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Detail Pages
The Llandoger Trow, Bristol
Old City
Bristol
BS1 4ER
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Llandoger Trow
A very fine timber framed building,although one of the original gables was lost to the Luftwaffe.Someone also told me this was the first Berni Inn,not sure if that's accurate.
The cobbled area outside has a communal seating arrangement of pic nic benches used by all punters to this pub and the Old Duke and Kings Street Brewhouse,but the interior is where the interest lies.On the ground floor the main tap room is directly ahead of the entrance,with a very fine fireplace with wood carved surrounds just beyond the bar,before a rear section with wood panelling but dark due to a lack of natural light.The corridor to the loos also contains interesting features.Off the tap room to the left is a square room overlooking the pavement scene but strangely decorated in modern light shades with much less interest than elswhere.
Sadly the wooden staircase to the higher levels was roped off so no further exploration was possible,my visit was on a quiet Wednesday lunchtime,a visit at busier times would no doubt reveal more on the upper floors.
The ale options on my trip were Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout,Wye Valley HPA,TT Golden Best and Kelham Island Pale Rider (NBSS 4,I assume now brewed by Thornbridge ).The crew sampled widely and all ales were top notch in condition. There is also a bewildering choice of up to 25 craft kegs with the beer list on a wall mounted display.
I really enjoyed my trip,since reopening there is much to admire,not least the ale selection.Don't miss this out on any real ale crawl of the Old City.
On 29th May 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Llandoger Trow
Third pub crawl in Bristol and this has made the GBG - so added onto my latest visit. Couldnt wait to visit.
I love having free range to wander around such buildings. This had upstairs to navigate and at times, I found myself in whole rooms to myself.
History well described here and on their Wiki page. I love that it has grown organically by purchases more of the gabled frontage and then shrunken quite rudely at the hands of the Luftwaffe.
Beer wise - where to start. An array of 27 keg lines on a chalkboard - offering the finest wares from Bavaria, Czech republic and Cheltenham. And with all this choice.... what did I have..... Timothy Taylor Landlord.
It was perfect but I felt like I should have broadened my horizons.
Front area seems to share outdoor space with the pub opposite. I suppose the truly frugal could easily BYOB and enjoy the same experience as others.
I'd class it as a must visit for the history.... and an interesting beer selection (should you be more adventurous than me).
On 28th March 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Llandoger Trow
Located at the heart of the so-called Beermuda Triangle, this must be one of Bristol’s most attractive pubs, with it’s historic timbered and gabled exterior and is well known as the place where Daniel Defoe met Alexander Selkirk and inspired him to write Robinson Crusoe. There’s plenty of outside seating, and this was pretty much full to capacity on our recent Wednesday evening visit. It was sadly allowed to decline under former owners Whitbread until closing a couple of years ago, so it’s good to see such an iconic Bristol pub open again. Staff all seemed very friendly, even to the extent that we got a friendly greeting when we walked past again later in the evening.
Internally it doesn’t look as though a great deal has changed, and it could really do with a bit of TLC. Hopefully this will come in time as the new owners get established. Flooring is some type of well worn pale tiling, whilst the plastered ceiling was suitably uneven and contained a number of carvings in amongst the timber beams. A very large fireplace was just off to the right with an ornate black wooden mantle and there was some bench seating in the window. Other seating options were fairly sparse perhaps due to the current social distancing requirements. A wood panelled bar counter was to the rear and befitting it’s location there were a few nautical artefacts around, such as an anchor hanging from a pillar and a ship’s bell behind the bar. A further room was off to the left although we did not investigate this, whilst access to the upstairs area that used to be the restaurant was roped off.
Following the current trend in craft beer bars, the majority of options were keg dispensed from a long line of unlabelled taps behind the bar, with a chalkboard next to the bar highlighting the current selection. Cask options were limited to just Timothy Taylor Landlord and Quantock QPA. Keg options were considerably more extensive with Arbor Impy McImpface, Rothaus Weiss, Brick Session IPA, Big Smoke Cold Spark and Fruju, Orbit Dead Wax Porter, Kernel Pale Ale and Table Beer, Masquerade Virtuosa, Hammerton N7, Orbit Ivo, BBF Milk Stout, Southville Hop and Independence, Electric Bear Zoom Landing, Five Points XPA and finally Fierce & Noble APA. Ciders meanwhile were Iford and Adnams Wild Wave. All in all, it’s great to see such a Bristol institution back open, and hopefully it will thrive under it’s new owners.
On 24th June 2021
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1949 recommendations about 1862 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Llandoger Trow
Less a review, more an observation as I trundled past last week; most of the outside tables were left with empty glasses and debris on them despite it being a quiet afternoon. So I'm making the punt that things haven't improved one iota...what a waste.
May 2009
Popped in again because there was a beer festival advertised. A quick count revealed that all but three of the beers could almost certainly be purchased within a 10-15 minute walk elsewhere of the Trow. Nice one, manager...
5 January 2007
A real beauty on the outside (dating from 1664) and located in a lovely part of the town centre near the docks. Unfortunately it's spoilt by having only two mainstream ales which often come out poorly and (shockingly, for Bristol) no proper cider. The inside is nothing special - in fact, getting a bit dilapidated. A classic case of a pub not fulfilling its (very big) potential. This could and should be one of the top 5 Bristol pubs but sadly it is nowhere near this. There's a lot of tales linking this to the Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island novels, so the history is here in spades. Oh and the name (according to Wikipedia) is derived thus "A trow was a flat-bottomed barge, and Llandogo is a village 20 miles north of Bristol, across the Severn Estuary and upstream on the River Wye in South Wales, where trows were once built. Trows historically sailed to trade in Bristol."
On 24th May 2013
- rating: 4
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Brian McCulloch left this review about Llandoger Trow
Worth a visit for the building alone, the Llandoger Trow is one of the last timber-built merchant houses in Bristol.
Actually three houses combined to create one building. The Llandoger Trow survived the blitz to be restored more recently when building work was needed to save the structure.
The site oozes history with King Street having long associations with Bristol's seafaring days and includes important neighbours such as the Bristol Old Vic, Coopers Hall and Library.
As the sign indicates, the "Trow" is a sailing barge, a native of Bristol and the Welsh borders, used for trading onto the navigable stretches of the Wye Valley beyond Chepstow.
On 7th August 2006
- rating: 10
[User has posted 33 recommendations about 33 pubs]