The Bath Cider House, Bath

Unassuming frontage which leads to a small room with brewing equipment and another flight of steps heading down a much larger main bar. Modern but tasteful décor; exposed brick, wood plank walling, retro 60s-style furnishings and a colourful lower servery. More brewing vessels are down here and indeed it transpires they brew their own apple grapplers. Jumbo patio doors concertina to a pleasant paved two-level garden, done-out very nicely. They live up to their cider promises, with 12 boxed and 9 draft including 4 of their own. There's also plenty in the fridge. Surprisingly two cask pumps serving Bristol Beer Factory Independence. When in Rome and all that meant I swerved the cask and went for a pair of their own brews, Gold and Vintage which weighed in at a respectable-for-the-locale £4.80 and were pretty good. I was impressed with this one, less pretentious than I feared, with a good mix of customers. Note the pub’s logo, an exact rip-off of Northern Baggy scamps Northside. Apparently it’s also a sister venue to the Bath Brew House – well, I know which one I’d be choosing for a revisit. And it knocks Stable into a cocked hat for cider.