The Stable, Bath

Modern hipster-shabby chain bar with pizza as the selling point along with cider. Funnily enough there wasn't that much cider, just the five as opposed to five beers (no cask) and all ciders were fizzy keg from the lower tier of usual suspects – the boxes were empty. For the record, I had the most interesting-looking cider option, Wild Juice by Iford Cider. The interior is a fairly unremarkable L shaped thing with most punters drinking rather than eating. It's all a bit half-arsed really, I’ve been in a couple of their other outlets and had much better – either this one is being poorly run or they’re on their way down and stopped paying attention.

The interior layout and operating model is much as described by Blackthorn, below.  The experience, though, was not as positive as his; the bar hasn’t aged well and is now quite shabby.  In addition it was cluttered with pizza boxes waiting to be filled, which made it feel more like a storeroom on one side.  The staff were quite supercilious, certainly not helpful, and there was no real ale.  OK, it’s a cider house and I was very happy to have a cider, though what I had wasn’t that good, certainly not the same quality you would expect from a Somerset cider house.  There was, in addition to the 6 ciders advertised, a selection of craft ales including  their own Stable Pale Ale, although I didn’t try it.  It is a bit of a disappointment given how much I’ve enjoyed other branches of this chain, but it wouldn’t stop me coming back for a pizza and another try at the ciders. 

Recently opened in a former Pizza Hut restaurant having relocated from their short-lived George Street branch, this one apparently gives them more room and allows them to offer a greater choice. It also, I would have thought, is a better location and is likely to attract far more in the way of passing trade. Inside it’s light and airy with good sized windows on three sides, and something of a rustic feel with much exposed brick walling as well as a parquet wooden floor and wooden balustrade elsewhere whilst in contrast the black painted ceiling has air conditioning ducting clearly visible. There are a small number of picnic benches outside that give good views towards Kingsmead Square, but space here is at a premium and they are not likely to be vacant for any length of time. We didn’t eat on this occasion, but a quick glance at the menu showed their usual selection of pizzas and pies, many renamed to suit the location such as Great Poultry Street, Pump Room Piggy and a Bath Blaster. Prices for the pizzas were mostly somewhere around the £11 mark, and there were also a few pies and salad options. Being primarily a cider venue, beer choice was limited with just Seafarer’s Ale on draught. Ciders were predominantly from the South West and included Pilton, Sandford Orchard’s Devon Red, Dorset Draught, Lilley’s Bee Sting, Ashridge Devon Blush, Ashridge Devon Gold, Burrow Hill Alf ’n’ Alf and Cornish Orchard’s Gold. The current choice was chalked up on a board next to the bar and helpfully included the ABV and sweetness, although unhelpfully, not the price. A further 13 were available from boxes as well as numerous more bottles.