pub press as an "Exceptional Public House", after pleading with any potential punter not to spill beer. Well it's sound advice isn't it? And you'd be foolish to spill any of the Hope's real ales - at least 4 pumps dispensing many southwestern gems such as, er, Bath Gem, Dorothy Goodbody etc, and others from further afield.
The food is equally worthy of mention, coming as it states below in "massive" portions. It's a tad pricey but then comparatively you are getting a lot more, and it is good quality stuff. 10 years ago when I was regularly able to visit they used to hand out free roast spuds on Sunday evenings, leftover from lunch!
A secluded and multi-level back garden only adds to the charm of this classic Bristol pub that appeals to students and locals in equal measure. Well done.
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Food comes in massive portions -the sandwiches are a meal in themselves, good atmos, and the garden out the back is nice in the summer (if you can get a seat).
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Possibly the best proper pub in Bristol I have found thus far (unfortunately so has everyone else). Phenomenal food, and a selection of decent ales, topped off by a charming beer garden at the back.
Rupert - 19 Feb 2004 22:32 |
This is my favourite pub in Bristol (and not just because I used to live 1 minute it). Great beer and lovely atmosphere. The best "pub" food bar none in Bristol and a pub with music where you can actually speak without shouting to you friends. A little more expensive than most pubs but very much worth it.
Tom Vincent (Brewster) - 29 Jan 2004 10:36 |
Fantastic Pub, probably the best food in Bristol, is packed by midday on sunday for lunch, excellent secret garden outback during the summer!!
Doug - 15 Nov 2002 16:58 |
Excellent one off pub, with great atmosphere and food!
Smithy - 6 Sep 2002 15:27 |
