Penny Farthing

There certainly are no shortage of pubs and bars on Whiteladies Road but there certainly aren't as many pubby pubs as I for one would like to see. Why have overpriced drinks in a head-ache inducing bright bar cum meat market when you could have a good ole hearty pint of ale in a dark, wooden haven? There are of course some exceptions and the Penny Farthing is one of them. It looks dark from the outside and it is dark from the inside. It can be a bit 'local pub for local people' when you walk in but it really isn't. During the days it can be quite quiet, apart from the obligatory old man slumped over his John Smiths at the bar. Then later on in the evening the students and locals start packing in with the odd weary shopper laden down with bags. A perfectly pleasant place to kick back with a few pals and a drink or ten.

There's something very funny written on the menu in The Penny Farthing: "Please order and pay at the bar and leave." I couldn't work out if it was a case of the rest of the sentence - the bit that would have stopped it sounding so comically rude! - having been chopped off by mistake, or if they really had intended it as an instruction to get in, pay, and get out!

This is a proper pub, one for watching the rugby and drinking a warm pint of Guinness in, ideal. It does have a great little seating area outside, perfectly positioned on Whiteladies road, so you can sit and people watch, smoke, and laugh at anyone who isn't sat outside a pub doing those things.

I was introduced to this place on very happy terms; after just signing for my new flat at Bristol Residential Lettings across the road, they get a lot of happy new tenants  by the sounds of it.

At the bottom of Whiteladies Road and on the corner of Cotham Hill, the Penny Farthing is quite a traditional pub, with an old oaky exterior, giving the sense of an olden pub.  This isn't quite the case though, as it was refurbished a couple of years ago to give it a more modern feeling.  It's owned by Wadworth, so have a range of their ales on tap, as well as Butcombe, Gem, and a few standard lagers.  Its crowd is primarily local residents and office workers - even though it's in a prime position for it, it's never particularly over run by students.  Friendly staff give the place a nice atmosphere, and there's a few curious things adorning the walls, especially on the downstairs level, so have a search around for some strange items.

There's loads (I'd say too many) bars the part of Whiteladies road where this pub is. The sort of places you drink standing up and have to shout to get yourself heard. It's a relief, then, to find the Penny Farthing which resolutely is not one of these bars.