Distance: 3km or 1.8 miles
Starting at Bristol Temple Meads station, it is the oldest and largest station in Bristol. Opened in 1840, it was the first station to be designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Since then it has been expanded three times but Brunel’s terminus no longer exists. Temple Meads takes its name from the nearby Temple Church and the word “meads” is a derivation of “mæd”, an Old English variation of “mædwe”, meadow, referring to the water meadows alongside the River Avon that were part of Temple parish.
You can download the walk here – https://www.bar-trek.com/crawl/715
Exit the station underneath the tracks and turn right when you see ‘Greggs’ along the footpath towards Meads Reach Bridge. The bridge cost £2.4 million and was opened in 2008 and in 2009, it received an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Once over the river, turn right down Glass Wharf, named after an important post-medieval glass-working site discovered during the construction of the new office blocks. Head straight across Avon Street into Oxford Street and our first stop.
1. Little Martha Brewing
23 Oxford St, Bristol BS2 0QT
Little Martha Brewing was started in 2020 and first opened the doors in December 2021. The name comes from Marfusha, or ‘Little Martha’ became the first rabbit in space on July 2, 1959. Along with her companions Otvazhnaya (Brave) and Snezhinka (Snowflake), Little Martha was launched into a suborbital trip on a Soviet R2-A rocket before returning safely to Earth. They serve their own beers direct from the tanks, with guest kegs and one guest cask usually available.
Turn right and continue along Oxford Street crossing over Anvil Street into Oxford Street again. Passing Dings Park on your right. At the end head across the junction into Days Road and our next stop.
2. Moor Beer Co
Days Rd, Bristol BS2 0QS
Named from the Levels and Moors area of Somerset where the brewery originated, Moor Beer moved to central Bristol behind Temple Meads Rail Station in 2014 where there is a Tap Room and a shop. Moor cask beer is served straight from the barrel Fridays and Saturdays (not January). Up to fifteen keg beers are available, which may include lambic and sour beers from the likes of Cantillon. Moor beers are also sold in cans and bottles which are registered as real ale by CAMRA. However, the cask offering is dubious, I’ve been there twice on a Friday and nothing was on. You have better luck in town finding a Moor cask beer.
Now turn left then right down Kingsland Road as it turns into Kingsland Bridge Road. Here you cross over an old railway line which connected Bristol to Bath. It closed at the end of the 1960’s and was converted into a railway path by 1986 then turn left into Barton Road and our next stop.
3. The Barley Mow
39 Barton Rd, St Philip’s, Bristol BS2 0LF
This is the Bristol Beer Factory’s flagship pub with eight hand pumps offer four beers from the brewery, plus three constantly changing guests of varying styles, mostly from local breweries, and one real cider. There are also 10 keg beer taps dedicated to changing brews, including Bristol Beer Factory Clear Head (alcohol free) and often other local beers.
Purpose built as a pub in 1828, and formerly known as The Duke of York, this is the only remaining pub in The Dings. In the past there were many more including: Bath House, Kingsland Road; Bunch of Grapes, Sussex Street (now the elite retreat); Crown & Anchor, New Kingsley Road; The George (demolished in 2009), Kingsland Road; Mechanic’s Arms, Sussex Street; The Star, Sussex Street; Railroad Tavern, Barton Road; Victoria Tavern, Victoria Street/Kingsland Road; William IV, Folly Lane; New Inn, Barton Road; Berkeley Castle, Russ Street. Demolished in the 1930s on Kingsland Road: Glass House, Royal Mail Public House, Barkeley Castle (a different one), Royal Oak. Incredibly this list is not exhaustive, it’s just the ones I happen to come across while reading about the history of the area.
Opposite is a Jewish graveyard established in the 1740s – the first in Bristol since the Edict of Expulsion in 1290. The earliest identified burial is dated 1762, the most recent was in 1944. There was a fire in an adjoining building in 1901, and firefighters did quite a bit of damage breaking through a wall of the graveyard to reach the fire.
The Dings is an area of Bristol which derives its name from the old Anglo-Saxon word meaning a meadow where withies grow. Now when leaving this fantastic pub head back to Kingsland Bridge Road and turn left. It becomes Midland Road (named after the railway company which built a station here). We are in an area of Bristol called ‘Old Market’ and there are some really amazing buildings here.
At the junction with Old Market Street you will see opposite a building called ‘The Palace’. This was built in 1869 by wine and spirits merchant, John Sharp, to take advantage of trade from the planned Great Western Railway GWR – sometimes known as God’s Wonderful Railway) station and was originally planned to be called the Station or Railway Hotel. The station was never built, the GWR terminus was instead erected on the site of the old Bristol and Exeter station at Temple Meads. The Midland railway did build a station, Bristol St Philip’s, nearby but attracted nowhere near the numbers of travellers that was expected from the GWR. That station was closed in 1953 and then demolished.
