News / Pubs
Pub previously named after Colston now welcomes you with Open Arms
The pub formerly known as the Colston Arms and temporarily as Pubby McDrunkface has a welcoming new name.
The Open Arms is now open for business thanks to new signs being installed.
It has had its new moniker since 2021 but the signs on the historic pub midway up St Michael’s Hill now make it official.
is needed now More than ever
The name is a particularly fitting choice for listeners to Shaun Keaveny’s Community Garden Radio, where the former 6 Music presenter asks the audience to feed the jukebox at the (previously) fictional pub.
During the Second World War, the Colston Arms played a pivotal role in the US civil rights movement.
American authorities attempted to introduce segregation between white and Black members of the military, but the Colston Arms refused to accept that Black and white soldiers should not be served together.
Presenting a BBC documentary in 2015, American-British writer Bonnie Greer said that “there should be a blue plaque outside the pub – it was remarkable what happened there”.
The Open Arms describes itself as “a traditional pub with modern attitudes” – photo: Martin Booth
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read next:
- Colston Arms pub: ‘We are listening’
- Road named after Colston now named after those who pulled his statue down
- Colston statue should remain on display in museum, commission finds
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