There is one word that sums up going on a pub crawl in Bristol.

Impossible!!

Even though the number of pubs in Bristol has declined in the last decade, there are still hundreds of them. The latest figure I could find was 280 (as of 2017). Mick and I have walked past dozens of them.

And, maybe stopped at a few.

Mick did some research before our son and his girlfriend came to visit us here in Bristol for a four-day weekend. Mick wanted to know the best priced traditional pubs within a 30-minute walk from our house sit. He had visited a few of the pubs close to where we are staying in posh Clifton, but after paying between £4.90 to £5.30 for a pint he decided none was suitable for a pub crawl with our visitors.

A few days before our visitors arrived, Mick and I went for a walk closer to the floating harbour and found five pubs that made it onto Mick’s ‘short list’. One on the list was the pub Mick discovered during our first house sit in Southville  – The Coronation.

So in between showers, off we set to try them out.

Mick was so eager that he would not stand still long enough for me to take a photo of all three of them together. And I have to confess that the next photos are ALL borrowed from the net because the rain was spitting, and we were eager to get inside and order a pint or a half pint, and the taking of photos was forgotten.

The first pub was The Bear at Hotwells. Not the most attractive from the outside, but inside it was very well kept and housed quite a nice looking restaurant.

Inside, around the bar were several locals enjoying the warmth and the beer. I really liked the stained glass cupboard above the bar. Here a pint of ale cost £3.20.

While we were enjoying our drinks, the owner brought us a plate of party sausage rolls. But, Mick got quite a shock when he tried one, as they were cold. Our son’s girlfriend explained that was quite normal, but it was not what we are used to back home.

Next stop was the Merchant’s Arms, only 100m away from our first stop. The fire was alight in this small bar and we were lucky enough to find a spot right next to it.

Here I tried a Mulled Wine for £3, and the pints were the same price as the first pub. My wine was served with a fruit mince pie on the side – very Christmassy.

The publican was very friendly and remembered Mick from a few days earlier when he was doing his ‘research’. Sadly, we could not dally, as there were other pubs to visit.

Number 3 – was the Nova Scotia Hotel. On our way there, we walked past a fancy pub – The Pump House, but it was not on our short list. Mick had checked out their prices beforehand and they were quite expensive – it was more of a gastropub. Not what we wanted.

We had walked past the Nova Scotia several times on various walks around the area, and every time it was filled with locals and pre-football goers (as the local football field is close by). So, we were very keen to see how this compared.

It was much busier when we walked in than this ‘borrowed’ photo shows – and the beers were reasonably priced at £3.30 per pint. But it was not our favourite stop.

After a round – we moved on.

Pub Number 4 was The Rose of Denmark. It was the winning pub for the “Most Interesting Name”. It was undergoing major renovations  which meant that the barmaid had to go out the back, or downstairs, to get the beers. She disappeared for awhile anyway and returned with the beers.

I should point out at this stage that some of us abstained at some of the stops.

Pub Number 5 was the Coronation – the pub Mick had tried a few times while we were house sitting for the vicar in November – as it was less than 200m away from the vicarage.

This was definitely the cheapest pub of them all, but it didn’t get the vote for the best ale/s.

A pint of IPA here cost only £2.20.

This was an interesting pub – the bartender was serving a few locals and us, and in between, he was putting on a huge pot of vegetables that he said was for a stew for the participants of the Pub Quiz which was to be held that evening. We were in agreement that we were not going to stay for that.

So, we headed for home – stopping at our “Favourite Pub” for one last round. The winner was…..

..The Merchant’s Arms.

An interesting fact I worked out (well) after our pub crawl was that assuming there are 280 pubs in Bristol, and allowing five pubs to be visited per day, it would take 56 days to complete a pub crawl in Bristol.

While it may not be ‘impossible’ as I first claimed, Mick and I do not have that much time left here!