Its main claim to fame, however, is the floor of its bar. The floor of the bar follows the slope of the road! This makes getting drinks very easy, you simply stand up and you practically fall to the bar. On you left you would have walked passed an impressive building which were Almshouses. If you think the back is fantastic just pop down Jacob Street and see the frontage as we shall be walking that way. The original almshouse was built by Bristol merchant, John Barstaple around 1402. Barstaple was a civic leader being bailiff in 1379, Sherriff in 1389 and Mayor three times in 1395, 1401 and 1405. Barstable was granted a charter from King Richard II saying “John Barstaple, burgess of Bristol, to grant land in the suburb of Bristol to the mayor and commonalty of Bristol to build a hospital for poor persons”. Barstaple died in 1411. The current buildings are varied in styles as the were extensively rebuilt between 1858 and 1883. The buildings were sold in 2010 and are now flats.
So, at the junction turn left down Old Market Street. Do take the short walk up the cobbled Jacob Street, it will be worth it. A little way down you will see on your left a large building with a central arched entrance and a coat of arms above it. This is the Old Market Drill Hall, built on the site of a sugar warehouse and refinery. It was home to the 4th (City of Bristol) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment in 1912. The building fell into disrepair after WWII and left derelict for many years. In 2005, it was used as a post office sorting office and converted into flats in 2007.
As we continue down Old Market Street, at the roundabout on your left is a pub called The Stag and Hounds. It was was built in 1483, probably as a private house and partially rebuilt in the early 18th century when it became a pub and partially rebuilt again the 1960s. The first recorded landlord of the pub was William Prowlin in 1792. Like most pubs of that time, it was also a courthouse and there is a plaque on the building confirming this as the location of the Ancient Court of the Pie Poudre. Pie Poudre is from the French, pied poudres, or dusty feet. A vagabond is called in French pied poudreux. The Pie Poudre courts were an offshoot of the Tolzey or Sheriff’s Court and the one at the Stag and Hounds is associated with the September fair in Old Market and was in existence some time before 1373. The purpose of the Pie Poudre courts was to dispense speedy justice for those who were not permanent residents of the city, and would have been especially important to settle disputes on fair days.
Head straight across the roundabout into Castle Street. Turning down Tower Hill on your left to the end when we turn right into Passage Street and our next stop.
4. Bridge Inn
16 Passage St, Bristol BS2 0JF
The pub’s history stretches back to the 19th century – and is one of the last remaining pubs on the street – when the nearby St Philips Bridge was built to replace the ferry service, which was subsequently bombed in 1940. The bar may be small but the bar offering certainly covers a lot of ground with four cask lines, a cider cask line and eight keg lines, with around four offerings on regular rotation to offer different beers.
It’s been hosting a cheese night almost every Sunday since 2006, which started out free but now runs on give-what-you-can donations, of which all of the proceeds collected go to St Mungo’s, a charity that does crucial work to help people experiencing homelessness, which is on the rise in the city centre. Whether this is sustainable or not I don’t know but at the time of my visit in 2023 it was still going.
Turn right and continue along Bridge Street crossing over St Philip’s Bridge. The original was built in 1841 on which a toll of ½d was levied until 1875 and it replaced the Counterslip Ferry. Hence old Bristolians know it as “The Ha’penny Bridge”. It was bombed in 1941 and had to be rebuilt. While on the bridge look over your left should and you will see an unusual tower, this is called the Shot Tower. This one was built in 1969 to replace the original which was built in 1782 by William Watts, who is credited with the invention of the tower process for the manufacture of lead shot. It was the progenitor of many similar towers built around the world, and survived various changes of ownership until it was taken over by the Sheldon Bush and Patent Shot Company Limited in 1868. It continued in use under their ownership until 1968, when the original was demolished as part of a road widening scheme. It is the last such tower to be built, one of the few to be built in the 20th century, and one of only three to survive in England.
The tower is 142 feet (43 m) tall, giving a drop distance for the lead shot from the crucible room of 120 feet (37 m). The crucible room has a diameter of 24 feet (7.3 m) and originally housed a gas fired cast iron cauldron, for melting the lead ingots. A lift provided access to the crucible room for both personnel and ingots, along with an emergency staircase. The lead shot fell into a tank of cooling water at the foot of the tower, and were transferred by a conveyor belt to hoppers in the roof of the processing building. Use of lead shot subsequently declined due to environmental concerns, and the Bliemeister method of shot production largely replaced the use of shot towers for the remaining production. Use of the current tower for its original purpose ceased in the late 1980s, whilst use of the site for manufacturing ceased in 1994.
Continue along the road as it now is called Counterslip. At the end turn right up Victoria Street. On your right is a large building with some impressive arched brickwork above the windows. This was the old Talbot Hotel and in 1919 it was acquired by Georges Brewery and converted by them to offices. The road that runs alongside the building, Bath Street, was occupied by George’s Brewery. It was founded in the 18th century, but, after being taken over Courage’s, closed in 1999. Now cross back over the river turning left down High Street to our next pub.
