Day 2 of the Bath odyssey, and it was tipping it down, which was going to make standing outside watching the Tour Series cycling event a bit wet, and travelling between pubs in between a bit soggy too.
The Ale House
First stop of the day, there are quite a few pubs in the area of the Roman Baths, which obviously appeal mostly to tourists, The Ale House sits somewhat unassumingly on the corner of York Street near the Parade gardens. As it happens its a Grade II listed building, easy sometimes to forget with millennia of history around you even Victorian buildings are several hundred years of history. I stopped for a quick sandwich lunch and probably the best pint of Bath Gem I had all trip.
The Bath Brew House
Opened the summer of 2013, so a year after my last trip to Bath, and one of the City Pub Company pubs who are slowly creating a new chain of pubs across mainly London & Cambridge and Bristol (more of that later). One of the bars Id tried, and failed miserably as it had been so busy, the night before to get served in, a bit quieter on a soggy Saturday afternoon, and as the name suggests its also a micro brewery, as well as the obligatory gastro craft style restaurant. If anything the food side was doing better business than the bar at this time as the must have been 20-30plus people in the eating area which was full, and people were being turned away, note this was post lunchtime mid afternoon.
So its the place to go for deep fried stuff and fries it seems, though notable from my seat across from the bar very little of the ale was being sold on the back of it, wine yes, lager mainly to the rugby fans, cider, even coffee, but not the beer, which seemed disappointing since some of it was brewed on site, and had been one of the things Id briefly noticed the night before.
a half of the Brewhouses own Emperor, average, and half of Faultline by Kettlesmith Brewing Company, better than average. Again a place that looked interesting on the menu side but for whatever reason I never ended up eating there.
The Trinity Inn
An Abbey Ales pub, one of 4 in Bath though as I was to discover all 4 are very different propositions. But so Id expected to find at least one Abbey Ale on, but only St Austell Tribute was visible. The pub itself is basically just a dedicated sports bar, the locals were avidly watching any screen showing more rugby, but with both tvs in corners of the pubs rooms and high up and, its one of those bars you walk in and wonder why everyone is wordlessly staring at the ceiling. I drank my half reasonably quickly and left.
The Lamb & Lion
Much like the Trinity Inn another sports bar focused pub, albeit for a much younger group, football was the sport of choice this time, and whilst the pub was alot lighter and had more pub atmosphere, the beer selection wasnt much better, another swift half followed, this time of Butcombe Bitter.
At this point I headed off to watch some of the cycling up around the Pulteney bridge area of the city, which was great except the heavens opened and needing some respite from the rain I tried to find the nearest pub. Now I hadnt realised the GBG listed Pulteney Arms was very close to where I had been, on the list for next time, and instead I made my way to...
The Rising Sun.
which is actually an Inn, in the old sense, in that it provides beer, food and somewhere to stay overnight, albeit with only 7 rooms, but it looked a very nice traditional but modern updated place to stay at a price not that much more than Id paid for a Holiday Inn Express and Id have had a decent breakfast chucked in too. I think if I went to stay in Bath again Id certainly look this place up. And the beer served with great care by the on duty manager, was pretty good.
Coeur De Lion
A quick run back to my own hotel to dry out and change before setting off back round Bath for the evening. The Coeur de Lion, Id been here before on my previous Bath trip, so knew what to expect. Its Baths smallest pub, and another of Abbey Ales pubs, its most striking feature being the stained glass windows that still refer to the since lost Devenish Brewery who used to own the pub and tried to close it in the 90's. Fortunately the locals campaigned against the closure and its worth revisiting on any visit. Abbey Ales - Bath Best, and an exceptionally good Abbey Ales Crafty Friar, showed this is still a good pub to call at.
The Pig & Fiddle
only a short distance in the grand scheme of things away the next stop was here. An odd mix of old shop frontage and courtyard back, with the bar somewhere in the middle surrounded by a table football table, and collection of memorabilia, with what felt like a very student vibe to the place, certainly I wasnt the oldest patron in residence, but I bumped the average age up considerably. Owned by Butcome Brewery, so not as surprising to find a Liberation Smugglers Ale on as Id first thought, and reportedly closed recently for refurbishment, thereby proving the point about how quickly pub reviews can date.
The Star Inn
Now the reason Id been heading northwards out of the city, a pub Id tried to visit on my previous visit but had found it closed at the time as it still very much runs to traditional pub opening hours during the week. GBG listed and another Abbey Ales pub completely different in style to the other two Id visited so far. Abbey Ales on offer of course, as well as Bass, but the "Star" if you like, is the Abbey Bellringer served by gravity into a jug and poured into your glass, a practice very few pubs use anymore.The art as the barman was explaining to his protege apprenticing behind the bar is knowing how far to fill the jug so the minimum amount of beer is wasted, which he proceeded to demonstrate on all 3 occasions near perfectly every time I ordered a pint, and no the jug wasnt lined as far as I could tell, and certainly the best cask ale Id had in Bath.
Assembly Inn
Time to head back and made my way to the 4th and final Abbey Ales pub, though confusingly owned by Greene King. Again another completely different style of pub, a two room pub with one dedicated to being part sports bar with pool tables, the other being more a gastro eating craft bar style room with only the actual bar providing connection between these seemingly disparate setups. On the gastro side I tried a reasonably average Azacca Gold by Milestone Brewing Co, on the sports bar side it was Greene Kings House Lager named after the pub, I didnt like the lager much at all.
The King of Wessex (Wetherspoon)
If anything just to get the Cask Marque checkin, your average Wetherspoon built next to a gym and cinema, selling average beer for not alot.
The Cork
Included in the Bath list except it was actually only somewhere I visited after my day trip to Bristol following the end of Bath day 2, but it makes more sense to include here for the map and link to Bath..
Now when Id walked past it on the other two days Id discounted it as sounding like the atypical Irish themed pub, which on the whole I avoid on my travels, as cask ale is rarely on their agenda, and it didnt look a whole lot different to the array of sports pubs in this area. But for whatever reason, it was half nine on a Sunday night and seemed to be one of the few places left open I hadnt already tried, so I went in and found its not an Irish themed pub at all. Actually its another City Pub co (same as the St James Brewhouse), and had a good selection of cask ale, infact they had one of the St James Brewhouse beers on Gladiator, which was good, I also had a Seven by Bristol Beer Factory, also good, and then a couple of craft American beers, Lagunitas IPA and Brooklyn Lager, in bottles and cans so also good for what they were.
all in all very good pub I was glad I went in, and enjoyed the pub quiz. Just shows sometimes appearances can be deceptive sometimes.
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