Full Moon and Eclipse, Bristolback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
A busy and trendy (in a sense) down beat kind of place that is nice in summer as all the colourful people can sit outside and suck on sisha pipes. My most recent trip was not so blissful howoever and can be narrowed down to two factors. Firstly the 'too cool for school' bar staff who seem to adopt arbitrary policies of serving people, when they do it seems resentful. Odd that without us they'd have no job. The second is the state of the gents (and I presume ladies) loos. Filthy and full of people taking drugs. Rather off putting if you just want to use the cubicle as you'll find yourself waiting 15m. while fellow occupants dust their noses! A welcome change from the clone bars that litter the city centre, but be careful and expect to really rough it - all at London prices!
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Definitely an improvement on the goth hangout of old.
Light and spacious inside, a good range of drinks and decent food.
Can I suggest though that the ciabatta is replaced with a crusty baguette as my steak ciabatta was very dry, and the onion marmalade hideously sweet and cloying.
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A very pleasant pub, suprisingly big and quite traditional. You could almost be in a country pub. Not busy on a Tuesday night, but not dead either. They seemed to be doing food until quite late.
A couple of beers on tap (Butcombe Blond being one) plus Ashton Press and Strongbow ciders.
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Return visit to the FM found less-than-drinkable beer on, barman seemed disinterested in taking it off or at least turning the clip round.
Shame as this could be a contender, it has all the fittings in place.
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Went about 6 months ago and the Full Moon (the big one) was closed and only open when hired out (although it sounds like this might have changed). The Eclipse was one of the grottiest shitbins I've ever ventured into. Conversely, the staff were amongst the friendliest I've spoken to in Bristol and the other customers (looked more like hooligans than Goths) were equally friendly. Surprisingly good. Very surprisingly good.
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These are essentially two completely different bars, which have recently been massively overhauled from dingy (but popular) Goth/Rock venues, the Eclipse being a live and loud venue, with the Full Moon being a bar only.
First up is the Eclipse. This is now a huuuge 'trad' bar with many 'trad' fittings bussed in at what must have been a considerable expense. It certainly looks good, and had a couple of OK handpulls. However it was near deserted, and they're going to have to do a lot of advertising to the students to get an atmosphere in.
Secondly, the Full Moon. Arrrghhh, well the Undead will be turning in their graves when they see this. It's all blue-lit, whitewashed walls serving only lager and spirits to a zombiefied clientele glued to the big screen watching the big screen. Actually that last bit sounded right up an EMO's street but let me assure you that it isn't at all, but just an example of the wonderful flexibility of the English language.
Was it all worth it? We'll see, but the Goth numbers in town were certainly dying off (ho ho) since the mid 90's, so something had to be done to at least one of the venues. But I feel a little twinge of nostalgia for lost history.
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Is no longer one of Bristol's premier rock/metal venues, but now a backpacker hostel.
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