Pubs and Bars / Reviews
The Lime Kiln – pub review
Bristol is being spoiled rotten for good beer at the moment.
The so-called Beermuda Triangle on King Street is becoming nationally renowned so it’s time to sit up and take notice when the manager of one of its most popular haunts, the Beer Emporium, ups sticks to manage a new pub owned by a former landlord of the Severn Stars in Redcliffe, a regular winner of Camra’s Bristol pub of the year.
The new pub in question is the Lime Kiln, taking over from what used to be the Horse & Groom on St George’s Road behind City Hall.
is needed now More than ever
Still a work in progress, as it says on a hand-written sign as soon as you walk in, the Lime Kiln has already nailed its colours to the mast with a fine selection of beers, including several from local breweries on tap and in bottles.
On keg there is the Super Deluxe Stout from the New Bristol Brewery in St Paul’s, while among the bottle selection there is Atom amber ale from Crane in St Philip’s, with a beer from Towles’ in Lawrence Hill soon to appear. (Upcoming beers’ pump clips are on display behind the bar, close to a shelf on the back bar with a selection of rare and vintage whiskies)
Carling and Grolsch are the odd ones out at the moment, but it’s doubtful many visitors to this pub will be drinking those, sticking instead to the constantly changing selection from some of the UK’s best small breweries.
All of the beers on cask and on keg have tasting notes chalked up on a blackboard, in a small one-room pub whose interior has been stripped right back, with a varnished wooden floor, wooden beams across the ceiling and lattice windows.
Eight coats of paint were needed to remove a mural on one wall of the former landlord, who had commissioned the piece with the infinite wisdom of an eastern European dictator with a personality cult.
New landlord Paul Wratten won’t be repeating this trick, making sure to let the beers pull in the punters at a pub that currently only has subtle lettering outside rather than a traditional sign to proclaim its new name.
Don’t let the subtlety trick you, however. Bristol’s thriving beer scene has got yet another pub to add to its number.
The Lime Kiln, St George’s Road, Bristol, BS1 5UU