Rich
The Tap and Barrel, a local Bedminster/Southville offering, tempted us in as we walked past on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Adam, suspicious of everything and everyone, was immediately concerned by the prominent sign reading Friendly on the outside; “Why would they need to say that? What are they hiding?”
Undeterred, we entered for a drink.
The first thing we noticed is that this placed was packed; families, groups, couples young and old. We were note convinced we would find any seats, but sidled over to the bar to get things started.
We ordered Doom Bar (you read what we think about this beverage in here) and were told it would be 4.80£. We thought that was extremely dear but tried to pay anyway, by card, which was met with much disdain and an explanation that cards were not welcome. Adam began fishing frantically for change, at which point we asked speculatively if it was 4.80£ for two or each.
Pint of Doom Bar.
2.40£.
Amazing.
Less than a fiver!
Riding high on the excitement of having found the cheapest pub in Bristol, our lack of seating problem seemed not so serious. We pondered leaning upon the bar counter (near the delicious cheap drinks), but Adam pointed out that we would be in the way of the pool players. This was an uncanny showing of pub sports awareness, given our prior ineptitude at darts.
We wander through the back and found a smoking area, which featured a few run down looking benches. We sat down and almost regretted it immediately with extreme amounts of bench-wobble nearly spilling our lovely cheap drinks. On closer inspection, the two braces of the bench had been removed(presumably for use as free firewood to save costs in order to keep Doom Bar prices down), reducing lateral stability to near zero. We were a little tired and so continued this risky arrangement whilst we inspected our surroundings.
The Tap and Barrel smoking area is not the most pleasant environment.
Nor does is have the most picturesque views.
And when asked by a fellow visitor for lighter, she added, before we had time to answer and again with much disdain “In fact I bet you don’t smoke anyway”. It was clear we were not the usual customers.
Walking back through the bar it was more apparent that everyone seemed to know everyone else. This made for quite a loud and vibrant atmosphere, certainly devoid of awkward silences and stilted conversations that you might get a more twee place.
The final thing to add is that they do regular karaoke nights. If you went along, you could be having as much fun as this old gentlemen singing to himself in the corner.
Tap and Barrel (43 Dean Lane, Bristol, BS3 1BS) is open daily. They don’t have a website and probably not even an internet connection.
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