#072 BrewDog

Mike

The recent Scottish referendum had a lot of people concerned over many implications of breaking the union. Currency, EU membership, the NHS, the BBC… meanwhile, I was fearing the potential loss – or worse, addition of customs costs – of BrewDog beers.

This almost became an ‘independent’ bar. Get it?

BrewDog are a oftentimes controversial beer brewery out of Aberdeenshire. As well as crafting and shipping cases of their wares, they’ve opened up a string of bars around the country – and even elsewhere around the world – to bring the good stuff to the people on tap. A word of advice given to me when I first heard of the bar in Bristol was: “if you have one of their pints, you will have a headache in the morning and it will taste just like whichever beer you had.” That might make no sense, but that doesn’t make it not true. Trust me.

#071 King William Ale House

Adam

A common question for a blog about bars in Bristol is: which is best? And whatever answer you give someone out there is going to call you a tasteless idiot.

Now we’ll be reserving our own idiotic judgement until we’ve finished this blog, but as it stands I’ve got to say King Street as a whole has always delivered a good time.

Such a good time in fact that we’ve near enough visited every bar on it and that now also includes the pink pub at the end of the street: King William Ale House.

#070 The Bootlegger

Mike

The Bootlegger is an American-themed bar with Prohibition-inspired drinks and a Confederate battle flag bearing the bar’s logo upon the wall. A little odd, perhaps, but I think I’d feel the same were it a St George cross or the Somerset dragon.

Now, my knowledge of the American South largely comes from a four-month relationship I had with a woman from North Carolina, who grew up on a pig farm where her father keeps a gun under every bed in the house. Needless to say I never flew over for a visit, and moreover that this might have given an unfairly skewed image.

Luckily all round, Bootlegger made a better impression.

Four months, and thereafter the south did not rise again.

#069 The Social

Rich

The Social is, as its helpful sign says, is a Bar & Café. Our first photo is of the place in more of a café mode, taking during the day and, critically, in focus. Unfortunately we visited during the evening time after a considerable number of drinks already. We’ve got a photo of it in bar mode too, but it’s not pretty…

They’ve got it covered between the sign and the window writing. Why am I even writing a post about it?

#068 The Adam and Eve

Adam

I once went on a date with a girl called Eva partly because I kind of liked how our names sounded together. Unfortunately much like green cards or tax evasion it didn’t prove to be the strongest of grounds to base a relationship.

In comparison my time at the Adam and Eve proved to have a much happier ending, mostly as this particular pub turned out to have an extremely unique feature that you would never expect from looking at the outside.

What I’m talking about is a motoring theme, represented chiefly by the car chairs they’ve used to replace half of the bar seating. They’ve even left part of the seatbelts on – and as Mike discovered some of these chairs have kept the ability to adjust forward and back, or recline.

#067 White Lion Bar

Mike

The Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge are with little doubt the most magnificent sights in Bristol, yet so often overlooked by passing visitors to the centre by being just a little out of the way. Avon Gorge Hotel’s White Lion Bar provides an ideal terrace to take in the views these wonders provide.

I wonder if any “[colour] [animal]” combination isn’t a pub.

#066 The Mall

Rich

For the second time in a month, Mike has been caught out by opening hours. Too late, you might think? No. Mike is so keen to start drinking that he frequently arranges to arrive at a bar before it is open. In this case we were a mere 4 hours ahead of schedule for our intended stop, so we headed down the road to The Mall. It should in no way be considered a backup plan or second choice, as it was on the agenda anyway – my point is that Mike is terrible at logistics.

#065 The Elbow Room

Adam

Everything in America is bigger than the UK. The houses, the food portions, and the number of people killed by guns all appear super-sized to the majority of people from Great Britain.

As a kid I used to go to the US on holiday, but well below their legal drinking age I never really got to enjoy the bars: so an American themed pool bar in the middle of Bristol was always going to tempt me.

But does The Elbow Room actually feel that different to any other bar on Park Street or up on the triangle? Perhaps not at first but it certainly has a few unique features.

#064 Seamus O’Donnells

Rich

Seamus O’Donnells is, as you may have guessed, an Irish bar.

#063 The Elephant

Mike

Many* people have asked me how we go about choosing our venues. It’s often really very simple: we pick somewhere to meet, a direction to walk in, and proceed until we find somewhere we like the look of.

Places such as The Elephant stand in good stead, due to recommendations and seeing them when we were at that other bar (that one over there) put them on our radar, so to speak.

*at least, like, two people