Christmas Steps, Bristol

Official site of Christmas Steps - thechristmassteps.com

Official site of Christmas Steps - thechristmassteps.com

As described by others, below.  I found the pub welcoming and pleasant, the young staff were helpful, but it was quite annoying that they wouldn’t take cash.  Ales on were Crack Gold, Arbor’s Blue Sky Drinking, Good Chemistry High Plains and, when we first arrived, Joy of Sesh, though that went off as we ordered and was replaced with Bristol’s Paradise Lost.  I enjoyed this visit and would be very happy to include in a crawl. 

Corner pub on several levels and at the bottom of the aforementioned steps,there is a certain charm despite the austere exterior paintwork.The ground floor has a double aspect wood burner and some traditional furniture while the servery is up some steps in an alcove.A further flight of steps leads to a long thin lounge.It wouldn't take a lot of punters to make the pub seem busy.There were 5 handpumps on the go serving Arbor Shangri La (NBSS 3.5) ,Good Chemistry Time Lapse,Dawkins Easton IPA ,Twisted Oak Crack Gold and something I failed to note.A decent selection of Locales justifying the GBG entry and making this pub worth including on a real ale tour of the city centre.

Good Beer Guide 2020 entry - but I failed to see what the fuss was about really. Multi level pub - with a bar with the real ales on downstairs and a bar with staff actually working, upstairs. Makes for a weird experience for the unwary. Very dark interior. Beer in good condition but not much to remember the place by.

Taking its name from the famous staircase that passes by this multi-level venue, this is a fairly standard pub seemingly aimed at a younger crowd. You enter into the lower part of the pub which has a quarry stone floor with seating running down to the rear along the left hand side. Benches and low stools fill the front part of the room, with smarter chairs and a nice sideboard in the slightly partitioned rear area. The servery is to the rear right and is the best place for ale drinkers to get a look at the full range of cask beers on offer, as most handpulls are mounted on the bar here. The bar area is pretty dark, thanks to the wood fittings and dark colour scheme in use here. Four tables opposite the bar fill the compact seating area under some high stone walls. Stairs lead up to an upper section of the pub which has dark floorboards and more exposed stone walls, with the dark wood servery along the left hand wall. The room has been painted in neutral colours and feels a bit brighter than the lower bar as a result. Standard tables and chairs extend down the full length of the right hand wall under record sleeves and a large, disused fireplace which now has a few benches in front of it. Large windows let you look out to the eponymous steps and enjoy the sight of people puffing and panting their way towards the summit. The pub isn’t especially renowned for its ale selection, so it was a nice surprise to find Arbor Zero Zero, Bristol Take It As Read, Crack Hops and Gold and Box Steam Quench available at the bar. A rather distant barman pulled me a pint of the Hops and Gold which was quite a satisfying brew and I was quite happy to finish a long day of pub crawling here with this pleasant pint. The dual-level layout of this pub means it feels a little disjointed and some of the cosiness and character you’d hope to find in such a venue gets lost as a result. This felt like a pretty workmanlike pub which satisfied without really impressing and whilst I’d be perfectly happy to visit again, I probably won’t be initiating it myself.

A pub of two halves. When calling in on the way to the BRI I encountered an empty bar, with all the staff engrossed in serving an office Xmas do upstairs. After waiting a few minutes via attempting to rally a service, I gave up but vowed to try again as it seemed to have a lot of immediate tick boxes for a good pub. Second half. A revisit much later on in the day found the Xmas lunchers well-gone and the pub actually operating for the benefit of drinkers. It’s an atmospheric old place with stone walls, stripped wood ceiling, flagstone flooring and subdued lighting – almost pseudo Medieval in parts. There are two separate seating areas on the ground floor with an extra room upstairs and as noted below, part of the old floor has been removed to make an impressive double height space. Four ales on over five pumps, an eclectic mix of Arbor Blue Sky, Good Chemistry Boundless Sky, Crack Hops and a very tasty BBF El Choco. Also noted boxed cider, Mourning Drop. A young a middle class clientele were in situ but of the less braying variety and it was all rather convivial. Busy for a Tuesday evening and I would have happily stayed for a second, had I not had to get to another tick-box pub before my train. The score of 7 reflects the earlier visit in context. Otherwise an 8 would be awarded.