The Salamander, Bath

A Bath Ales pub which apparently is an Old Victorian chop house, with four ales on from said brewery. Whilst my first visit a year back found a good pint of SPA, my most recent trip found poor quality across the board and a fuss to get it sorted. The small interior has a stripped, modern feel with not much atmosphere and I find it rather unwelcoming, not helped by the cool air conditioning always being on even in cold weather. It’s also a mobile phone blackspot. To quote from elsewhere, this place is “not as good as it thinks it is, or as good as it ought to be.”

Situated in the City Centre and owned by the Bath Ales group, the Salamander started out as a coffee, steak and chop house according to a sign in the front bar area. The interior is quite plain with bare floors, dullish colours, basic furnishings and a few divisions that effectively turn the main bar into 2 rooms but both opening out into each other. Upstairs is a large dining room and lining the starcase can be found old adverts and clay pipe displays among other artfacts. There is a good selection of Bath ales across the 6 hand pumps (I noted Gem, Festivity, Spa, Barnstormer and Golden Hare with 1 pump unused on our visit). I had no real problems with the ale quality but some of my group (who have far more expertise than me on such matters) did take issue with the beer quality. The Salamander is a fairly safe choice among the city centre pubs and a pleasant enough place to while away a few pints but I would think that locals would generally steer clear due to its Bath Ales tie that would be fairly commonplace in the area.

Official pages of the Salamander at the Bath Ales site - www.bathales.com

Official pages of the Salamander at the Bath Ales site - www.bathales.com

The pub has possibly been refurbished since ROBC's review below. Most of the woodwork is now painted a dark/olive green colour. The flooring is wooden, seating still includes high backed wooden settles and benches. A long narrow room with the bar in the middle. The room opens out each end beyond the bar, and although busy, one end was populated mainly by a younger studenty set with the front end having a quieter more mature group. I sat at the bar in the middle. A Bath Ales house with lots of bottles, large cans and other brewery related merchandise heavily advertised and displayed shop style in the front window. Six handpumps, Bath Ales Gem x2, SPA, Barnstormer, Festivity and Ginger Hare. Various others on sale in bottled form. I also noticed a few bottles of Belgian stuff and a reasonable selection of malts. Bath Ales Bounders cider and Dark Side stout on draught/keg. Framed displays of old pennies in date order, clay pipes and a sign "The Original Coffee House and Steak and Chop House" although I have no idea if this has any relevance to the pub. A nice enough spot, and yet again a friendly Bath pub.