Bridge Inn, Bristol

It may be small but it's perfectly formed and very friendly.The four handpumps were serving Bristol Beer Factory Acer,Bath Gem and Penzance Brewing Jolly Farmer and IPA,a wonderful 6%er and great value at £2.70.Apparently on Mondays all ales are £2.20 the pint. Bare floorboards and fitted seating around one end with small tables creates a convivial interior The modest volume musak and chance to play some vinyl on the turntable is an added bonus.A must visit on any ale tour of the city centre,I particularly liked the relaxed vibe.

Lovely friendly pub, and great to see a Penzance beer here - a favourite when in Cornwall. From the clips the beer must be popular with locals here too. I asked for the Penzance Jolly Farmer and Saltaire Triple Chocoholic and was straight away offered a taster of them first. Both beers were excellent, and we enjoyed this friendly pub. Vinyl record collection available for customers to choose to play, and the walls have music theme memorabilia decor.

Close by St Philips Bridge, the aptly named Bridge Inn is a small free house which describes itself as “probably the smallest and friendliest pub in Bristol”. An unusually narrow entrance doorway leads into a pleasant, if rather unremarkable, bare boarded interior with fixed banquette seating around the walls. A partly green colour scheme does jar somewhat. On my recent Monday evening visit, I was able to take advantage of the pub’s Real Ale Monday promotion with beer at £ 2 per pint. The 4 pumps were serving 2 Bath Ales – Gem and SPA – plus beers from Teignworthy and Burton Bridge. The pub is listed in the 2011 CAMRA Good Beer Guide. This is a reasonable pub to include in any central crawl and to sample the wares of Bath Ales, of which two are usually available so I gather, but don’t turn up mob handed.

As previously mentioned a small one room corner pub on the edge of central Bristol. It’s very much a locals pub but is worth searching out if you’re a visitor to Bristol because the beers are very good and the place has a cosy charm to it. The Bath Ales of Gem and SPA were complemented by two Yeovil Ales, Posh IPA and Summerset and the both of these were very good and well kept. The stereo system next to the bar with an assortment of rock and roll records is an interesting touch, but I particularly liked the collection of framed album covers adorning the walls, the Uriah Heep album especially as that is buried in my collection somewhere and hasn’t seen the light of day for years.