The Ship Inn, Redcliffe, Bristol

A prominent looking pub in a quite imposing building, it is though tucked away in the back streets behind St Mary Redcliffe church and is unlikely to get much in the way of passing trade, which perhaps explained why it seemed to have a very “locals” feel to it on a recent Thursday evening visit. It’s roughly a U shape internally, with a further room to the rear which we did not investigate. Décor wise it was fairly traditional with a mixture of chequered lino and wooden laminate on the floor whilst the walls were a mixture of painted brown wood panelling on the lower part and very pale yellow paint above. A blue leather sofa was at the rear along with a plasma screen showing a sports channel. Appropriately enough, there were a number of pictures and photographs of ships on the walls. A juke box was playing music a little too loudly I thought, and many of the punters seemed determined to compete. One group at the bar were singing, no shouting, along, as loudly as they possibly could which made it somewhat uncomfortable when stood next to them trying to order. Clearly the barmaid was struggling, and I had to repeat my order a number of times. Another heavily tattooed gentleman with a blue mohican sported a tee shirt with “I’m a c**t” emblazoned across the front (my asterisks, not his). In a way it was almost amusing – I was on my way to the Michelin starred Casamia and had only stopped in here for an aperitif (i.e.; a pint of Thatcher’s) on the way. The contrast between the two establishments could not have been greater. Beers on tap were Greene King IPA, Pedigree and Courage Best. Ciders meanwhile were Blackthorn, Thatcher’s Gold and Symonds Founders Reserve. Had I visited at another time with different clientele, I might have given this pub a couple more marks than I have.

The Ship Inn is a stand alone pub. Once inside there is a small room to the front with the bar facing,there is a separate room to the left which is square shaped and carpeted,the seating is settees and wood bench seating,there is also a dart board and TV in this room,there is a larger room to the rear which has a pool table in it. There were three real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Courage Best which was a decent enough drink to end my Bristol crawl on,the other beers were Courage Directors and Doom Bar. This was a decent pub to end my pub crawl on. Pub visited 23/1/2016