Halloween Post - The Hatchet inn

It's that time of year again where there's a crate of pumpkins in the supermarket, Film 4 are showing Scream, and I'm struggling to find a haunted pub worthy of a Halloween post.

My travels took me to Bristol, to a pub that once had pirates and ne'er-do-wells as customers, plus ghostly occurrences on the upper floors and things that go bump in the night.
Unfortunately, it didn't feel at all creepy when I visited on a sunny October afternoon.

The Hatchet Inn (27 Frogmore Street, Bristol, BS1 5NA)
One of the oldest pubs in Bristol, this dates back to 1606 and has seen four decades of colourful characters propping up the bar, from pirates to bare-knuckle boxers, to hairy 80's rockers.

Let's start with the front door - as good a place as any to start when you arrive at a pub.
The gruesome claim to fame is that the 300-year old thick wooden door is covered with the human skin of executed criminals.

Quite why anyone would want to add a layer of skin to the front door, I'm not sure.  And no-one has ever actually scraped away the black paint to scientifically prove or disprove the story.

But Bristol has form with this kind of thing...in 1821 a young chap called John Horwood threw a rock at a girl he was infatuated with, causing her to die several days later from her injuries.  Horwood was hanged, then his skin was removed, tanned, and used to bind the notes from his trial.  The book now sits in a display in the M Shed museum.

The Hatchet Inn was also supposedly the chosen local of Edward Teach, better known as pirate Blackbeard, who'd knock back a few ales before heading off to plunder ships in the Caribbean.

There were all sorts of nefarious activities in the Inn in days gone by...
🐀 Rat Pit
🐔 Cock Fighting
✊ Bare knuckle boxing
A handful of symbols that have been phased out of the Good Beer Guide over the years.

So, what of the haunting?  Objects move of their own accord, hands brush by staff in dark corners, footsteps can be heard treading the boards in empty rooms.
Paranormal investigators have visited in the hope of seeing the bare knuckle boxer who is said to pace the upper rooms, or catch a glimpse of a ghostly woman mournfully crying as she wanders the building.

Thanks to an expensive makeover a few years back, the pub is fairly shiny inside, not offering the cobwebs and uneven floorboards and cracks in the wall that I like in my ancient inns.

The old boys in the corner were sinking pints of Doom Bar when I visited.  Robinsons 'Trooper', St Austell 'Tribute', and the local Wiper and True 'Kaleidoscope' were the alternatives, my pick of the Kaleidoscope being a well-kept and tasty pale ale.  The Hatchet is a decent city centre pub with an interesting past that is well worth a visit.

Whilst in Bristol thinking about haunted pubs, I may as well trek the short distance to King Street where you'll find another ancient inn with a ghost or fifteen...

The Llandoger Trow (5 King Street, Bristol, BS1 4ER)
Built in 1664, this is another ale house boasting some famous customers - Robert Louis Stevenson is said to have based The Admiral Benbow from Treasure Island on the 'Trow.  Daniel Defoe met Alexander Selkirk whilst drinking in the pub, a shipwrecked sailor who spent four years on a desert island and would be an inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.

There are a whopping 15 ghosts associated with the pub, as identified when the crew from TV show Most Haunted came to investigate.
The upper floor is said to be the the most haunted - including a young boy with a metal leg support clanking across the floorboards
Angry ghosts have pulled pictures off the wall and tossed utensils around the kitchen.  The Jacobean room and the cellar are both said to have haunted cold spots ('drafts' to the paranormal non-believers).

  

The Trow is a pub that I do like: photogenic timber-framed frontage, flagstone floor, grand fireplaces, nooks and crannies...and some fine beer and cider.
Cask ales on this visit were from Theakston, Adnams, and Bristol Beer Factory.  Apart from the hand pumps, there is a hefty draft menu on a blackboard, offering a fair few German brews, plus sours and nitro stouts, and crafty pales.

I opted to brave a still dry cider called 'Brain Twister', hoping it wouldn't live up to the name later in the day.

Another year, and more haunted pubs that prove not to be at all spooky when I visit.
But for those who enjoy this time of year...happy Halloween 👻

Look out...the ghostly decorations will come down in the pubs and the Christmas ones will pop up before we know it.  And that is scary.

Dark Mild and Death Metal - More Bristol Pub Explorations

Further explorations of Bristol take in a spectacular riverside brew pub and a couple more beer guide entries, before we end up with thrash metal sound-tracking our final pint of the day.

We headed into the streets to the NW of Temple Meads, resisted popping into the Seven Stars, then found our way to Left Handed Giant's brew pub.  Unmissable when approaching from Castle Park, a little more challenging from the other direction.

