Jolly Sailor, Bristol

Official site of the Jolly Sailor, contains menu - www.jollysailorpub.com

Official site of the Jolly Sailor, contains menu - www.jollysailorpub.com

This pub has a superb location right by Saltford lock. There’s plenty of outside seating, including a few seats on the island which to get to you have to walk across the lock – not recommended after one too many. It’s a traditional free house, so you can never be sure what ales are going to be on. When I was in there on during a lunchtime they had on Butcombe Bitter; Sharp’s Doom Bar; and GKIPA. I had a couple of pints of Butcombe Bitter, which was excellent, and reasonably priced (by my London standards) at £2.65 a pint. I didn’t spend much time inside, except to go to and from the bar, but it looked pretty basic. Nothing wrong with that of course. It was reasonably quiet on a weekday lunchtime, but I bet it gets incredibly busy on a summer’s weekend. But it’s a really nice pub, and definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area on a nice day and can sit outside.

How things change! Dirty wine glasses were taken away and returned equally dirty but with complimentary water drops, starters OK, unbelievably noisy reorganisation of furniture as tables and chairs were dragged over the stone floor, mains OK but nothing special (possibly Brake Brothers?), final triumph was Brulee of scrambled egg texture and soft brown substance on the top which I assume was caramelised sugar once upon a time. We won't be returning in a hurry.