Beerd Colston, Bristol

Reopened as the Golding Bar, but nothing on tap so I have not marked it as reopen.

A recent opening within the Colston Hall music venue, this does nonetheless have it’s own entrance out on to the street and operates independently of the concert hall. Run by Bath Ale’s “Beerd” off shoot, this follows their usual themes of craft ales and pizza, and when we visited at what was probably peak “pre-theatre” time, all tables were full, mostly with diners, but I’m sure it may well be different at other times. It’s quite a small pub internally, with extensive glazing on two sides giving a good outlook to the street outside. There is also a small terrace here for the warmer weather. Tables are quite tightly packed in to make the most of the available space, and there is a smallish bar counter at the back which has been glazed with red tiles. Flooring is some type of dark lino and there were strings of light bulbs hung from the ceiling, as well as a large illuminated “Pizza” sign. Some of the wall paper had a beer mat design, but other than that there was little of any note. There were no real ales on tap, just a number of craft keg options dispensed from plain taps in the back wall and a note stuck to the front of the bar showing the current selection, which on our recent visit was Silvertip, Cubic, Wild Beer Bibble and Sunspot. Helpfully the list also included some tasting notes. The solitary cider was Bath’s Bounders, whilst if lager is more your thing, you’re a bit out of luck – only cans were available, and these were around £4 - £4.50. This is probably a better bet than many bars within music halls which usually tend to offer the blandest multi-national brands, so for that they must be applauded, but it’s not likely to be anywhere that the ale aficionado is going to make a bee line for, especially with so many other great pubs just a short stroll away.