Nova, Bristol

Previously Zoom+ Bar, this is now no longer worth considering as a pub. It’s a malodorous singe room dive bar selling not-so-cheap and nasty cocktails and majoring on shisha, claiming this as an Egyptian cafe. The DJ platform is still there, and they host open mike and discotheque nights. There are keg beers on – Asahi, Camden Helles and Pale, plus Thatcher’s Gold cider, but even the Camden Helles was in poor condition so we didn’t try anything else. We couldn’t get out quick enough and shall not be coming back.

This is certainly not your traditional pub in any sense of the word, but one of the numerous trendy bars that seem to appear from nowhere. It describes itself as a cocktail bar, so you straight away know that you’re not going to find the best selection of real ales. It’s a fairly small, open room, with limited seating around the perimeter, consisting of bench seating at the rear, and small square tables elsewhere. Most of the space is just that, open space, and is presumably used for dancing. There was a DJ console in the corner and an enthusiastic DJ playing music at a loud volume, although nobody appeared to be taking too much notice. There are full sized windows looking out to the front, so it probably feels light and airy in daylight hours, and some unusual hanging lights that seemed to be made of dozens of glass “strings”, which gradually changed from one colour to another. In addition to this, there is a covered seating area out the front, which is slightly more relaxing, although even here the music was relayed through some smaller speakers. A lot of the clientele appeared to be middle eastern, and one was smoking (outside, I might add) from a hookah which seems to be something that the pub promotes. No real ales on unfortunately, or any beers at all come to that. They did have Thatcher’s Gold cider though.