Culture & Cure, Bath

A fairly recent opening in it’s current guise having operated under a number of different names over the years, this is in many ways more of a tapas/wine bar (or a “cheese and charcuterie bar” as it bills itself, hence the name) than your traditional pub, although they do nonetheless have a range of draught beers available, and I’m sure you’d be welcome to just stop for a pint. The main bar area is a rectangular shape with a sanded wooden floor and predominantly grey paintwork on the walls. Chairs are mostly of a black metal construction, although there was also some bench seating at the rear with very colourful cushions. Opposite this was a dresser housing a selection of wine bottles. On a wall at the rear, large Scrabble type letters spelt out meat, cheese and beer. Staff were friendly and helpful and there is also live music on a Thursday which I believe is of the jazz/soul/blues variety. Food was chalked up on a number of different boards, and much of the produce is British. The aforementioned cheese and charcuterie could be selected from an extensive selection, and costs £15.50 for three which struck me as a little pricy to be honest. We tried this and enjoyed what we had, it was served on a board along with a few olives, bread, biscuits, quince jelly and such like, but I felt that a tenner would have been plenty to pay for it. The tapas on the other hand, was very tasty and good value too. A Chorizo Scotch Egg was a very generous portion for just £3, the Anchovy Toast (£3) was very tasty and finally the Cod with Braised Lentils and Aioli (£6) was an excellent dish, very tasty indeed. This was also available in a main meal size portion for £11 and I may well return and try this. Beers were all keg rather than cask, but offered an eclectic selection chalked up on a board behind the bar. On this occasion they were Cromarty Red Rocker, Weird Beer’s Black Perle, Wild Beer’s Rubus Maximus, Dog Fish Head DNA, Wiper & True Bristol Meth (7.4%!) and Fyne Ales’ Cool as a Cucumber. The solitary cider was Orchard Pig Reveller. Overall I quite liked this place, especially the tapas, and will be checking it out again at some point.