News / Pubs
Pub landlord sets record straight about ‘world’s longest waiting list’
Despite recent reports both locally and nationally that a pub in Bristol is the world’s hardest restaurant to get a table in, its landlord is keen to stress that this is not the case.
Following its victory in the Observer Food Monthly Awards 2019, a six-month waiting list for Sunday lunch at the Bank Tavern leapt up to four years, causing landlord Sam Gregory to eventually stop taking reservations due to the situation becoming unmanageable.
Covid then hit meaning some two years of those bookings were missed, with any cancellations originally offered to people who had missed bookings during that time.
is needed now More than ever
Now the backlog has been cleared, cancellations are offered to people who bought the Bank’s lunches to eat at home during lockdown as a way of saying thank you for their support.
Bookings for Sunday lunch are due to reopen in the new year – but you might be able to secure a walk-in table now if you get lucky and happen to be passing the pub on John Street in the Old City when there is a no-show.
Bank Tavern landlord Sam Gregory outside the pub on John Street – photo: Martin Booth
“We are ridiculously difficult to get into but we don’t have a four-year waiting list!” Gregory told Bristol24/7.
“We had a four-year waiting list but we are coming to the end of that four-year waiting list and we are looking forward to opening the diary in the new year.
“Everything we have ever done at the Bank Tavern is about credibility. If we are not true to what we do, how can we expect people to be loyal to us?”
Sunday lunch at the Bank always include a Yorkshire pudding and gravy refills if you need – photo: Bank Tavern
A three-course meal in the Bank Tavern including its famous Sunday roast with all the trimmings costs £27.99, with seating inside for just 28 people.
Starters and desserts are different each week, with prep work starting on Wednesdays when bones are roasted for the gravy (for which there is no extra charge).
Gregory, who grew up in Plymouth and worked at the Bank as a barman while a student at UWE before becoming its landlord, said that he feels he gets “too much of the credit” for what he stresses is a team effort at the pub.
“I just sashay around, glad-handing customers, making sure everything is alright. It is very stressful but ultimately, it’s the fantastic cheffing team that we have got.
“I look at what we do and think, how can we do it better?”
The Bank Tavern has seating for just 28 diners, with three sittings each Sunday – photo: Martin Booth
Due to its location just inside the former city wall, some think the Bank could be the oldest pub in Bristol – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Your Bristol Favourites: Sunday roasts
- New owner of much-loved pub promises he will not change anything
- Bristol pub wins UK’s best Sunday lunch
- Historic graveyard to be opened to public for first time in decades
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