The Butcher's Hook, Bristol

A recent opening on Thornbury’s pleasant High Street, it looks as though it may perhaps at one time have been a row of cottages, but as Jon has mentioned below it was also at one time a butchers and more recently an Indian restaurant. It certainly makes a pleasant change to see a pub replacing a curry house for once, and in fact the food offering here consists of no more than a selection of different cheeses served with biscuits and pickle. It consists of three rooms internally, with the entrance and bar counter being to the left. It’s really got quite a traditional pub feel to it, certainly not like most shop conversions, and it’s not at all obvious that it was. Flooring is some sort of old flagstones or similar, whilst the walls are whitewashed plaster and all the timberwork was painted khaki green. A stone bench was built in to the base of the window and there were a couple of small round tables here, although little else. In fact on the whole, the seating options seemed somewhat limited. The middle room was broadly similar in terms of size and décor, although with sanded wooden boards covering much of the floor and the far wall being completely covered in wood panelling, again painted green. A large solid wood table dominated the room and a fireplace was off to one side. Although plenty of logs were stacked up either side, it didn’t look as though it was ever used, with the brick base containing just a couple of large glass jars full of twigs. This was a shame as it was definitely a bit chilly in there, although just keeping the front door closed would have helped. The final room too looked much the same with just a few old beams on the ceiling being the only noticeable point of difference. Three blackboards on the wall listed the available cask, keg and cider options, and the cask offerings on this occasion consisted of Arbor Shangri-La, Electric Bear Big Up, Tiley’s Special, Tiley’s Stout, Stroud Tom Long and Siren Sound Wave IPA. A seventh pump appeared to have run out. Ciders too were well represented with Dunkerton’s Black Fox, Oliver’s Traditional, Oliver’s Shezam, Oliver’s Goldrush, Ross-on-Wye Broome Farm and Wild Cider’s Tyndale Gold. All in all, I thought this was a very welcome addition to Thornbury’s pub scene, and they’ve certainly done a great job with the renovation as well as getting an extensive and unusual collection of beers on.