Best Pubs in Bristol for Cider, Jazz, Beer and Roasts

Best Pubs in Bristol for Cider, Jazz, Beer and Roasts

Guide: Jazz Rooms, Cider Boats & Real Bristol Pubs

Bristol’s pubs have distinct reasons to linger: free jazz on King Street, farmhouse cider on a barge, independent beer in St Philips and Sunday roasts worth planning ahead. Ten current rooms cover those moods without repeating one street.

• Old DukeThe Old Duke has poured pints alongside free jazz and blues on King Street for decades. There is music every night, Sunday afternoon trad jazz and no table reservations.
• Llandoger TrowLlandoger Trow's timbered King Street rooms now carry a broad keg-beer list behind a historic façade. The old building has several spaces, so choose a room as carefully as a pint.
• The AppleThe Apple is a cider bar on a 1920s Dutch barge at Welsh Back, with a large quayside terrace and a deep farmhouse-cider list. Its floating setting is strongest in fair weather.
• Orchard InnOrchard Inn specialises in cider and gravity-poured ale on Spike Island, with a lived-in pub feel away from King Street. Match days can bring earlier opening than its ordinary schedule.
• Small BarSmall Bar pours thirty-one changing beers on King Street and serves Wing's Diner food alongside them. It is compact and lively, with later weekend closing than many traditional pubs.
• Bank TavernBank Tavern combines real ale and a famously booked-up Sunday roast in a tucked-away John Street pub. Food service is shorter than bar hours, and bank-holiday Mondays can close.
• Barley MowBarley Mow is Bristol Beer Factory's St Philips pub, with its own beers and Cord Kitchen food. The Tuesday quiz and Sunday roast merit booking; ordinary drinking is more spontaneous.
• Grain BargeGrain Barge serves independent Bristol beer on a moored Hotwells boat, with music and art below deck. The waterside tables draw crowds whenever the weather cooperates.
• Christmas StepsChristmas Steps fills a former sugar-refinery building with local beer, pub cooking and a rear courtyard. The split-level historic rooms have steep stairs, especially on the way to toilets.
• Golden GuineaGolden Guinea offers a straightforward Redcliffe local with a changing beer range and a small garden. Its later Friday and Saturday hours make it useful without King Street's crush.

Reviewed by RGuide Editorial · Venue details checked September 2026