Bemmy pubs

[southside]

"was a victim of its own hubris"

I'm  not really into that posh food served on roof tiles

[Lanterne Rouge]

Not Bristol but it really makes me think when I go back to Taunton these days. There used to (allegedly) be 92 pubs in the town and suburbs but I doubt there`s a third of that now. The challenge back in the day was to have a pint in each over the course of a weekend but to my knowledge no-one ever managed it mainly due to the time it took to get to the outlying ones like The Harp, The Shepherds Rest. The Waggon & Horses or The Oxford (no all day opening back then) - gave it a bloody good go once or twice mind!

Edited March 31, 2023 by Lanterne Rouge

[Erithacus]

Looking at the history of Bemmy, it is clear to all that the expansion was mainly down to the coal mining that started properly in the 1700s and by 1800 there were about eighteen collieries. With a huge draw for labour, Bedminster grew rapidly and so did the pubs. To get some idea of how many there were have a look at https://bristolslostpubs.com/bedminster/ and see how many you can count, and how many are still (just) going. The miners certainly had a good choice.

[sticks 1969]

1 hour ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Not Bristol but it really makes me think when I go back to Taunton these days. There used to (allegedly) be 92 pubs in the town and suburbs but I doubt there`s a third of that now. The challenge back in the day was to have a pint in each over the course of a weekend but to my knowledge no-one ever managed it mainly due to the time it took to get to the outlying ones like The Harp, The Shepherds Rest. The Waggon & Horses or The Oxford (no all day opening back then) - gave it a bloody good go once or twice mind!

Didn’t bridgwater hold a record or was up near the top for the amount of pubs it had for the size of the town . In some streets there we’re literally a pub every five or six doors down in the middle of town 

 

 

[pillred]

44 minutes ago, sticks 1969 said:

Didn’t bridgwater hold a record or was up near the top for the amount of pubs it had for the size of the town . In some streets there we’re literally a pub every five or six doors down in the middle of town 

 

 

I'm fairly sure Pill at one stage must have held the record per capita, I saw a list, and now I admit this takes some believing there were 21 pubs yes 21! in the village or nearby.

Edited March 31, 2023 by pillred

[Kid in the Riot]

5 hours ago, Barrs Court Red said:

In someways, the pub trade was a victim of circumstance, in others it was a victim of its own hubris.  
 

A victim of culture and economics. Young people don't drink as much as their elders and wet pubs simply aren't viable anymore, generally. 

Pretty much a third of UK pubs gone since 1980. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

7 hours ago, pillred said:

I'm fairly sure Pill at one stage must have held the record per capita, I saw a list, and now I admit this takes some believing there were 21 pubs yes 21! in the village or nearby.

Where I used to live in Hatherleigh just outside Okehampton they did a Millennium project to track down all the pubs that used to be in the town and I think they located about 27. The population was only around 800 back then and a lot of the `pubs` were just a plank across some barrels in someone`s front room but there were a hell of a lot. I think there were something like six breweries too.

[Andre_The_Giant]

Another vote for the Apple Tree. Never a dull moment. There was even some sort of hostage situation there years ago. Mind boggles.

[pillred]

19 minutes ago, Andre_The_Giant said:

Another vote for the Apple Tree. Never a dull moment. There was even some sort of hostage situation there years ago. Mind boggles.

Now that's what you call a real lock-in!

[phantom]

Following on from The Black Cat reopening last weekend it has now been confirmed that The London Inn will be reopening on Friday 14th April

[Red-Robbo]

On 31/03/2023 at 22:41, sticks 1969 said:

Didn’t bridgwater hold a record or was up near the top for the amount of pubs it had for the size of the town . In some streets there we’re literally a pub every five or six doors down in the middle of town 

 

 

 

Canterbury famously had 365 pubs at one time. As its modern population is 50,000, it has to be in with a shout on that score.

 

[spudski]

1 hour ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Canterbury famously had 365 pubs at one time. As its modern population is 50,000, it has to be in with a shout on that score.

 

Chipping Sodbury has ten drinking establishments on the same high street, in less than 1/2 mile. Add Yate and Old Sodbury a 2.8 mile radius and you have 23 an enormous amount compared to many places per capita.

Edited April 12, 2023 by spudski

[Silvio Dante]

1 minute ago, spudski said:

Chipping Sodbury has ten drinking establishments on the same high street, in less than 1/2 mile. Add Yate and Old Sodbury a 2.8 mile radius and you have 23 an enormous amount compared to many places per capita.