LHG Brewpub (Compressor Building, Hawkins Lane, Bristol, BS1 6EU - web)

This was once the site of George's Brewery, founded in 1788 and expanding over the years until it dominated the whole area on the loop of the River Avon.

Courage took over in 1961, then eventually closed the brewery down in 1999.  It's been redeveloped into apartments, hotels, office space, bars and eateries, with  the old compressor building now housing Left Handed Giant's flagship site.

This was bustling downstairs by the bar - one of the busiest places I've been in some time.  Stairs led to two more floors with extra seating, where we found a table with views over the outdoor area and river.

The beer list advertised 12 of their own brews, plus 8 guests, ranging from low alcohol options to chocolate & vanilla stouts and Oud Beersel lambic.  I didn't spot half the available beers until looking back at a picture I took, otherwise I may still be there.


The single minimalist metal rod hand pump was dispensing a cask 'Dark Mild'.
Here it is looking foamy and delicious...

Such a sensible choice.  Except the 'My Paradise In Burning' 11% ABV imperial stout, in the glass next to the mild, is mine too.  I'll never learn.

There hasn't been a picture of shiny brewing equipment on the blog for a whole month!

We departed across the curving Castle Bridge which climbs upward as it crosses the river, leading to the pleasant park opposite the brew pub.  

Just around the corner was another Good Beer Guide 2022 entry, the Bridge Inn.

Bridge Inn (16 Passage Street, Bristol, BS2 0JF - web)
Eye-catching and unmissable with it's giant black and white mural - the first Hendrix pub appearance on the blog since the Kings Arms in Huddersfield.
The pub looks reasonably big from the outside, so it was quite a surprise to find just the one tiny room within.
"So small it feels like being in a fishtank" according to this Bristol Post article. 
Wouldn't it need to have huge glass windows for that? (Bag of Nails Pub Rule #6 "Sad pedantry is encouraged")

There were three available real ales on our visit, from Box Steam, Plain Ales and Quantock.
I always enjoy the Quantock beers, so picked the 'QPA', before we settled on bench seating in the corner, under some great framed retro posters from Bristol gigs by the likes of Led Zep, The Clash and Television.

A cosy, comfortable place with chatty customers, but we needed to drink up and move on.  We let Google guide us into the side-streets to our next pub, again picked from the Beer Guide...

The Volunteer Tavern (9 New Street, Bristol, BS2 9DX - web)
This is a 17th century pub, which still retains a little of it's historic character, but has kinda drifted into the hipster territory.
Too many fairy lights for my liking.  And whilst I'm all for pubs having local artists' work for sale on their walls, it was a bit disconcerting to have people peering over our heads as they decided which picture would look best in their living room.

Thumbs up for a lovely, well kept pint of stout from Moor Beer Company.

I was intent on getting to the rock pub, which involved a 20-minute trek across town whereas it would have made much more sense to visit somewhere closer to the Volunteer.  But off we went, navigating our way through the city centre streets.

The Gryphon (41 Colston Street, Bristol, BS1 5AP)
This is a great-looking triangular building on a street corner, with a bar in the front room and additional seating areas as it widens to the rear.
It's everything a rock pub should be - moodily lit, a bit battered round the edges, and noisy!

Upstairs is a small stage for live music - forthcoming bands playing include Visions of Disfigurement and Cuttered Flesh, names which suggest you're going to be disappointed if you come for the Ed Sheeran covers.

I was dressed completely wrongly for the occasion - not in black - although I did once see Slayer live, which I think is adequate credentials to feel at home in the surroundings.

 

There are probably a limited number of places featured in the Good Beer Guide where you're going to be entertained by a metal soundtrack.  It's in the Guide due to a dedication to real ales which can be seen by all the pump-clips adorning the ceiling.
And I liked it - more of this kind of thing please!

I ordered a 'Bastion Best Bitter' from Wrexham's Big Hand brewery.

Then set off to find the toilets - what's the worst that can happen if I pick the wrong door?...

 

And that brought our explorations of Bristol pubs to a close, for the time being.
With more sights to see, brewery taps to drink in, and Beer Guide pubs to get to, we'll be back soon.
Cheers! 🍻 

Cats, Cider and Craft - Bristol Pub Explorations

On a gloriously sunny weekend we began our day by strolling the streets of Bristol and popping our heads into the museum.  Then headed down through Cabot Park with a plan to walk around the harbour with a few refreshment stops en-route.
But before we reached the waterside, we came across an old favourite...