5. The Old Fish Market
59-63 Baldwin St, Bristol BS1 1QZ
Although this is a Fuller’s pub, it has something for everyone. The guest cask ales are often from small to medium sized breweries, sometimes local and sometimes from farther afield, with the guest keg lines often offering Tiny Rebel and Siren. I couldn’t find out the history of this place but from the name I assume that it had something to do with the fishing industry that operated out of Bristol. The one item I found was that Thomas Clarkson, a founder of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, gathered evidence about the conditions on slave ships at 61 Baldwin Street.
Head back across the bridge then turn right down Redcliff Street then left up Thomas Lane.
In front of you there is a church tower which is part of the Church of St Thomas the Martyr. Designed in 1789 by local architect and carver James Allen to replace a medieval church deemed unsafe for use. Allen retained the fifteenth-century west tower of the old church, intending it to be ‘raised and modernised’ in a Classical fashion, but the plan was never carried out and the church is an unusual – but pleasing – blend of both periods. The interior is regarded as one of the best in Bristol, so if it is open then pop in.
Little now survives of the old parish buildings, once home to rich clothiers, glovers, glassmakers and wine importers whose trading activities supported the church. One of the few remaining inns of the parish is the Seven Stars Tavern, right next to St Thomas’, where campaigner, Reverend Thomas Clarkson, gathered information on the Transatlantic Slave Trade. His evidence helped bring about the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Britain. This is our next stop.
6. Severn Stars
1 Thomas Ln, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6JG
As a free house it is very much a beer-focused one-room pub with up to five beers of all styles and strengths and at several real ciders. One of the earliest references to the pub is in the Bristol Record Office. It mentions Sir John Hawkins who, whilst buying what was to become the Georges Brewery (as mentioned earlier), acquired the lease in 1694 from the Saunders family brewing dynasty. The parish of Redcliff, where we are now and its surroundings was home to over 200 coaching inns, ale houses and lodgings, some large enough to have had stables for a hundred horses. This bustling community of seafarers, traders and residents was one of the busiest parts of the city.
By the mid 1700’s St Thomas Street and Thomas Lane alone were home to over twenty pubs, inns and taverns. Some even bearing identical names, two pubs called the Bulls Head, and two named the Crown. The Apple Tree, Artichoke, Ball Inn , The Bell, Cow Catch, The Hare, Kings Arms, The Lamb, Nags Head, Pack Horse, Pelican, Plow, Ring of Bells, Sugar Loaf, Three Kings, Three Queens, White Horse, White Lyon,The Worm Tub and of course the Seven Stars.
Today apart from us at the Seven Stars only six others remain and continue to trade. These are the Portwall Tavern, the Ostrich, the Cornubia (previously known as the Rabbit Warren), the Shakespeare in Victoria Street (formerly Temple Street), the Victoria (now called the Golden Guinea) and the Ship Inn on Redcliffe Hill. The Prince of Wales (now named the Velindra) that re-opened in 2011, has again closed while The Bell in Prewitt Street still stands, but is closed and boarded, and the Kings Head in Victoria Street seems to be a Covid related casualty, and is closed.
Exiting the Seven Stars, turn right down St Thomas Street then left cutting through Long Row to Victoria Street. Turn right and walk a little until Temple Street on your left, take this to your next pub.
7. The Kings Head
60 Victoria St, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6DE
It serves four cask ales, which usually include at least one from Good Chemistry and others chosen from small independent breweries across the nation, with the aim to always have a dark beer available. This pub dates from 1660 and is one of only a few pubs that remain from the 200 or so in the mid-1700’s and survived the WW2 bombings. The pub has been restored by Bob Cary and Kelly Sidgwick from St Philips brewery Good Chemistry Brewery, who took it on in 2022. It’s known for its unique interior, which includes a bar back dating to around 1865 and a tramcar-shaped bar. The pub is on the Campaign for Real Ale’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. Some unique fixtures include a gas pressure gauge and a gas-lit cigar or pipe lighter. The pub is considered to have some of the oldest bar fittings in the UK with a brass fixture with slots in it that landlords used in pre-decimal times to check that their old pennies, half-crowns and florins were the genuine article: they would fit a coin into its slot and pull its outer edge down, if it bent it was counterfeit, simple as that.
Now it is a short walk up Temple Street to our final destination.
8. The Cornubia
142 Temple St, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6EN
Originally built in 1775 as a workshop and shop for a wig-maker named Charles Cox. It became a pub in the 1850’s and was known as the Rabbit Warren. This is because its landlord, Simeon Pearce also dealt in meat and game, including rabbits. In 1859, it was renamed the Cornubia, which is the latin for Cornwall. This is one of the remain pubs from the 200 that existed in the Redcliff area at the start of the 1700’s. It is the only building in the area to have survived the bombings of the Second World War. They serve up to 8 Real Ales and even have their very own bespoke seasonal beer ‘Cornubia’ which is brewed for us by local brewers and delivers a unique taste for each season.