True. But nobody with any regard for taste or their own well being ever touches the Boot or the Portcullis!

[CodeRed]

6 minutes ago, spudski said:

Chipping Sodbury has ten drinking establishments on the same high street, in less than 1/2 mile. Add Yate and Old Sodbury a 2.8 mile radius and you have 23 an enormous amount compared to many places per capita.

As a local like me you will know that Wickwar just up the road once had 13 pubs ( only one now) and was known as a village "of great drunkenness '. As I drive through I can spot about 5 buildings that were once pubs....the rest must have just been a barrel in someone's front room.

[spudski]

19 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

True. But nobody with any regard for taste or their own well being ever touches the Boot or the Portcullis!

I'll give you the Portcullis...but I'm hearing better reports re the Boot in recent months. Haven't been there myself tbh...but others I know said it's better than before. They even had 2 petanque courts out the back last year . 

The ones that have gone downhill in the last couple years imo, are the Squire...now a ' food' pub that's very expensive for what it is, ( drinks extortionate by comparison to most of the street ) plus very clicky...and the Horseshoe... previous owners ruined it, lost all their locals that now drink in the Grapes, and the new manager, nice lad, struggling to find a balance. Pushing it as a food pub...but failing sadly. 

10 minutes ago, CodeRed said:

As a local like me you will know that Wickwar just up the road once had 13 pubs ( only one now) and was known as a village "of great drunkenness '. As I drive through I can spot about 5 buildings that were once pubs....the rest must have just been a barrel in someone's front room.

Nuts I know...just the Buthay ( Fox? ) now? 

Re the Horseshoe in Sodders going downhill...it started when the owners took on the Dinny Winks as well... up the road from Wickwar.  Fell out with owners, lost money etc etc. Everything was a fast buck. 

They used to have a sign outside saying, ' come in a stranger, leave as a friend '...ended up being the complete opposite. Pretty much every regular left. 

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by spudski

[Silvio Dante]

9 minutes ago, spudski said:

I'll give you the Portcullis...but I'm hearing better reports re the Boot in recent months. Haven't been there myself tbh...but others I know said it's better than before. They even had 2 petanque courts out the back last year . 

The ones that have gone downhill in the last couple years imo, are the Squire...now a ' food' pub that's very expensive for what it is, ( drinks extortionate by comparison to most of the street ) plus very clicky...and the Horseshoe... previous owners ruined it, lost all their locals that now drink in the Grapes, and the new manager, nice lad, struggling to find a balance. Pushing it as a food pub...but failing sadly. 

Nuts I know...just the Buthay ( Fox? ) now? 

Re the Horseshoe in Sodders going downhill...it started when the owners took on the Dinny Winks as well... up the road from Wickwar.  Fell out with owners, lost money etc etc. Everything was a fast buck. 

They used to have a sign outside saying, ' come in a stranger, leave as a friend '...ended up being the complete opposite. Pretty much every regular left. 

 

Tbh I only go in the Steakhouse bit of the Squire, and the food is excellent there. I don’t understand trying to make the Horseshoe a food pub - it’s just too small. Just needs to be a decent drinking pub, and historically (well considering it’s not really that old) has been good as that.

Brilliantly, in the horseshoe a few months ago somebody said they were having a “Voluntary Disco” that evening. No idea what that was but wished I’d stayed around for that.. 

[freezer]

Very good news that The Black Cat and The London Inn will still be going.

Always easier to direct people by pubs rather than faceless flats!

[archie andrews]

45 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

True. But nobody with any regard for taste or their own well being ever touches the Boot or the Portcullis!

portcullis did a cracking sunday dinner carvery about 10 years ago....if im thinking of the right pub mind bottom of high st bars either side of a courtyard ....could have been a cracking pub

[CS Red]

54 minutes ago, spudski said:

Chipping Sodbury has ten drinking establishments on the same high street, in less than 1/2 mile. Add Yate and Old Sodbury a 2.8 mile radius and you have 23 an enormous amount compared to many places per capita.

Sodbury High Street many a wild night spent up there. Still get up there once or twice a month. Doesn't get as busy as it use too but still have some good nights up there. Only problem is the Tudor Raj (curry house at the top) going down hill.

[spudski]

7 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Tbh I only go in the Steakhouse bit of the Squire, and the food is excellent there. I don’t understand trying to make the Horseshoe a food pub - it’s just too small. Just needs to be a decent drinking pub, and historically (well considering it’s not really that old) has been good as that.

