The Miner's Arms, Bristol

This is a pleasant street corner pub in the lively St Werburgh’s neighbourhood, with a fairly traditional interior that manages to appeal to a broad base of customers. You enter to a spacious front bar, set on a slightly lower level, with some nice old exposed floorboards, a brick fireplace on the front wall, half panelled walls and some dark ceiling beams supported by a few small posts. The bar is to the rear and has a wood panelled counter painted in a not-entirely unsuitable shade of grey, behind which is an attractive bar back with a nice pub mirror as a centrepiece and some etched glass panes across the top, whilst a board to the right lists the various beers available. Pump clips run along the lintels, the day’s papers were stacked up at the far end of the room and the walls were decorated with a few old photos dotted here and there and another decent looking pub mirror above the fireplace. Seating is mainly around the perimeter, with hard benches and padded chairs the main order of the day, and one of the tables had an origami rabbit placed on it, for reasons not entirely apparent to me. Behind the bar, you can access a slightly higher rear room which seemed to be dominated by a pool table, although again some tables and chairs were positioned around the perimeter and the walls were adorned with some quite striking pieces of art. For some reason, despite the fact that the only other punter when I arrived was sat outside, there was a very loud and punchy dance music soundtrack playing, presumably for the benefit of the bored barmaid. The outdoor seating essentially comprises a few tables and low stools chucked out on the pavement to one side of the pub and didn’t look all that inviting unless you were desperate to escape the music. The barmaid turned out to be pretty friendly and glad to have something to do when I walked in. There were five handpulls in operation, dispensing Dawkins Bristol Blonde, Miners Gold and Easton IPA, plus a guest of Oakham Inferno and a real cider. The Bristol Blonde was £4.00 a pint and in decent nick. I thought this was a nice enough little pub that I can see would appeal to the pub traditionalist as well as perhaps a younger customer base. The service was friendly, the Dawkins beer was good and there was enough going on to merit repeat visits, making this well worth a look if you happen to be in the area.

A pleasant Dawkins pub in the heart of St Werburghs, it sits on a street corner near the indoor climbing centre and has a few picnic benches outside, although on a recent warm summer’s evening these were all full and many of the punters had spilled over on to the patch of grass behind the pub. The barmaid seemed pleasant and friendly. The main bar at the front of the pub has rough wooden boards on the floor and a pale yellow colour scheme on much of the walls along with contrasting deep red and green paint on the woodwork. Being a corner plot there are windows on two sides making it feel light and airy. Seating was a mixture of wooden pews around the perimeter and somewhat threadbare bar stools. A small brick fire-place was at the front of the pub, but in this warm weather all it had in it was a bunch of flowers. A small TV was up above the door, although this was not in use on our visit. Numerous old beer mats were tacked on to the beams suggesting a regularly changing selection of ales. Up a couple of steps to the rear was a smaller room containing a pool table along with a book case containing a selection of books being sold in aid of St Peter’s Hospice. Unfortunately the smell from the loos was rather prominent here. Beers on tap were all detailed on a board next to the bar, as well as a couple more that were coming soon. Being a Dawkins pub, there was a trio available from them with Bristol Best, Miner’s Gold and Bristol Blonde. Also available was Woodforde’s Flagondry, Prescott’s Summer Seasons Best and Manchester Pale Ale from JW Lees. Ciders were also well represented with Thatcher’s Gold, Stowford Press and Weston’s Old Rosie.

Miners Arms page at the Dawkins site - www.dawkins-club.talktalk.net

Miners Arms page at the Dawkins site - www.dawkins-club.talktalk.net

Dawkins site - www.dawkins-ales.co.uk

Dawkins site - www.dawkins-ales.co.uk