Mike
Daylight saving time is over, and for those of us working the 9-5 daylight is over by the time we’re home once more. So, rather than the various beer gardens and boat decks, it’s the time of year that Pubs-That-Look-Like-Pubs™ can really shine.
And so to The Old Fish Market for a mid-week, hump-day beverage. Not long reopened since its refurbishment, the place is looking better than ever. I assume. I had never actually been here before.
I didn’t even take this photo, Adam did. This post is crumbling upon a foundation of lies.
Although we very much joined the work drinks crowd, our own places of work being outside the city meant that Rich and I arrived after the ‘happy hour’ prices of 5-7pm finished. Dan may have been here all day for all I know.
Fuller’s brewery brings us not only a standard selection of their London ales, but also quite a range of other beers and ciders from around the world and some of the brewer’s newer, craftier drinks. Dan and I both partook of the lattermost, with a Frontier lager and a delightfully hoppy Wild River pale ale. Rich took to the cider, on tap here from Cornish Orchards.
Photo of taps, illustrating some of the bar’s range while also reminding what we had to drink.
Old Fish Market have gone for a bit more of a trendy bar ambience than you might expect from PTLLPs, with low lighting and candles. This plays well with its city centre location, where you’re likely to get a lot of work drinks crowds and no one is likely to be calling it their local.
Hump day brings with it an offer of a free pizza with any bottle of Italian wine purchased. As much as a second dinner and a large quantity of alcohol on a week night tempted us, we stayed our hands. At-table fliers also detailed events going on, understandably, given when we visited, mostly relating to Hallowe’en. Fish Market seems pretty well set up for live music and small theatrical showcases.
The problem with spending most of our visit sat in one place is that all of my pictures are taken from that one place.
Speaking of the theatre, the walls are papered with posters for a variety of plays and stage shows from the history of Bristol’s venues, such as the Hippodrome and the Old Vic. A really nice touch, I think, to add a touch of local charm. Always good to see a brewery-owned pub go this way, rather than the chain or franchise cookie-cutter method.
Pubs-That-Look-Like-Pubs can often be perfectly nice places, but at the end of the day not lend themselves to much blog content from us. Between Fuller’s wide drinks selection, and the atmosphere and interesting decor, I think that Market has really outdone the PTLLP pigeonhole.
The Old Fish Market (59 Baldwin St, BS1 1QZ) is open noon until 11pm daily, until midnight Fridays and Saturdays, and until 10pm Sundays. http://oldfishmarket.co.uk/
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