Brilliantly, in the horseshoe a few months ago somebody said they were having a “Voluntary Disco” that evening. No idea what that was but wished I’d stayed around for that.. 

Squire is pretty much that...a steak house these days. Shame..I've had good and bad experiences. 

Food wise the Thai and Italian ( Albanian) is generally consistent. The Latter being ' British' , not authentic Italian. 

As for the Shoe...they now have two rooms upstairs for meals. Now called the ' Top of the hill'  wine bar and restaurant '. Menu is very basic pub grub. Not sure how they are running it, as it was previously allegedly closed down before, for not having adequate fire escapes. Nothing has changed. If there is a kitchen fire, the only escape,  is past the kitchen door in the corridor, down some dodgy stairs,  or jump out the first story window First night of opening the chef walked out

Shame, as the lad running it is a lovely lad. Like you say...if it went back to being a proper drinking pub with log fires ( fireplaces have recently been closed down as previous owner bodged flue, making it unsafe...bodge it and scarper merchant ) 

It was a great drinking pub...then the tented village ( Sodbury Mosque) got erected in the garden, the far end became like Steptoes yard attracting rats. The Dinny Winks saga...it just spiralled. 

Can't imagine what sort of disco that was. Nothing surprises me there now. 

I sincerely hope they turn it around. 

 

[spudski]

2 minutes ago, CS Red said:

Sodbury High Street many a wild night spent up there. Still get up there once or twice a month. Doesn't get as busy as it use too but still have some good nights up there. Only problem is the Tudor Raj (curry house at the top) going down hill.

Tudor Raj is absolutely awful now sadly.  Wouldn't eat there if you paid me. 

Sodders needs some decent eating establishments now. Pubs good...but food not so. I've tried getting a tapas menu started in one place, but the owner is hesitant. There's definitely opportunities to be had there, if someone invested properly, as it's now become a place where people visit and lunch etc etc.

[CS Red]

Glad I'm not the only one thinking that about the Raj. I now go to the Thai at the bottom or Henry's the chinese above the George.

Edited April 12, 2023 by CS Red

[redkev]

I’m sure Portishead has about 15-20 drinking establishments now , 

quite often get some away fans in the spoons , and if memory serves me correctly Barnsley fans take 1 possibly 2 coaches to portishead been doing it for a while - possibly the workman’s ( not sure )

[Posset red]

2 hours ago, redkev said:

I’m sure Portishead has about 15-20 drinking establishments now , 

quite often get some away fans in the spoons , and if memory serves me correctly Barnsley fans take 1 possibly 2 coaches to portishead been doing it for a while - possibly the workman’s ( not sure )

West Brom have used the poacher aswell as the Albion this season. I guess due to there big car parks for coaches 

[frenchred]

8 hours ago, redkev said:

I’m sure Portishead has about 15-20 drinking establishments now , 

quite often get some away fans in the spoons , and if memory serves me correctly Barnsley fans take 1 possibly 2 coaches to portishead been doing it for a while - possibly the workman’s ( not sure )

Not the workman's mate but have been known in the plough, poacher and spoons, don't know why they don't do the old mill as they have a huge car park as well

[Posset red]

49 minutes ago, frenchred said:

Not the workman's mate but have been known in the plough, poacher and spoons, don't know why they don't do the old mill as they have a huge car park as well

Can you seriously imagine a coach trying to get in and out off the old mill car park

[redkev]

8 hours ago, Posset red said:

West Brom have used the poacher aswell as the Albion this season. I guess due to there big car parks for coaches 

I can guess why West Brom went in the Albion I’m here all week

[archie andrews]

2 hours ago, frenchred said:

Not the workman's mate but have been known in the plough, poacher and spoons, don't know why they don't do the old mill as they have a huge car park as well

birmingham 4 coachloads last two seasons in wetherspoons portishead.....

[East End Old Boy]

1 hour ago, Posset red said:

Can you seriously imagine a coach trying to get in and out off the old mill car park

Reckon it’s easier than the Albion as, apparently, a couple of WBA coaches were there for the cup game - missed seeing them as I was already in the Coopers!

[East End Old Boy]

On 12/04/2023 at 20:04, CS Red said:

Sodbury High Street many a wild night spent up there. Still get up there once or twice a month. Doesn't get as busy as it use too but still have some good nights up there. Only problem is the Tudor Raj (curry house at the top) going down hill.

Yep, agree regarding the Tudor Raj, hasn’t been good since before Covid, big change of staff. A few beers in the Horseshoe makes up for it though!