As ease ourselves out of a sweaty summer, I’m sure most of you are looking forward to cosy season, although I’m hoping we have a few more beer garden evenings left!
Read on to see what delicious things you could be doing this month… If you find this or any of the other guides useful, you can set up a subscription or shout me a coffee to say cheers if you like.
Continue reading Bristol Food & Drink: SeptemberDespite 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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Other posts you may enjoy…
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Continue reading The Best Brunches in BristolWe all love novelty socks and comedy DVDs, but surely the best present of all to receive is the gift of food (or money, money is also very good).
I usually try to top up the stockings of my nearest and dearest with a few local Bristol treats (inevitably a few find their way into my cupboard, but I see it as commission for my thoughtfulness), so should you be wondering what food & drink gifts to get for friends and family, allow me to show you some of your options…
Continue reading The Bristol Foodie Gift guideIf you’re looking to try somewhere new or stuck for ideas for where to eat and drink, hopefully some of these brilliant deals will tempt you in.
Make sure you follow your favourite bars and restaurants on social media (or sign up to their newsletter) for the most up to date promotions and events, and remember that it’s a tough time for hospitality businesses, so your support is more valuable than ever. Get out there – eat, drink, be merry and support your local indies!
Continue reading Food & Drink Offers in BristolI’ve lost count of the amont of times I’ve been asked “What food stalls are there in St Nick’s Market?” or what the newest additions are to Bristol’s food haven, so I figured that it was time to write this guide.
I’ll strive to keep this blog as up to date as possible, which means of course making sure I go there for lunch as much as I can. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it!
Continue reading Food stalls at St Nicholas MarketSummer in Bristol means eating and drinking by the Harbourside, right?
Personally, my ultimate sign that the sunshine has arrived is when I see legs dangling over the quayside outside Arnolfini, or people jostling for space along the jetties nearby.
This guide is mainly focused on nabbing some a bite to eat in the harbour – if you’re more focused on waterfront boozing, take a look at my Harbourside Pub Crawl guide.
Continue reading Bristol’s Best Harbourside RestaurantsIt’s been a while, but the highlights list is back! These have always been some of my favourite blog posts to put together – not only is it nice to get some top tips on where to eat from local chefs, landlords, writers and tour guides, but it’s also such a nice way to end the year, seeing Bristol businesses celebrating each other.
I hope you’ll find a few places to add to your list for next year from the picks below, whether it’s a new place or a longtime favourite of one of the contributors. I’ve even put my picks in for the first time, but you’ll have to scroll down a way for those!
If you’ve enjoyed the guides this year, there’s the option to buy me a glass of wine to say cheers – thank you to the folks who have this year, I’m genuinely chuffed whenever I get a notification!
Continue reading Bristol Food & Drink: 2024 HighlightsWe all know that any meal or drinks can be enhanced by a fantastic view. Luckily, with most of Bristol resting on a ridiculous gradient, impressive views over the city and beyond are not hard to come by. Sometimes though, it’s just nice to sit in a good pub garden and take in your surroundings, whether it be on a river bank, on a busy high street or up a behemoth hill. Continue reading Bristol’s Best Pub Gardens
Finally plucked up the courage to ask the object of your affection out for a drink? Or want to spoil your significant other?
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Continue reading Bristol’s Best Date LocationsMy favourite types of food are those where you can order plenty of dishes and share – tapas, mezze, tagine, and of course curry.
I love all curries the same, whether they’re traditional dals or English-born Baltis, Keralan or Bangladeshi, spicy or creamy.
Speaking of which – some of the places below are region-specific, some are more ‘classic’ English curry house.
Here is a list of some of the finer curry establishments I can recommend in Bristol – feel free to add your thoughts or own recommendations in the comments below! Continue reading Bristol’s Best Curry Restaurants
A Life Less Organised 