Kongs of King Street, Bristol

Enjoying a crawl round some good bars in Bristol and this one was added to my King Street bars. Had to fill time in (no problem) till it opened at 4pm. They had a few cask ales on and we selected an enjoyable Cocksure Red 4.1%. The other was selected from the tap beers which was Wiper and True Cluster Simcoe 5.7%. It is a very different kind of bar with a table tennis table which was being used. Beers good so no problem.

Official site of Kongs of King Street - www.kongs-bristol.com

Official site of Kongs of King Street - www.kongs-bristol.com

Same two types of ales on handpump as Blackthorns visit in Oct and the place was quiet also on our Friday afternoon visit. Maybe it turns into a music venue of a night.

Yet another new opening on King Street, in a building that was an Indian restaurant for a short while I believe. It makes a pleasant change to see an Indian closing and a pub opening for once! The pub is one large, open plan room with a couple of alcoves off to one side. It has something of an industrial feel to it with cable trays and air condition ducting clearly visible on the ceiling, and somewhat rough finishes elsewhere – a raised section at the front for example had chipboard on the floor, and rough planks of wood screwed to the walls. I thought it looked like it was yet to be finished, but that is perhaps the vogue these days. Elsewhere it was a little more appealing with exposed stonework all down one side which included a couple of arches in to the alcoves. Paintwork was in various shades including burgundy and various blues and greys. The furniture was a bit of a mismatch with some high plastic stools and some battered old metal chairs that look like they came from a primary school. Tables were a mixture of odd bits of wood jutting out at angles from the supporting iron pillars and old cable reels. An old arcade video game built in to a table was an interesting feature, and a number of retro games advertisements were on the wall next to it. Anyone remember Frogger, along with a Commodore 64 or VIC 20 to play it on? Besides this there was also a ping pong table and a table football game. Beers on tap were Hook Norton Lion and Wickwar Bob. A number of the keg options appeared to have run out with brown paper bags over the fronts. Ciders were Thatcher’s Gold or Symonds Founders Reserve. The barmaid seemed to struggle a bit with English as I had to repeat Thatcher’s Gold a couple of times before she understood and she kept asking if we wanted lemonade in a Gin & Tonic. Overall I was a bit disappointed with this. It was very rough and ready and had little in the way of atmosphere, although it was virtually empty when we visited on a Saturday afternoon. It may be different in the evening I suppose.