The Pony, Bristol

Official site of The Pony - theponychewvalley.co.uk

Official site of The Pony - theponychewvalley.co.uk

Since my previous review, this has been closed for a while, and although it reopened a couple of years back now under the same ownership, I was unsure whether it still qualified as a pub, i.e.; you could just pop in for a pint. In fact their website describes it as a restaurant, event venue, cookery school and kitchen garden with no mention of the pub side of the business. But on a recent Friday evening visit, I found that there were no diners in the front bar and the friendly waitress confirmed that it did indeed still operate as a pub as well. That said, there were no drinkers in the front bar either, it was completely deserted, with all punters eating in the restaurant at the rear. Décor wise, the main bar area is perhaps a little more contemporary in appearance than I recall from my previous visit, although it still retains the attractive parquet wood floor and a couple of exposed brick fireplaces. There were a few small wooden beams on the freshly plastered ceiling, and a small bookshelf at one end. Seating was a mixture of wooden pews with a padded seat cushion as well as further scatter cushions, plus regular wooden chairs. Lit candles were on the tables and some unusual pieces of artwork were scattered around the walls. A snug at one end was a little cosier perhaps with a rug on the floor whilst an adjacent toom looked to operate as a private dining room with a large laid table filling much of the available floor space and a deep red hue on the ceiling and khaki green on the walls. Overall it offered the sort of upmarket feel you might expect in an expensive and modernised gastropub. The dining room at the rear has been extended significantly since my previous visit, and is now an impressive light and airy space with glazing all along the back wall and several French doors opening out on to a veranda, which gives spectacular views of the very attractive manicured and landscaped gardens as well as the rolling fields beyond. The dining room itself is very attractive with Farrow & Ball style green paintwork on the ceiling interspersed with a few oak beams, plenty of rugs on the floor, a large central wood burner and much exposed stonework at the back and along the side. It’s all very, very nicely done. The menu is a bit of a cross between a tasting menu and an a la carte – there’s a set number of courses, and a set price (£60), although you can choose what you want for starter (or larder as they call it), main and dessert. Some of those options then have supplementary pricing, including the Lion’s Maine which was a £60 supplement! That said, everything we had was really very good indeed and thoroughly enjoyable. Unfortunately there were no real ales on tap, but then again they probably don’t get the throughput to warrant it. The solitary keg option was Bristol Beer Factory’s Independence, whilst the cider was North Street. Overall, certainly a fantastic restaurant, but as a pub I’m not so sure.