The Barley Mow, Bristol

Enjoyed our visit to this 2016 Good Beer Guide pub with a great selection of real ales available. We had a Bristol Beer Factory beer plus Boss Brawn.

Bare boarded, one room back street local that is in the charge of Bristol Beer Factory. Stripped wood tables, mixture of seating and rather cosmopolitan, 20's music playing and there are board games available. 8 hand pulls plus lots of craft beers. Beer was a bit warm for my taste

Hard-to-find (well it was for me) backstreet pub in the rapidly redeveloping area behind the station. Traditional , well-painted building and inside is a single, fairly small staple-shaped room with a wood floor and a modern/minimalist (though not too garish) feel. Items of note included a large Bristol Beer Factory mirrored bar back and some butterflys in wall-mounted in glass cases. There’s a small but well-done paved area to the right rear. Selection of daily papers available as well as board games. Food available and a brisk trade was being done. Eight pumps with seven ales and one proper cider (as described elsewhere, Bristol Beer Factory are the mainstays but there are plenty of interesting guest ales), with a keg wall dispense behind the bar plus a large selection of bottled beers. Apparently there were more ciders elsewhere but I didn’t spot them. Tried a couple, a really good Moor Revival and an under-par BB Seven which was a shame. Worth seeking out if you are getting the train and you fancy a change from the Sven Stars-Cornubia-Kings Head triumvirate.

A fine example of how to make a “should visit” pub from a back street local a bit off the beaten track. A one bar pub that has been made over to be modern in style , but not to the extent of being bland and characterless, with a friendly vibe and an impressive Real Ale offering. XT6, Otley Amarilo, Bristol Beer 7, Moor Revival and Wild Beer Fresh made it into my note book from the eight pumps available, so I will bow to the previous PuG reviewers who recorded them all, and the couple I tried were in good condition. It’s a bit tricky first time of asking to find it in the back streets north of the river to Temple Meads Station, but worth the effort and fully recommended as a first point of call for any Bristol crawl when alighting from the train.

Like Rex, this was also my first visit to a Bristol pub and it seemed an appropriate starting point given that it is now the flagship pub for the city's Bristol Beer Factory Brewery. The pub looks like a traditional back street boozer on approach, but a recent refurbishment has created a smart, modern alehouse that straddles the line between classic pub and craft beer bar, creating something where customers favouring either style of pub will feel comfortable. The layout is fairly straightforward, with an angular servery on the rear wall roughly opposite the entrance and two decent seating areas either side. The room is bare boarded and has a smart dual colour scheme. Seating is a mix of standard chairs and fixed benches and the décor includes lots of small framed pictures, deer antlers and a few displays of small trinkets in little shelving units. A large stack of board games was piled up next to the entrance and there are a number of blackboards dotted around the place listing various food and drink options. The servery boasted a large Bristol Beer Factory mirror on the bar back ("A taste of independence"), from which a long row of beer taps emerge. The cask options on this visit were Moor Revival. Wild Beer Fresh, Sunny Republic Shark Head, Bristol Beer Factory Seven, Wiper and True Milk Shake, XT 6 and Otley Amarillo. This was complimented by a large range of small batch keg beers, a strong bottled beer range and several real ciders. I thought I should try the sole Bristol Beer Factory cask offering, and was pleased to find it in good shape. The bar staff were friendly and knowledgeable about their products, with one barman talking us through the cider production process I really liked this place and felt that quite a bit of thought had gone into the way the pub presented itself. It certainly impressed me more than the more overt craft beer bars on King Street for example. The pub is arguably a bit out of the way if you're based in the city centre, but you'll be well rewarded for making the walk out here.

This was my first ever visit to a Bristol pub, and I reckon it was a great one to start with. It's definitely worth the effort of worming your way through the backstreets behind Temple Meads Station, but luckily I was with someone who knew where he was going. As BF says, it's a small, and a bit minimalist pub, but there were a few odds and ends about the place, like butterflies on display in glass cases, a bagatelle board, and some prints on the walls. Eight handpumps on the go is a good thing to welcome one into a pub, and all were dispensing less usually seen ales. The Sunny Republic Shark Head was in excellent shape, and at £3.40 a pint as I recall. I'm not likely to get to this neck of the woods any time soon, but if I lived anywhere near I would certainly want to visit again.

Not the sort of place that you are likely to find by chance, but this pub is certainly worth seeking out. Sympathetically refurbished by the Bristol Beer Factory, it looks quite modern whilst retaining a traditional feel. Good atmosphere too. Eight real ales on handpump, with a range of styles including the unfined Moor Revival (£3.40). Also offers a good selection of craft keg beers, with the 12% Siren Tickle Monster Triple IPA causing much discussion (although nobody was seen trying it at £4.00 for a 1/3rd...).