Features / My Bristol Favourites
My Bristol Favourites: Samir Savant
Samir Savant took over as the chief executive of St George’s Bristol in September.
A musician and music lover, Samir previously held various roles at London-based arts and music institutions.
He is passionate about innovation and is leading the renowned Great George Street venue as it strengthens work to “create inspirational musical experiences for broader audiences across contemporary, classical, folk, jazz, world music and spoken word programmes”.
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Upcoming highlights at St George’s Bristol include Lulu, Seth Lakeman, The Soundtrack to my Life by Bristol-based photographer Martin Parr and BBC New Generation artists.
These are Samir’s top five favourites:
“The Architect serves great coffees and cocktails in elegant art deco surroundings” – photo: Martin Booth
“This is a lovely harbourside bar, just next to the Arnolfini, which serves great coffees and cocktails in elegant art deco surroundings and never seems to get uncomfortably crowded. You can sit on the outside terrace when the weather is warm and watch the world go by.
“All profits also support the charity Design West, who organise the excellent Bristol Open Doors weekend. I arrived in Bristol last September and was delighted to take part in this event as one of the first things I did to explore my new city, and enjoyed everything from a queer audio tour to a visit to the synagogue on Park Row.”
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“In my honest opinion, this is the best Indian restaurant in Bristol and I feel so lucky that it is round the corner from where I live in Hotwells. Everything is freshly cooked and beautifully presented and the delicious chef’s specials are quite different from your usual curry menu. My favourites are the succulent Nawabi Sheekh Kebab and delicately spiced Fish Moilee, but there are plenty of plant-based choices too.
“The colourful decor is by local artist Shruti from Mantra Murals, the prices are reasonable and the service friendly – headed up by Shamshuddin, known as Sam to the punters, who comes from the same region in India as me, Maharashtra, a top bloke!”
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“You would naturally expect me to mention the wonderful St George’s, but I wanted to highlight some more unexpected aspects of our venue. We have beautiful gardens which are open to the public daytimes during the week, a perfect spot to enjoy some calm and coolness in the hot weather away from the bustle of Park Street.
“My favourite tipple from our lovely café/bar in our modern extension is Mango, Ginger and Lime from 6 O’Clock Gin. Gin in our gardens, perfection!
“Our busy calendar of events starts up again soon, we have 300 dates every year covering all music genres and spoken word and I was very proud to have hosted Bristol’s first ever BBC Prom at St George’s earlier this month. I warmly encourage you to pick your favourite gig in our autumn season and come along and enjoy our world-famous acoustic.”
“Bristol Cathedral is such an atmospheric and historic space” – photo: Martin Booth
“I sing with the Fitzhardinge Consort, an amazing group of committed musicians and we rehearse weekly at Bristol Cathedral. It’s such an atmospheric and historic space, and a life-affirming experience to hear our voices resonate across the building.
“I am enjoying my personal discovery of the cathedral’s history and some of its lesser-known aspects. In particular, I love the chapel dedicated to Berkeley family, tucked away with its medieval stained glass and intricate stone carvings, and the many different stories the building tells. These include a moving dedication to John Isaac Daniel, one of the thousands enslaved by Bristolian Thomas Daniel, and a plaque celebrating Bristol as the first Anglican cathedral to ordain women as priests.”
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Bristol
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“The Sisters are a worldwide queer movement dedicated to, well, indulgence! There is a Bristol chapter and I have really enjoyed their events. The most recent one was at the splendid Cube cinema – it was a ‘call my queer bluff’ with teams of sisters trying to guess the correct meaning of certain words of polari, an underground slang language spoken by gay men in the 1950s. It was a fundraiser for OUTspace, Bristol’s first queer community cafe and events space which will hopefully open later this year.”
Main photo: Nicky Ebbage
Read more: My Bristol Favourites: Adda Cohn
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