Westbury Park Tavern, Bristolback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Better known to many as “The Kebab & Calculator” from the BBC TV Series The Young Ones, this is an unusually shaped, circular pub consisting of one single room wrapped around a central island bar. There is a limited amount of outside seating but the outlook is not that great being opposite a busy junction and a supermarket.
Although it’s carpeted throughout other than some tiles leading from the door to the bar, the décor divides it up somewhat with cream paintwork on the walls in the front half of the pub, and floor to ceiling wood panelling in the rear, giving it something of the feel of an old hotel drawing room. There was an old tiled fire-place to one side, although whether this is still used I’m not sure. Sport seems to fixture fairly prominently here, with a plasma screen and a large projector showing rugby and cricket matches. There was a pool table at the rear as well as a darts board.
The menu looked to be a fairly typical “pub grub” affair with options such as Steak & Ale Pie, Scampi & Chips, Hunter’s Chicken, Bangers & Mash, etc., and these were mostly priced around the £6 - £8 mark, although many of them were also available as part of a “2 for £10” deal. There was also a specials list printed on a separate piece of paper, and unusually these seemed mostly cheaper than the regular options coming it at around £6 or just under.
Beers on tap were Butcombe, Gem and Doom Bar although there were a further three pumps on the bar that were not in use so there may perhaps on occasions be more than this. Ciders were Blackthorn and Summersby.
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I had a very unfortunate experience at this pub recently concerning some Courage Best Bitter, normally a fairly reliable, workaday pint in most places. Not at the WPT, oh no. The young lady who served me, whilst carrying on a conversation with some regulars slumped at the end of the bar, poured two foamy yet lifeless, cloudy looking pints. She let them settle and topped them up, which I�m not sure Courage Best normally requires, but none less paid and sat down waiting for my mate to arrive that lived round the corner. I had biked up from St Anne�s � the other side of Bristol � so was thirsty and taste buds feeling quite sharp. Needless to say the beer was foul; it was �off� and there was no other way to describe it. It had an emulsion-like quality, an unhealthy looking head, like sea spume and a flat insipid distinctly acidic taste. I took the pints straight back to the same young lady and told her what I had tasted. She insisted straight away the �no body else has complained� and that �they�re all drinking it over there� pointing vaguely at a table of drunks under a large flat screen TV showing Man City beating QPR. After much insisting on my part and her flat denial that there could be anything wrong she got one of the bunch propping up the bar to taste it. He immediately confessed to having no knowledge of beer and indeed appeared to be more of a drinker than a d�gustateur and he duly, if slowly, agreed with the barmaid. I�m no fool and that beer had a distinctly dodgy quality to it, I complained and was told in no uncertain terms that I was wrong, which is the worst kind of service you can give. I shan�t be visiting this round pub again, regardless of the fact it was used by BBC in the early 80�s. I doubt Rick and his mates were that discerning about their beer, so it was the ideal choice!
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Had the most unpleasant ever experience of visiting pubs in all my 35 years or so of doing so in this establishment. Terrible, terrible service, which when complained about got me a barrage of hostility from the bar person, followed by verbal abuse. The individual left to run this pub seemed wholly unsuited to the task. Funnily enough, I also remember a year or so ago being in this pub and witnessing a stand up row between a staff member and a customer. Probably says something about the management.
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Amazed Dandilus paid �3.60 for a pint of Butcombe. It must have been a mistake on the part of the barmaid because it's normally a reasonable �2.60. (When I was in there yesterday, anyway) Agree that the beer selection is dull though
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The sign outside boasts 'freehouse' so what do you get? An interesting selection of real ales? Nope, the usual suspects, the increasingly insipid-bland Doom Bar, Butcombe and Bombardier. Risked a whopping �3.60, yes, �3.60 on a just about passable pint of Butcombe. Different channels of Sky Sports emanating from two, or was it 3, TV screens. Served by a sulky teenager. And please do tell, what is the point of the 'Cask Marque' ? Not the first time I've had a dodgy pint in one of 'marqued' pubs., a wholly untrustworthy and sustainable way of monitoring pubs ale quality so it seems. Certainly won;t be back to this mediocre hovel. Nipped over the road to Waitrose and bought an interesting selection of bottled beers, including the superb 'Jaipur' from Thornbridge. Some pubs are just killing themselves really
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4 ales on offer were doombar,butcombe,courage best and wells bombardier(�2.75pint).More of a food led pub but nice enough all the same, 7/10
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Ok, I freely confess that I have never been to this pub (or Bristol for that matter), but I do know one piece of semi-interesting trivia about it which I thought I'd share with you all.
In the episode "Boring" from the classic 80's sit-com "The Young Ones" the lads go to their local pub "The Kebab & Calculator" and the exterior of that august istitution was played by none other than...The Westbury Park Tavern. Worth having a pint in here if you are passing for Young Ones fans for that reason at least.
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