The Common Room, Bath

A trendy bar with rabbit hole LGB++++ stylings – it looks like every night is a Pride night these days. The Brugel wall print remains as does some odd glittery area at the far end. The bench seating covers are fabulously camp and altogether it’s worth the entry price of a swift half. Ludicrously old skool deep dance cuts from the late 90s playing at 5.30pm for the barman's amusement and I was the only customer. Little of interest at the bar, a less than stellar keg Krusovice was my toll of choice. No soap in the gents, tut tut – whatever happened to the COVID exhortations about washing our hands? Worth a look for the amusement value if you've exhausted the usual options in town.

As described below it’s more of a wine bar than a pub, and when we went in we could have been forgiven for thinking it was a gay bar due to the décor, over-sized sequins  and accoutrements on the bar and tables – but it turned out they were having a Pride night.  There were several people enjoying the gay vibe, but the rest of us weren’t put out by that.  The Breugel-esque ceiling art, sparkly wall tiles and the awful muzak were amusing rather than annoying, and the equally flamboyantly decorated bar staff added to the fun.  There were a couple of tables and chairs at the front, but no-one seemed to want to sit there.  There was no real ale, just a couple of craft offerings – Gamma Ray and Brixton Lager – plus over-priced cocktails and a Czech lager alongside the standard megakeg suite.  It was fun as a one-off but I don’t see my returning. 

Tucked away down a pleasant, pedestrianised side street, it manages to blend in well with the surrounding up-market shops, and indeed probably was a shop in a former life going on the large full height windows in an identical design to nearby establishments. That said, it is in reality more of a cocktail bar/club rather than your traditional pub, not opening until 5:00pm and then staying open until 3:00am. It's quite cosy internally, with dark wood strip on the floor that has been worn almost smooth, some exposed brick walling to the left which was covered in a random assortment of old pictures and flags and a rather swirling, psychedelic patterned ceiling. The large bar counter on the left was clad in wood strip with a brass top and further flags were hung up above this. A smaller section at the rear of the pub had some colourful tiling on the wall and contained a small DJ booth, although this was not in use on our early evening visit. There were no real ales on tap unfortunately, just Beavertown Gamma Ray on keg. Ciders fared fractionally better with Orchard Thieves and Old Mout Cherries & Berries. Overall, not my usual sort of place, but it has a nice chilled out vibe and I’d happily pop in again if passing.

Official site of The Common Room - commonroombath.co.uk