The Bowl Inn, Bristol

A cracking little pub which feels like it's miles away from urbanisation when in fact it's about a mile off the M4/M5. I call in here regularly when I'm working at Filton. It's a nice place to go for a pint and an evening meal even though I have to drive. Much better ale and food than the hotel. Low beams and some flag floors add to the atmosphere. There's usually a couple of Brains beer on alongside guest ales. There's a nice outdoor area at the front which is great in summer. It's a good pub.

Official site of The Bowl Inn - www.thebowlinn.co.uk

Official site of The Bowl Inn - www.thebowlinn.co.uk

A traditional stone built pub in a pleasant village setting with a particularly attractive church next door. Inside the olde worlde theme continues with exposed stone walls and plenty of black timbers, although personally I felt the rather bright lighting detracted from the ambience somewhat. If they’d dimmed the lights a bit and lit the fire there would have been an all-together much cosier feel to the place. There’s one long, carpeted bar with bench seating in the windows and several tables and chairs, some of which felt a little squashed in. There’s another room off to the right separated from the main bar by a wood burning stove. This has whitewashed walls, leather armchairs and a few pictures dotted around. Behind this is a wood panelled room reminiscent of an old fashioned hotel. There is an interesting curved stone built fireplace in the corner. Barmaid seemed friendly enough, and there was a decent looking menu with a small selection of specials chalked up on a board. This seems to be quite a food led pub, and most punters appeared to be eating on our visit. This is not your usual pub grub though, with no sign of a chilli, curry or lasagne. Most of the mains were between the £8 and £12 mark, although some dishes such as steak were considerably more than this. Ultimately the food was quite disappointing though. My guinea fowl with sweet potato mash and spicy red cabbage was tasty enough, but not particularly well cooked and certainly not worth the £12 it cost. Similarly Mrs. B’s lamb was well over-cooked making it not exactly tough, but certainly nowhere near as tender as was expected. This was also £12 and for this sort of price in a pub I would expect real top quality nosh, which unfortunately this was not. Good range of beers on tap with Abbot Ale, Old Speckled Hen, Butcombe, Rev. James, Buckley’s Best and Everard’s Tiger (by the time we left the last one had been replaced by Wadworth’s Swordfish). The solitary cider was Stowford Press. Note that the pub car park opposite is a pay and display. If you tear off the refund part of the ticket, you will get the cost refunded when you make a purchase.