Caddie's Qype profile

Delicious food, good service, great prices.

I only give this one star because Qype’s rating system does not allow me to give it less. I ordered things from the special lunch menu, and there was a long curly human hair under my tuna. When I pointed this out, very politely and discreetly, I was treated terribly, as though I had put it there myself or something. When I went to pay, a little stunned by the way I had been treated, and said that really I hadn’t been able to eat the food, I was told to talk to the manager. He told me that if I didn’t pay I would be taken to court, and when I said I already had he told me (and I quote) to 'f… off, then’. I didn’t know what to do,but not wanting to cause a scene in front of my wife and several diners, I did what he suggested.

What I ate of the food was neither awful, nor was it great. It was very small and the service was, I think anyone would agree, atrocious. There are many other places to go in the Bailgate area instead of this dark, sterile, unfriendly little establishment.

Abbots Leigh is a pretty little village just outside Bristol, with a history that includes Charles II (look it up!). It’s only two miles beyond Clifton, and at the village cross roads is this brilliant little pub. The beer is pretty cheap, the food is superb and reasonably priced (everything well under a tenner) and it feels exactly like what it is: a cosy village pub. Afterwards, you could do worse than head a mile down Manor Road (where the pub is) to Abbots Pool, a beautiful, historic woodland with a big lily-covered fishpond at its heart.

From Kingsdon or Montpelier this church looks stunning, its light limestone Georgian tower gracefully rising to a pinnacle in stages. On closer inspection, its grandeur only increases: it is a beautiful building on the side of a glorious residential square of Georgian terraces at the bottom of one of Bristol’s earliest laid-out suburbs (though some of these buildings need a good external scrub).

When I tried to look inside I discovered it is now a dance and gymnastics school. It’s not desanctified, though, and they’ve thankfully not gutted the place of its features; if you want to get married there or something they simply clear all their ropes, etc away.

Worth a stroll if you’re up that way, Somerset Street is a charming cobbled alley lined with the backs and fronts of Georgian terraces, a stone’s throw from the free-for-all that is Stoke’s Croft. Arguably the prettiest street in Bristol, but just going about its everyday business. Fantastic.

This spot, where the Trym trickles into the Avon, used to be the site of a Roman town. You can’t see any remains, though, and that’s not the reason I think it warrants a visit. On a sunny afternoon, follow the path under the rails and walk out towards the River Avon, which opens up to reveal a long and peaceful stretch of embankment. It’s common to see lots of birds, including herons, slapping about in the mud and straddling the embankment verge on the far side, and this is a great spot for a picnic. Also, you can get a quick train from Clifdon Down or Temple Meads.

Redland church is magnificent, but few people realise that the grassy area in front of it opens up into a fairly big, grassy, sheltered park if you follow the path to the church round to the left. There’s normally an ice cream van here on hot days, and it’s a great place for a barbeque or a stroll on a sunny day, as it’s full of trees and secluded patches of grass.

The view of the city from the front of the grassy area before the church, up above Redland Road, is one of the nicest in Bristol. Few people ever see it.

This is a great little multi-purpose ground, soon to be overhauled in the name of progress. I’m sure the new ground will be an honour to Bristol RFC and Bristol Rovers FC (the former tenants; the latter owners), but if you enjoy visiting interesting stadia make a visit one matchday before the cranes and bulldozers move in. It’s a hotch-potch of stands from different eras, one of which looks as though it should be a racing grandstand or something.

Match tickets for both football and rugby can be inexpensive, and though I can’t talk for the rugby fans because I’ve never been on a rugby match day, Bristol Rovers fans can be a noisy and enthusiastic bunch.

On Tuesday nights you can get pizzas at two for one, which makes them very cheap indeed. They’re good, too. However, this is incredibly popular, so get there early. However busy it gets, though, it never takes very long for food to arrive, and they spade the pizzas in and out of the big brick oven with alarming regularity. There is a fairly good range of beers, too, for what is essentially a student bar.

This is also a good bar in which to watch football matches, as they have a number of well-placed big screens. If this isn’t your idea of fun, or if you find couches laden with lazy studentfolk unsightly, or if knocked-through, big-room pubs aren’t your cup of shandy, you might want to go somewhere else.

This tiny pub is hidden among the post-war architecture of Colston Avenue, and is a real gem. It is the flagship pub for the equally tiny Wickwar Brewing Company in the Cotswolds, which produces some of the finest beers in the South West. The interior can be cramped at busy times (though in warmer weather there are always several tables outside under a big awning), but off-peak it is a great place to rifle through the newspaper rack and sit with a pint and a big, fat sandwich. They also have a bar menu and a good selection of spirits. Prices are very reasonable.

The back wall is actually part of the old city wall, visible through a panel. Also of note, the men's toilet is down a narrow spiral staircase that came from the Victorian gaol. Sit out front on a summer evening and imagine what the view looked like when the wide, busy street in front of you was the head of the quay, with tall ships moored against the embankment.