Chard in Yorkshire: Stagging it in Bristol

OK, OK, before any of my fellow men attack me for being a Judas and giving away the secrets of a Stag Do (possibly the last remaining bastion where men can be men), I promise to be brief about the events of the evening, only because I really enjoyed myself and have a few places I want to mention. So worry yourselves not!

Looking up Park Street to the University

As my visits to my old home city are scarce these days, I was quite intrigued to see a few sides of Bristol I hadn’t seen in a while as I made my way into town. First, the traffic is still absolutely awful and it was amazing to see that Ashley Down Road, a major thoroughfare off the M32 (the gateway to Bristol) had been closed to traffic for no apparent reason and with no prior warning whatsoever. So we crawled slowly through St Paul’s towards the city centre. Bristol has been gradually edging towards a point where something massive has to change with the transport infrastructure. Whether the answer is bikes, buses, a coordinated transport system or light rail is anyone’s guess, but very soon, people will have to be forced out of their cars.

Second, was the increasing presence of “street art” (or graffiti, whichever way you look at it). I noticed you could virtually walk from City Road in St Pauls to the Centre without ever losing sight of a piece of public work. This was quite pleasing as it really does give some real, quirky, individuality to the whole area and is pretty thought-provoking. I had plenty of time to sit and admire it as we waited in another traffic jam caused by roadworks.

So onto the Stag Do. Our first port of call was a place called The Botanist on Berkeley Square. Very nice décor which reminded me of a ship for some reason, coupled with some arty prints of Bristol’s sights. We were brought plate after plate of superb “man food”, including mini burgers, kofta kebabs, garlic bread and chocolate brownies, until we could eat no more.

We then went onto a fairly studenty pub called The Brass Pig, and watched a thrilling, yet ultimately disappointing rugby match (for the English amongst us anyway). With Bath Ales on tap, including the rather excellent Gem Bitter, it suited our needs perfectly.

With rain coming down, I took Ashby (excellent hockey player and theologist) on a mini tour of quirky Park St, taking in the brilliantly-named There and Back Again Lane (named after one of the Lord of the Rings books) and a famous Banksy art piece.

We then moved onto The Stable on the waterfront. I don’t think I had ever been as excited to sample a new restaurant/bar than I had with this place – and I wasn’t disappointed. A lot of thought has obviously gone into the look and feel of the place, with the kitchen area exposed and boxes of cider stacked up to the ceiling. We were served up with a Cider Tasting Board. 5 half pints of heaven in my opinion. We also ordered a range of different pizzas, which were thin, crispy and loaded with meat. The combination was truly award winning!

My night ended with the rest of the lads at Walkabout. In true retro style, my Dad came to pick me up, as I tried (and failed) to stifle my drunkenness! In true Bristolian style, it’d been a gert lush day.