The Ashville, Bristol

Not much changed since Blackthorns review apart from garden closed and Ales by nearby Bristol beer factory and Thatcher's Heritage has been replaced by Haze, get in!

Since my last review, this has undergone a complete transformation and has even changed it’s name to highlight the fact that it is a very different pub to what it was previously. It has been opened out so that’s it’s now all one large room, with only a free-standing slate brick chimney breast marking the point where there used to be a wall between the two bars. It’s a light and airy space with good sized windows on two sides, with white paintwork on the ceiling and pale blue paint on the top part of the walls, although there is a rather darker red colour on the lower part. The flooring is wood strip whilst there are a number of chunky farmhouse tables throughout and some colourful local artwork on the walls. Many of the tables were reserved, and all included menus and cutlery in a small metal bucket, suggesting that food is very much the emphasis here now. I imagine one would be somewhat unwelcome occupying a table just to drink if there were diners waiting to be seated, although there were also a few high chairs at the bar. The menu offers a decent selection of pub grub dishes, with options such as Ham Egg & Chips, Burger, Sausage & mash, Fish & Chips, etc., and these were mostly priced around the £9/£10 mark. In addition to the regular menu there was also a specials board listing a few more options. Our Salmon & Cod Fish Cakes with lemon aioli, dressed leaves and a burnt lemon was a decent and tasty dish, although it really did need the side order of chips which were charged extra (although at £2 for a couple of bowls which was plenty for two to share, I’m not complaining). The lemon aioli was an unusual but pleasant accompaniment, although the requested tartare was rather less successful having an odd curry flavour (and consequently yellow hue) which didn’t really go. Beers on tap were Wickwar Gold and Doom Bar, whilst ciders were well represented with Thatcher’s Gold, Thatcher’s Heritage, Stowford Press, Rosie’s Pig and Aspall’s Suffolk. Overall I quite liked this and thought they’d done a good job on renovating a tired old boozer, but I do wonder how “pubby” it is now with the strong emphasis on food, and they also need to do something with the outside area which is just a patch of messy gravel with a couple of tables down at one end. Perhaps that is work in progress.