please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Homeless chap convicted last week - of stealing cash and booze (worth £3k) from this pub - in October of 2019.
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A traditional pub in a street full of craft beer places. That said, it's too open plan, brightly lit and noisy to make it that traditional. The Hook Norton Greedy Goose wasn't bad; also on sale were Doom Bar, Otter Ale, Bath Ales Gem, Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Courage Best. Walls adorned with music posters give uninformed visitors like me an insight into why this pub is famous.
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Otter Ale still £3.90 , a tad expensive, but you do have a band for free, so no complaints there. Not many in on a Monday so you could move around with ease for a change. Still a good music venue pub.
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First visit here. watched some band with a female singer. Not sure what music you would call it, Jazz it was not, and as my mate said just average. Otter Ale £3.90 a pint, and then the staff come around asking for money for the band!!! Pub was packed and friendly.
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Love this pub for its Jazz but really everything else is not appealing. The price of the Guinness is quite a shock and I would not go there again if it wasn't for the music. It seems that a couple of regulars are allowed to prance around obviously well under the influence of alcohol etc without being told to calm down. All this said we visit the pub on every visit to Bristol.
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Heading downhill catering for the rich students living nearby.
On a tea time visit with no other customers, my mate ordered a pint of Thatchers Dry and a bottle of Brothers Mixed Berry = £8.45.
This is no longer a pub for Joe Public from Bristol.
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Heading downhill catering for the rich students living nearby.
On a tea time visit with no other customers, my mate ordered a pint of Thatchers Dry and a bottle of Brothers Mixed Berry = £8.45.
This is no longer a pub for Joe Public from Bristol.
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The Old Duke
In my last three or four trips to the Duke I�ve been nothing but disappointed with the place, the beer and the music. It seems this pub is doing nothing more than resting on its laurels but sadly that doesn�t seem to be enough judging by what I saw tonight. OK, I don�t expect a city centre pub to be full on a weekday and I appreciate that modern jazz is a refined taste, but paying city centre prices to sit in a place that has no proper seats is wearing a bit thin, not just with me but with pub goers and tourists alike. The latter may find the Duke in their �Rough Guides� but will be sorely let down when they arrive to find a half full pub full of old white men watching yet more old white men play ten minute solos in music that seems to have no structure or purpose. Bebop happened sometime in the middle of last century and jazz has not really moved on since. Lengthy solos and improvised numbers may have sounded good in 1950�s New York, but on a rainy night in Bristol they are frankly boring. Another gripe with this place is the regularity and audacity at which the bar staff come round asking for money �for the band�. I almost expect to be asked for cash in nearby King St with its colourful inhabitants of hostel dwellers and drug users, but not twice in a night inside the same pub. My question is this: If the music you�re putting on is so cutting edge and veritable how come the pub doesn�t make enough money to pay the band properly? It may be free to get in perhaps that is a mistake. Charge a fiver, leave the begging to the beggars outside and put on some entertaining jazz, ideally with a singer!
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Visited this on a Saturday night and found the place to be packed.
There was a very good 10 piece swing band, somehow strutting there stuff on a tiny stage, but they were really good and gave the place a really good atmosphere. The beer choice could have been better, but the Bath Ales Gem was nice enough.
Less than a minutes walk from the Apple Cider barge on the docks, this was by far the livliest pub we visited during the evening, so give it a go if you are passing.
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Despite all the obvious jibes about trustafarians and people with too much unwashed hair, the Duke is still Bristol's only proper jazz venue. It is overpriced, dirty and the stage is tiny, but only last night I saw one of the brightest and most uplifting jazz acts ever- The Kevin Figes Quartet. It was a shame the punters and the bar staff were indifferent to high calibre and dynamics of Figes and his world class musicians. Most of the punters probably couldn't have told you Miles Davis apart from John Coltrane and I was saddened by comments of one female member of bar staff who insisted on putting Enigma (wallpaper music from 1990 featuring Gregorian chanting over a Soul to Soul beat) on at full volume during the break. Her astounding comment was that she was sick of jazz, hearing it all time as she 'had to work with it'. That only begs the reply - if you can't stand Jazz, don't work in a famous pub that serves it!
