The Bell, Stokes Croft, Bristol

This is a scruffy, two bar pub with an emphasis on live music, located on the fringes of the city centre. The left hand bar is the larger of the two and has a fairly open-plan layout, with exposed floorboards and limited bench and low stool seating options around the perimeter. Two small brick fireplaces can be seen to the left, suggesting previous internal division, and beyond, there is a DJ booth, mercifully unoccupied on my visit. The bar is over to the right, with a dark wood counter, basic bar back and a canopy covered in band stickers, which spill out across the ceiling beams and totally plaster the door as well. There is no seating in the rear part of the room – just open space for vertical drinking, perhaps doubling up as the dancefloor whenever there is a band on. The smaller right hand bar is also bare boarded and has half panelled walls and a mix of hard bench and chair seating. There’s a small crook of a servery to the left, with no pumps or taps on it – just a serving hatch really. A TV screen was mounted on one wall but remained off, whilst elsewhere there was a dartboard hidden inside a closed case. The music in this room was much louder than in the left hand bar, resulting in far fewer customers choosing to sit in this side of the pub. Out the back there is a garden comprising of a raised patio with steps up to a partially covered area with picnic benches and overgrown climbing plants. Four ales were available on handpull – Butcombe Original, Gold and Small World plus Fullers London Pride. I opted for a pint of the Small World which was served to me by a chatty barman and was in good shape. This place felt a little down at heel, which is not normally a complaint when considering a music-based pub, but felt a bit depressing when visiting at a time when no bands were on. The well kept, Butcombe-led ale selection was definitely a plus point but I’m not sure I’d return here again unless I intended to watch some live music.