Always Sunday Town + House, Walcot, Bath

Cafe-style bar to the east of Bath town centre. The ground floor comprises two small rooms now opened up into one. There are bare boards either end with a tiled area around the bar. The bar has a white tiled back and there are ferns above the bar and elsewhere in the room to give it a cosy feel. A piano sits opposite the entrance. Cask ale has disappeared from here now, but there are a few craft beer options - Electric Bear Tondo, Into The Aether & Krush The Magic Dragon, Westbrook's Dingle Dell & Somer Valley Bolt. The cider was Bristol Cider Company Trinity. Cocktail and wine menus can be found on each table. There were just 3 other customers and the barmaid when I arrived. Two of them appeared to be students, whilst one of the students and the other older customer were eating burgers. Board games can be found on a shelf opposite the bar for those so inclined, whilst there is a weekly quiz night. Not really a traditional pub experience, but better than I had expected.

Originally The King William, the layout is as described below, though the emphasis now seems to be on café bar style refreshments rather than gastro dining. Certainly the change in furniture means fewer comfortable dining spaces, and sitting on the high chairs by the windows, while giving a good view of the passing traffic, doesn’t make it comfortable for a lengthy drinking session. The staff were cheerful enough, there was a pleasant atmosphere, soft jazz playing on the hi-fi, and the other customers seemed quite cheerful. No real ale any more – the drinks offerings were Quantock Theatrical Skies, Wahrsteiner, Jubel Peach Beer, Cornish Orchards cider and Asahi lager, all predictably over-priced and served too cold, though the Wahrsteiner was worth it. OK if passing but it’s a hassle to park nearby, so I think I’ll leave this one to the students.

Official site of Always Sunday Town + House - astownhouse.com

Official site of Always Sunday Town + House - astownhouse.com

Cosmopolitan 2 roomed corner pub no longer a local but given a lease of life serving upmarket food from extensive menu. Wood floor and pine tables.

In many ways this is very much a gastro-pub, although fortunately not one that alienates drinkers. Whilst there was a copy of the daily changing menu on each table, that was as far as it went. The tables were not fully laid up for food like many other so called “pubs” that are in reality little more than restaurants. Both the front and rear bars are quite small with only three of four tables in each. I assume there was probably a separate dining area elsewhere, otherwise the amount of space available seems to be somewhat out of kilter with the venue’s foodie aspirations. The floors are all reclaimed boards as is the vogue these days, there were good sized windows at the front of the bar, a selection of board games available and some art on the walls, much of it for sale. Other indicators to the fact that it’s still a proper pub included an up and coming quiz night as well as details on the board about a wine club and a book club. Bar staff all seemed friendly, numerous candles around the place created a pleasant ambience and there was an extensive wine list chalked up on a board. The menu was clearly of the gastro-pub genre as previously mentioned, although there was also a bar snack menu chalked up on a board. However, even though this included pub classics such as burgers and fish & chips, these were still mostly priced at around the £11 - £12 mark which I think is more than most people would expect to pay for bar snack. Some of the dishes such as a steak were nearer £20, and that was before you get on to the proper menu. This consisted of a reasonable selection of dishes, with most of the starters being around the £6.50 mark and the mains around £15. Whilst we enjoyed what we had, I couldn’t help feeling that they were perhaps trying a little too hard. Concentrating on the basics like lamb that wasn’t so fatty and avoiding fads like serving some of the dishes on wooden boards instead of plates would help – Jamie Oliver does this and it works well enough for a mixed platter of cold meat and cheese but when your pudding comes on one and the ice cream melts and dribbles off it’s not quite so effective. Beers on tap were Keystone Large One, Dorset Gold, BBF No. 7 and Butcombe Gold. The solitary cider was Pheasant Plucker.