Bag of Nails (141 St Georges Road, Bristol, BS1 5UW - web)
I'm not especially a cat fan, so I shouldn't really like the 'Cat Pub'.
But I do enjoy a quirky pub, and anywhere your beer is served over a sleeping cat in a box on the bar is a little bit quirky.

You also don't get pillars with 22 pub rules chalked onto it in your average Greene King dining pub.

Music is on vinyl from a record player in an alcove.  Nashville country from Margo Price whilst we visited (Rule#11 No interrupting a record once a side has begun).

But there's more to the Bag Of Nails than watching the cats roam around and examining all the odd decorations and artwork.
There was a cracking beer selection of five tempting cask ales, with Newcastle's Northern Alchemy 'Harambee Pasadia' being my choice.  A "hard ginger ale", the description of which I only read after selecting it - I kinda wished I'd just had the best bitter.

There were four good lookin' keg options too, nicely described on the beer blackboard as "cold, fizzy, expensive".

It was just a few minutes stroll across onto the harbour-side path, then along to the Grain Barge.

Grain Barge (Mardyke Wharf, Hotwell Road, Bristol, BS8 4RU - web)
Built in 1936, this barge transported barley and wheat across the Severn estuary between Bristol and Cardiff.  In 2007 it was converted into a floating pub and moored on the northern side of the harbour, opposite the SS Great Britain.

Unsurprisingly it was proving popular on a sunny lunchtime, particularly the outdoor seating on the upper deck. We grabbed one of the last available tables inside, watching the sail boats breeze by, whilst the bar got gradually busier and more chaotic.

The Grain Barge is run by Bristol Beer Factory, with three of their cask ales on offer, Fortitude, Notorious and Independence.  I had a pint of the the 'Notorious', a nice sensible-strength session pale, packing in plenty of hops and flavours for it's 3.8% ABV.  

We stayed here for a bite to eat from a menu of locally sourced & sustainable seafood and veggie options.  For me, a hand-made pie from Five Acre Farm, with mash and greens (wot, not mushy peas!).

We could have made quite the pub crawl of the harbour had we picked more stopping points.  The Pumphouse, The Cottage and the Ostrich were all en-route, but two of these required the patience to queue up to gain entry, with the waterside seating proving a huge draw. 

Here's the view from Underfall Yard, as we looped around the western end of the harbour...

And here's the next pub...not the best picture due to some dazzling sun from any other angle, but you do get a man in an Ajax shirt, which you don't see everywhere.

Orchard Inn (12 Hanover Place, Spike Island, Bristol, BS1 6XT - web)
For the beer drinker, three ales (Otter, Bewdley and Bristol Beer Factory) were being served straight from the barrel at the back of the bar.
But The Orchard was CAMRA's cider pub of the year in 2009 - which is recent enough, as time moves slowly in the world of scrumpy.
So I figured I had to switch to the cider, picking from the list below...

Oof..5.5% upward, there could be trouble ahead.
I rather randomly picked the Harry's 'Scrummage' from the mid-point on the list.  Tasty and super-easy to drink. 
Which makes a nice change - I normally manage to pick the really challenging ciders that taste like they've been strained through a farmer's underpants.

I really liked the Orchard - if there weren't so many other places I wanted to explore in Bristol I could have just settled here for the rest of the day, working through the list and getting increasingly tipsy.  It was a thoroughly comfortable back-to-basics pub.  Most customers had taken their drinks across the road into the sunny bit of the street, but it gradually began to fill up inside whilst we were there.

It's Bristol, so the post is required to contain some street art - in this case, quite a famous one...

Our next point of call, a little further along the redeveloped harbourside, was a Craft Beer Diversion...

Wild Beer at Wapping Wharf (6-8 Gaol Ferry Steps, Bristol, BS1 6WE - web)
Wild Beer started brewing in rural Somerset in 2012 with a passion to do something a bit different, including wild fermentation, dabbling with unusual yeasts and foraging ingredients.

The decision today was whether to stick with the familiar, but lovely, 'Millionaire Stout'; try one of the collaboration beers they'd concocted for the Six Nations; or go completely left-field.
Left-field sounds good - I went for 'Zintuki' a 7.3% blend of saison, sour beer and apple juice.

Odd...but strangely enjoyable

Because the weather was nice the outdoor tables were at a premium (the deckchairs weren't proving popular though).  This left more room inside, where we grabbed a good spot in front of the bar.  It's a typical modern place where fans of ventilation systems can study the exposed ductwork.  I personally liked the unusual mural at the end of the room.

Four very different venues on our route, all enjoyable, all making me realise I should journey out this way more often.

More from Bristol in the next post, when we head to the big modern brew pub by the river and stumble into the heavy metal bar.
Cheers!