Pubs and Bars / A-Z Bristol pub crawl
A-Z Bristol Pub Crawl: The Kings Arms, Brislington
It’s a cold, damp Tuesday, and people are driving furiously down the A4 to get home and back in the dry.
Multi-coloured string lights flash erratically and sometimes aggressively from within the Kings Arms in Brislington.
A few people seeking shelter quickly leap inside the small pub, which sits unassumingly on the corner of Hollywood Road off Bristol Hill.
is needed now More than ever
The pub bares some of the hallmarks of any good ol’ English pub: a fireplace, oak beams (low enough for the average sized person), a juke box, a fruit machine, Foster’s beer mats and even a few ghosts apparently.
The bar is definitely not built for crowds
The bar is small enough that you could easily walk right by it and someone nearly does, but the staff aren’t behind it, they’re on some comfy looking seats in front of the bar, clearly not anticipating much of a rush tonight.
A man jumps behind the bar. It’s not clear if he works there or is just one of those who’s become the kind of regular who will confidently pour your pint for you and help you take up the chairs as close down approaches.
They’ve just got Inch’s cider on, at an impressive £3.80 a pint, an absolute steal in the Bristol economy.
Looking at the series of photos of the 17th century pub’s original condition, hardly much has changed
There must be only five or six people in here who’ve bared the downpour for a refreshment from their local, and everything about this place screams ‘cheers drive’, with all its Bristol-centric merchandise, including an Ashton Gate sign on the wall.
Noticing the conversations being carried throughout the pub, someone pops on some music. Tainted Love reverberates out of the speakers. But it’s not long before the speakers decide to stop again, going unnoticed by the staff.
By the end of the evening, these two were all who remained
Someone calls mockingly across the pub to the man who’s just walked in: “Is it wet outside?”
Number of bodies present aside, there are plenty of nooks and crannies to hide away in for busier periods.
There are a number of posters advertising karaoke, live football matches and Miss Jam Tart, a drag artist who is doing the rounds of a couple of Bristol establishments.
Drag queen Miss Jam Tart will be performing at the Kings Arms in November
Creaks and the snuffle of someone with a cold punctuate the pauses in the music. Then a clang of balls fly across a table, as someone decides it’s time for a game of pool.
The speakers abruptly start up again, blaring out Rock the Casbah by The Clash – the only way they should be played in all fairness.
By 8pm it appears everyone has cleared out and decided to get some rest: a very quiet Tuesday indeed.
A sign sticking outside of the Kings Arms advertises for a new publican
The Kings Arms, Hollywood Road, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 4LF
All photos: Hannah Massoudi
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