Pubs and Bars / A-Z Bristol pub crawl
A-Z Bristol Pub Crawl: The Drawbridge, St Augustine’s Parade
Once upon a time, a number of bridges used to cross the River Frome as it made its way through the centre of Bristol.
With the Frome now mostly culverted, there is no longer a need for these bridges but in a few places, their former presence can still be felt.
Between Lewins Mead and Rupert Street, near the statue of Samuel Morley, is a short stretch of road called St John’s Bridge, above the historic span of the same name.
is needed now More than ever
And then there is the Drawbridge, a pub owned by Greene King which is so named because a drawbridge used to be almost opposite from 1868, close to what is now Baldwin Street across the Centre.
The nautical theme continues on the front of the pub with a replica of the figurehead from the doomed paddle steamer Demerara – once the second largest steamer afloat after the SS Great Britain – which was wrecked in 1851 on the Avon on her way to have her engines fitted.
Leaping into the present day, and Aston Villa versus Celtic in the Champions League was on the screens in the Drawbridge on a recent Wednesday night, with a giant tifo of Ozzy Osbourne unfurled in front of the Holte End before kick-off.
Villa were 2-0 ahead after less than five minutes; not that many in the pub cared, even with former Bristol Rovers loanee Lamare Bogarde in their starting lineup.
While drinking a Thatchers Zero, one punter did care, however, about a couple of framed programmes for ‘Bristol Football Club’ versus Newport on September 10 1977 and versus an International XV on April 5 1981.
It’s all too common to hear either City or Rovers be called just ‘Bristol’, but on closer inspection this team played with an oval ball and were an earlier iteration of what is now Bristol Bears, who themselves have an international fixture on Friday against Queensland Reds from Australia.
Thatchers Zero finished, the bridge aficionado made his way home, going the long way round to cross Pero’s Bridge – crossing what is now the Floating Harbour but arguably now the last bridge remaining in Bristol over the River Frome.
The Drawbridge is located next to the Hippodrome – photo: Martin Booth
The Drawbridge, 14 St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol, BS1 4UT
www.greeneking.co.uk/pubs/avon/drawbridge
Main photo: Martin Booth
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