The Lido Kitchen, Bristol

This is very much more of a café that happens to serve alcohol rather than your traditional pub, and when we visited on a Sunday lunchtime every table was taken either with diners or punters whose only drink was a coffee. Numerous buggies and push chairs made navigating the interior quite tricky and the only place to sit would have been perched up on a high stool at the bar but even that looked as though you would be somewhat in the way of waitresses rushing past with plates of food and consequently we went elsewhere. I daresay on a summer’s evening it would be a very pleasant spot or perhaps at any time if you are looking for a snack. From what I could make out before we departed, the interior is an open plan room with a wood burning stove in one corner and large windows making the most of the channel views. There is also a limited amount of outside seating on a small terrace and an entrance directly in from the pool. The flooring is sanded wood boards and the paintwork was predominantly grey whilst the bar counter displayed a selection of cakes. There were no ales on tap unfortunately, real or otherwise, but at least they had Thatcher’s Gold cider. This is a tricky one to mark – as a pub it’s got virtually nothing going for it, and this is after all a pub review website. But the food seemed popular, and it is of course great to see the charity that has re-opened and revitalised the pool bringing some money in even out of the swimming season.