Red Monkey, Redland, Bristol

Micropub (well, it isn’t really that micro in sq ft) in an affluent part of town. A bit sparse and rickety-feeling inside with a servery that looked 100% like an amateur DIY job. Colourful, with what my notes describe as a ‘seaside orange and blue’ colour scheme. Bench seating. Of additional note is the lovely stained glass door. Six cask ales which made me slightly nervous given the place wasn’t exactly heaving, however my Palmers Ho Ho Ho was exemplary (NBSS 5). A little bit of a mixed bag but the beer quality speaks for itself. 8.5

This is a fairly new, shop-converted micro pub located down a side street in what appears to be a relatively well-to-do neighbourhood. As micro pubs go, this one seemed to be a pretty decent size, with a spacious, bare boarded seating area running a fair way back before the large servery appears to the rear right. A nice stained glass “Welcome to Chums” pane in the front door gives a good first impression, before you pass the long, hard bench that extends down the left hand wall, with standard tables and chairs to the right. Walls are half panelled and have some unconventional artworks on their uppers, alongside articles about the pub and a few posters for upcoming events. The servery was apparently made by knocking two holes through an existing wall, to create the two bar sections now found either side of the remaining corner section of the old wall. A large board next to the bar lists all the available beers plus details of upcoming live music events. A few pump clips and CAMRA certificates dot the walls and there was an interesting display case full of various items of pottery. The room runs past the bar, through a very narrow space to the left where a few more tables can be found. A friendly barman greeted me and two other chaps who happened to enter at the same time – the only customers on this early afternoon visit. He had four ales on the go – Wye Valley HPA and Butty Bach, Palmers IPA and Arbour Blue Sky Drinking – plus four real ciders and a mix of well known and more obscure keg options. My pint of the Butty Bach slipped down nicely after the mostly uphill walk out here from the city centre. I thought this was a really nice, smartly presented micro pub with some nice, well kept beer and a friendly welcome to strangers. The pub is obviously too far out of town to consider as part of a city centre crawl, but with other interesting pubs in the area, is well worth taking some time out to locate.

Chums is a micro pub that is situated on a very pleasant road which has more bars and pubs. Once inside there is a single oblong shaped room which runs to the rear,the front area is bare boarded,there is bench seating running down the left side,the bar is midway on the right side,there are normal tables and chairs to the front right. There were four real ales on,i had a drink of Purity Pure Gold,which went down well,the other beers were Purity UBU,Butcombe Bitter and Wye Valley Butty Bach. The pub was deathly quiet om my Saturday afternoon visit,with a few other drinkers in. Not a pub i would stay in for a few. Pub visited 4/2/2017

The easiest way to get here was from the centre of Bristol, catching a bus from College Green, which saves walking up a long steep road. This micro is situated in a small section of shops and restaurants in a residential area. The pub is basic and comfortable and offers some well kept ales, as the owner is a perfectionist for quality. The young barman on our Saturday lunch time visit was very welcoming and chatty. There was a choice of 5 ales and 8 ciders on our visit. So we went for the Birdman Flying Bird and Old School Brewery Detention, both of which were excellent. They also have a Camra Discount of 30p off a pint. They also had a range of baps at £1.50, well worth a visit this micro, would defo call again.

Bristol’s second micro-pub, this opened a few months back as part of the burgeoning Chandos Road food and drink scene and is actually quite a reasonable size, certainly bigger than many non micro-pubs that I have been in. Clearly converted from a former shop unit, it still has that look about it, complete with suspended ceiling tiles and slatted wooden boards on the walls were items for sale were presumably hung. They have however etched the glass windows at the front, and this included a number of logos from their suppliers such as Butcombe, Wye Valley and Gwatkins. Internally it’s all one open plan room, although it narrows at one point where the bar counter has been built. Oddly the bulk of this area is walled off to make a separate room rather than all being open as is normally the case, with just a small counter area at the front. A couple of chalk boards just next to this displayed the current selection of ales and ciders, as well as a “coming soon” board. Decor wise there is little of any note, with rough wooden boards on the floor and a mixture of battleship grey and cream paintwork on the walls. Some chunky wooden benches had recently been installed down one side of the pub, and I understand these are to be covered with some sort of fabric at some point. A few colourful watercolours were for sale, and there was a good selection of board games on a shelf next to the bar. It was very quiet on a recent Friday evening visit with only two or three other punters in, and the lack of any music made it slightly too sombre, I thought. That said, it was somewhat busier when we walked by again a couple of hours later. The food offering looks to be restricted to a jar of pickled eggs and a selection of crisps displayed on the bar counter. Beers on this occasion were Butty Bach, Flying Monk Elmers, XT13, Rudgate Battle Axe and Butcombe Brunel IPA, as well as a stout of some sort. Ciders fared well with Gwatkin’s No Bull and Silly Ewe, Aston Press Still, Cheddar Valley, Brislington Brain Twister and Orchard Pig Explorer.