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An old street corner pub in the historic heart of Bristol, which is renowned for it�s live jazz music and has live bands playing on the small corner stage most nights. Entry is usually, if not always, free and frequently attracts big crowds. The chance of getting a seat is nil, and often even standing space is in short supply. If it�s nice though, there�s some pleasant seating in the cobbled street outside, with the timbered Llandoger Trow opposite providing a pleasant backdrop.
The pub itself is a U-shape affair with a central bar area, and the aforementioned stage in one corner. Decor wise it�s quite traditional with that sandy brown paint on the ceilings that many pubs have to hide the nicotine. Various jazz posters highlight bands that have played here over the years. In spite of being packed, service at the bar was quick and efficient.
Beers on tap were Otter, Doom Bar, Gem and Courage Best. Good choice of ciders with Thatcher�s Cheddar Valley, Stowford Press and Thatcher�s Gold.
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A frustrating place. Yes, it is famous - rightly so - for it's jazz and live music, but every time I'm there the ale always seems mediocre in quality just about not takebackable - I reckon the pipes haven't been cleaned since about 1974 probably. The bar staff have attitude - not of the right kind - and the service is erratic making you that they have done you a great favour in serving you... thank you very much and here's my money. Finally, as the place is usually packed perhaps they could invest in some cleaning products for the WC's which reek so badly the affect can be felt throughout the right side of the pub.
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well i hear what some folks are saying, but i love this pub. i don't have the time or money for much pub-hopping these days, but i always enjoy this place. i like the characters and rowdiness and last time i was there, the bar staff were excellent; obviously enjoying themselves and grinning at everyone. the atmosphere was great and we enjoyed something of a summer's evening at one of the infamous sheelanagig shows. lots of sweaty dancing and happy faces.
it may not be the cleanest most sterile pub i've visited, but that is sometimes the way it goes and i'd rather a damn good jaw-wagging with friendly strangers than to sit nursing a lonely pint in a clinically perfect gastro any day.
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I used to think this was an old fogeys pub years ago, what with the "Bog End" crew and landlord John Stone getting his trumpet out at the end of the night, donning his golden bowler hat and playing the last few notes of whatever the jazz band were playing that night.
Looking at the place nowadays, from the wrong side of my 51st year, I guess the old days were actually better. Bristol has allowed the whole centre of town to become a student campus and sea of manufactured bedsits. The result has been that old favourites like this place have lost their appeal to the majority of "true" Bristolians. Same goes for the Llandogger and the Volley!
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"Yah, like, I've got these dreds cos, I'm, like, sticking to the man with my hair. I might, like go travelling again next year, depends if I can get any more allowance out of my folks." - Typical conversation overheard in The Old Duke. Full of trustfarians and Nathan Barleys, mingled with great jazz and ace cider. Weird mix. Man.
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Only one bar staff serving on a sunny sunday evening. Courage Best and Directors and Gem and one other ale on.
LukeD - 13 Jul 2009 11:08 |
Pubs like this serve a purpose - to entertain you with shite blues bands relying on you being bleary-eyed and legless to appreciate them. I waited 5 minutes to be served - I was the only one at the bar...not good. I walked out. I then struggled to sleep in the hotel opposite due to yet another shite blues band that spent 15 minutes finishing each song with a drum roll up until Midnight - prats. Went back the next night only to witness some Brizzle burd flat on her knees hollering out someone's name outside on the steps. Jeez - if you like re-enacting 14th century drinking hostelries then this place will make you proud to be British. I gave it a chance and opted for the Apple Cider Boat by the water's edge - much much better.
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All i can say is what a dirty place this is, tha bar staff look if they could do with a bit of a scrub aswell. if you like listening to good music but dont care about the state of the pub its the place for you, however i will not be back until it has had a bloody good clean.
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Absolute tip full of pretend crusties talking shite, ageing jazz fans(nice!), tramps and idiots. The barstaff are rude dirty ignorant and pathetic-besides all that its great!
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Rather shabby, but passable. Beer ok.
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Good beer and music. In dire need of a damn good scrub. Occasionally go there for lunch only to find the chef hasn't got up yet.
