West Country Pubs

Situated on the crossroads by Fishponds Library is the rather fine Farriers Arms, a “proper” town pub. The interior of the place is fine, but come rain or shine you’ll always find people sitting at the tables out front watching the world go by.

No gimmics here, just a good honest pub and one that, in the tradition of all good Fishponds Road pubs, supports live music. And some. Regular Saturday day evening bands indoors, frequent (in the summer) bands outdoors in the large beer garden.

You’ll often get to see bands here who aren’t part of the local “circuit” either, so it’s very well worth just dropping in on the off-chance.

Bar food, plenty of parking available, live music.

Set back from the Fishponds Road half-behind Lidl’s as you head out of town The Railway Tavern is not at all hard to miss.  Once you’ve found it however, you’ll in all probability not forget where it is. You’ll want to go back.

It’s a “local’s pub” in the sense that it has a regular crowd, but most of them will have walked past a few other pubs to get there. Some of those other pubs will have been a fair bit cheaper, too.  So the Railway Tavern is doing something right.

What it’s got right is its sense of being part of the community that uses it and offering that community the best service it can.  It’s just a nice, friendly, fun place to be.  Chavs have been spotted there, but they’ve been seen to be smiling.

Regular (every Saturday) live bands, midweek quizzes and so forth all add to the fun.

Highly recommended.

Food (standard pub fare), Wi-Fi, kids welcome, darts,  Sky TV on multiple screens, juke box, live music, plenty of parking available.

Several beers and ciders under £2.00 per pint, football on Greek TV, pool table, darts and a concrete beer garden. You might suspect this isn’t going to be the Ritz and you’d be right. Bristolians familiar with the Long Bar and the Punch Bowl will know what to expect.

Of course, “cheap drink” often leads to “busy” and the place frequently is, particularly for the bigger football matches, and the atmosphere is often great. The pub is always friendly, even when near deserted.

It’s an older, working crowd that get in there usually, so the place is by-and-large Chav-free.

No food, but Wi-Fi is available, sports on TV, juke box, dogs are welcome (as are kids, but only until 21.00). Very limited parking, but number 48 and 49 buses stop almost outside.