The Vaults, Weston Central, Weston Super Mare

Re-opened as The Vaults since my previous review, this has quite a relaxed and almost elegant feel to it and the barmaid seemed pleasant and friendly. Internally it’s all one open plan room although a couple of raised areas and a large pillar or two, break up the area in to different zones. There are sanded wooden boards on the floor, dark blue and green paintwork on the walls and plenty of pot plants dotted around. Seating was mostly from stylish padded armchairs in a variety of vibrant colours as well as few padded stools. A large selection of brass ornaments including a swan, hen, stork, hand, sewing machine, pineapple and all sorts of other bits and pieces made something of a feature running along a small shelf above the bar counter and this complemented the some of the copper light shades. Unfortunately there were no real ales available, with just Pinker’s Cask Aid and Bath Ales’ Gem on keg. The solitary cider meanwhile was Thatcher’s Gold. Overall, despite the lack of beer choice, I quite liked it here with it’s pleasant décor and relaxed ambience which is in stark contract to many of the other trashy bars nearby.

Official site of The Vaults - www.thevaultsbar.co.uk

Official site of The Vaults - www.thevaultsbar.co.uk

As it’s name suggests, this is really more of a wine bar than your traditional pub, but they do nonetheless have a small range of drinks on tap. It’s a single room bar with rough boards on the floor and a mixture of cream paintwork and a Farrow & Ball brown. Other than some ornate cornice work around the top of the bar there is little décor of any note. Seating was a mixture of high tables and chairs and a few brown leather arm-chairs. A number of blackboards advertised an extensive wine selection, as well as several champagnes, including one at £125 a bottle which I don’t imagine they sell too many of in Weston. In contrast to this, the loos were remarkably scruffy and could definitely do with some attention. I didn’t inspect a menu, but did notice a short tapas selection priced at £9.95 for three. The solitary beer on tap was Bath Ales Gem, and this appeared to be keg rather than cask. The only cider was Thatcher’s Gold.