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I would agree about the staff in here in recent times. I used to know some of the bar staff a few years ago and they were great. The cooler than thou mob seem to have infiltrated unfortunately. Used to have a great smiley, chatty bunch working there. Not anymore. A shame as it has put me off going.
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Really groovy pub, my favourite in Bristol. Mainly for soundtrack which is a jazz fan's dream but position and atmosphere is also good.
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Agree the staff are pathetic, seem to think they are cool by being dirty, ignorant and basically useless, its a bit of a dump really as rifgtly said living on past glories.
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The staff here have gone downhill, which is a great shame as the place itself is legendary.
The quality of the music has always been fantastic when I've been here. And the varied mix of people it draws never ceases to amaze me: both young and old.
I have to give it a 7 because they currently need to iron out a few staffing problems, a few years ago I would have given it top marks.
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I don't know what's happening in the Old Duke at the moment. The bunch of misfits behind the bar seem only want to roll fags and serve their equally soap dodging mates. This pub is now living on it's past reputation only.
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Was in here on Saturday afternoon (6/10/07). Dim boy behind the bar seemed most reluctant to get some ice ("no, don't trouble yourself, we'll just have warm orange juice, it's only your job after all). As I got to the end of my pint I noticed a black mark at the bottom of my glass; this turned out to be one of several colonies of bacterial mould. As there seemed to be more intelligent life at the bottom of my glass than behind the bar I didn't bother reporting it, but have since notified Bristol City Council. I'm not a fussy person, but this is without a doubt the filthiest dive it has ever been my misfortune to drink in.
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LOVE this place! The music is usually excellent, and theres a great vibe to the place. Old Skool music pub.
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A real gem of a pub. If you love live music and jazz or blues is your thing then this place is for you! A few ales are on sale and they're a good pint. The Old Duke is a rather small venue though and seating is hit and miss. As with all places that play live music it can get very loud. Don't expect any musicians younger then 35 at a push. This is for old experianced musicians and Eddy Martin who plays twice weekly is very highly recommended. Great for live music, which is every night and most lunch times also, but poor for seating. Other than the seating this is a very good pub indeed. Worth a visit simply for the experiance
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You get to relive your student days here through being served in plastic glasses. Apart from that faux pas, it's worth visiting.
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The Duke is fantastic, the best pub on King Street by far, retaining a truly great ambience, with old gig posters plastering the walls. Music is superb, beer good and when I last ate there food was good value.
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Took in the Old Duke last night (Saturday) after a recomendation by locals. Packed to the rafters (sign of a decent boozer) with a jazz band playing. Beer not bad, but was uncomfortably packed and sweaty inside so we sat off outside. Apart from that, not bad at all - i`d go again!
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The Old Duke is a fantastic Bristolian pub. With its low ceilings and dreadlocked bar staff, it really couldn't be anywhere else. The bands here are of a very impressive standard and I have heard them play D'Angelo (late nineties soul singer) so that's rubbish about them only playing incredibly old stuff. It gets pretty crowded, particularly at weekends, but that's just because people know that it's wicked. Last time I was there, a couple were dancing to the music in the street outside. Now that's the sign of a good pub! Cheers.
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We love The Old Duke and spend the entirity of our student loans there becuse it is so fantastic!!!!
Katie - 16 Nov 2004 03:16 |
Music every night when we were there over Easter with good friendly service. Not sure what it would be like otherwise with its dark ceiling covered with bill posters
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Loved this place when I lived in Bristol. No musicians under the age of 70 allowed!
Dave G - 22 Jan 2004 15:18 |
the best trad jazz pub I've ever been to. And when I say "trad" I mean it! In over 100 visits there the most recent song I've heard is "Blueberry Hill"!!
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Why cant I see that great band the Pocket Rockets at the Old Duke anymore?Still a great venue for 12 bar Blues,and Jazz though.
Geoff Bridges - 1 Nov 2003 16:55 |
Love the place. Amazing staff....very friendly...lots of character.
Live music is amazing
Christa - 26 Sep 2003 17:47 |
This is the best pub in bristol/the world.
Great music
Great staff
Great atmosphere
Great!
Emma - 4 Sep 2003 13:50 |
Great for Jazz enthusiasts - live music most days. Small, smokey, and packed with character.
anonymous - 20 Jun 2003 16:41 |
