Despite being just a 20minute walk from town and Temple Meads, Totterdown has always seemed further away than it actually is. I blame the hills and busy Bath Road for making the area feel so separate.
You can do this pub crawl in reverse order if you’d prefer to start at the top of the hill and work your way back down towards Temple Meads, but I’ve done it the other way because you can end the night with live music at The George or darts and pool at the Knowle Consitutional Club if you feel so inclined.
Star & Dove
This pub has been through more incarnations than Madonna, from tasty boozer to smoky Dickensian vibes (anyone remember The Historical Dining Rooms?), then a sports pub, then back to a gastropub, and now a chilled neighbourhood pub that shows the sport and has a pool table. You’ll find a good selection of cask and keg, plenty of comfy seating, and outdoor seating in their little back courtyard. The food menu is also short but sweet, with tasty burgers and loaded fries. A great starting point!
New Found Out
A bastion of old Totterdown, the NFO still has karaoke on a Friday and a meat raffle on Sundays. It’s small but cosy, with a small back yard better suited to smoking than sitting, but the vibe is friendly, the drinks are cheap(er) with a limited selection of lagers and ciders, and there are a few boardgames to choose from if you’re looking for more entertainment. They also show live sport throughout the week, but it doesn’t really dominate the place.
The Shakespeare
I’m still trying to suss out this pub, it can be quite hippy or grunge depending on when you visit, but there’s a decent drinks selection with cask and keg, live music or DJs on weekends, and a fairly large back garden to sit in if the weather is good.
The Oxford
I’d say that this pub is the hub of the area, with a good amount of buzz inside and out on most days, especially in summer when you get a fairly big crowd out the front taking in the last of the evening sunshine. There’s always a great range of lagers, ales, IPAs and stouts to choose from, with a particularly good selection of Bristol Beer Factory brews.
Bruhaha
This fairly new ‘nanobrewery’ has a small taproom on Wells Road, with around 8 of their beers available on keg at any point, plus guest beers from other local breweries, such as Hop Union in Brislington, or On Point on Bedminster. They have kitchen popups at weekends, and some outdoor seating (although it does look on to the busy Wells Rd). Seating is limited so it might be a difficult one to nab a space if youre in a bigger group.
Knowle Constitutional Club (Thu-Fri only)
Tucked away in the basement of a house, look out for the fairy lights over a gateway and head down the steps into this little hideaway. Run by volunteers, this bar usually has one beer on draft and other drinks in cans, but the real draw here are the full size pool tables and the darts room.
Smokebox
I’ll allow it that this isn’t a pub, but is being included on a technicality in that a) they have a great selection of beers and b) you might be hungry by this point and the BBQ here is lush. If you’re here in summer the front terrace is a lovely suntrap in the evenings, or on colder days the bar itself and small but vibey.
The George
End your mighty pub crawl by continuing just a few more minutes up Wells Road to The George, technically just over the imaginary border in Knowle, but worth a visit as it’s a classic, large Edwardian pub whose claim to fame is that cricketer Shane Warn used to live upstairs and occasionally went behind the bar! It’s got an old school selection of drinks on tap and bottle here but the prices are good, the seating is plentiful (I love a good banquette), they’ve got a pool table and skittle alley, and if you’re there on a Saturday you’re more than likely to see some live music or karaoke.
If you somehow find yourself with the time and energy to continue up the hill, you could tag on The Knowle and Knowle Cricket Ground to your pub crawl, which are about 15-20 minutes walk uphill from The George.
Happy crawling!
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