Seven Stars, Bristol

Another survivor in this part of town, the Seven Stars is a welcoming 17th Century pub with a nice traditional feel to it complimented by a strong ale range. The pub has a nice coloured pictorial plaque on the front wall commemorating the role it played in the abolition of slavery, whereby the landlord at the time befriended Thomas Clarkson of the Association for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and was able to tip him off as to which crews had been assembled through forced labour. You enter into a bare boarded U-shaped room with a centrally positioned servery directly opposite the front door, boasting a dark wood counter, split in two by a large support pillar. Banquette seating runs around the perimeter along with plenty of standard chairs and low stools. The walls are predominantly cream in colour and have been decorated with lots of pictures of pubs and various local scenes. A fireplace takes pride of place over on the left hand wall and has a large brewery mirror above, whilst further back the room opens out slightly, creating enough space for a pool table, dartboard and juke box. There are some interesting items on the walls here including some old pub signs (see the pub’s website for an article on the pub’s previous signs) and picture of the Mona Lisa enjoying a pint of beer. The right hand side of the pub is somewhat less chaotic and offers a good deal of comfortable seating in a traditional saloon bar type area. Lots to choose from at the bar, with an ale range comprising Dark Star Skinner’s Pale Ale, Severn Vale Nibley Ale and Black as Yer Hat, Firebrand Graffiti IPA, Cotswold Spring Codger and Stroud Tom Long, plus one unclipped pump. I tried the Pale Ale and on a return visit later in the day I sampled the Nibley Ale, with both served in good condition. The pub was named Bristol and District CAMRA pub of the Year in 2010 and 2011 and was runner up for the last two years. This is a really welcoming pub that stood out as one of the highlights of a day of good pubs. It seems that this part of the city is the place to be if you like uncomplicated traditional pubs with well kept beer and a very good mini-crawl can be enjoyed in the vicinity, assuming you can drag yourself out of this place.

No change from my previous visits and this premier Real Ale pub continues to attract an eclectic mix of punters, so the PuG crawl crowd fitted seamlessly into the throng. I think I counted seven beers available across the two banks of pumps and the usual mix of beer styles from largely the smaller independent breweries were available. Beers from Butcombe (Haka), Stroud Brewery (Tom Long) and Dark Star were on but a couple of halves of the darker BLACK as yer ‘AT and Firebrands Graffiti IPA at 5% were tried and found in excellent condition. It was interesting to be able to compare and contrast on this visit with the new Craft Ale bars beginning to populate King Street and although this new competition will attract those, like my good wife, who prefer the clean and modern, the Seven Stars still remains a goto pub for us traditionalists.

Its always nice to find an un-tampered with traditional backstreet pub and this is one of them. A 17th century pub that has won a number of CAMRA awards over the last few years and they seem well justified. Eight beer pumps were offering an interesting selection of ever changing beers and although my pint of Darkstar Skinners was not the best beer of many tried over the day,the condition was good.Interestingly they hold a monthly beer festival(a Beeriodical)which is held on the first Monday to Thursday of the month featuring a different county each time.A very likable pub and a must visit in Bristol.

This is a former Bristol & District pub of the year, as well as being a GBG regular, and it's easy to see why. The ale selection was good, and it felt a really homely pub to me. There's a bit of a jazz feel to it, with a jazz corner featuring Charlie Parker (although what Mona Lisa was doing in there with a pint in her hand I don't know) and has a pool table at the back. It was resonably busy when I was in on Friday (I suppose that's to be expected if participating in a Pubs Galore get together), but apparently quiet in comparison to what it would be like later in the day. This is another cracking Bristol pub, but I guess you would have to time your visit right to see it at its best.