Bath Forum: Weekend in Bath with the boys!

Thanks Riotstar. Will check them out.

Salamander is excellent for both ales and there is the raven less than 2 minutes ago. It does excellent pie and mash!!!

Thanks will try both.

The Star, which I use regularly, is one of the last proper pubs left in Britain, i.e. a place where men go to drink good beer and have intelligent conversation. Rowdy behaviour is not particularly welcome: women are welcome, as long as they keep quiet and stand their round. I can't ever recall seeing a child in there.

Depends what days you will be here, but the Bell in Walcot St has live music Sunday lunchtimes (and other times, see their website): they serve a good range of ales, it is a very bohemian sort of place, again I drink there often: Sunday lunchtime you will see families in there.

The Raven does pie and mash, and is popular with rugby people, and I have had good beer in there.

To be honest, most city centre pubs serve a decent pint (not the chains, though that is where you will have to go to find frippet), Bath is that sort of town.

There are two local brewers, Bath Ales (actually brewed between Bath and Bristol) and Abbey Ales, which is brewed in the city. You will find plenty of Butcombe, from a village South of Bristol, and Wadworth, from Devizes - their 6X is one of my personal favourites

I like the term frippet! Not much used in south Wales nowadays but I'm sure will be more used after our trip to Bath! Thanks for the info. I'm sure we will be giving the Star our custom! We have a similar pub in our town called the Llanover Arms, Pontypridd. Google it? Cheers!

The Pig & Fiddle on Broad Street is also worth checking out. It was recently taken over by Butcombe Brewery. It also does food and shows all of the football and rugby games on TV.

Around the corner on George Street you will find the Porter which serves real ale and food. They often have live musicians and comedy nights in the Porter Cellar Bar below the pub. There is also Moles night club below the pub that has live bands.

The Boater on the other side of Pulteney Bridge is worth checking out for its very large beer terrace which overlooks Pulteney Bridge and the weir.

A short walk away from Kingsmead Square along Monmouth Street on the Upper Bristol Road is the New Inn which is a Wadworths pub and it sells a great pint of 6X. And a bit further down on the left is the Kings Arms which regularly hosts rock and punk cover bands.

10 minutes further down the Upper Bristol Road opposite Victoria Park is the Hop Pole. Like the Salamander it is owned by Bath Ales Brewery and serves food. It has a large beer garden which is nice to sit in when the weather is nice.

Slightly further out by Windsor Bridge on the Lower Bristol Road is the Royal Oak, which in my opinion, is the best pub in Bath. No Fosters or Guinness here and no juke box, fruit machines or Sky Sports; but they sell up to 10 real ales, ciders and perrys. There is a small beer garden and they often host live folk bands (not as bad as it sounds!) at the weekend. It's well worth the 20 minute walk from the centre of Bath, or just get a taxi.

Thanks for the info. At this rate of recomendations we'll have to go for a fortnight !!! Cheers!