I like quirky and interesting venues, so this micro-pub seemed appealing as venues that have accepted their own size limitations and have a desire to become intimate have a certain charm. Not that I want to be overly social though, there are limits.
The beer menu was above the bar and there were some tempting little numbers there, especially some of those Jester King options. The service was friendly and engaging, although it was particularly busy when I was there. I might have engaged more with the owner who served me, but he overcharged me and so I felt that the bond was broken. Trust is a delicate thing, especially when it has been placed under pressure by the cost of a small imperial stout.
I opted for this one, the decadent Doom Forge (2026) x Figure 8 from Jester King, which was very smooth, rich, dark chocolate taste and some coffee to add to the mix.
I initially had to sit at the bar as there were no seats available, although there isn’t exactly much space at the bar either. There was a music theme to the venue as well, but I ignored that as I couldn’t see anything from the Wurzels which felt like a bold omission.
Some customers rearranged themselves around the venue and so a table became available at the rear. The entire limits of the pub are in the above photo and the toilet arrangement was quite, er, contained as well.
It’s a comfortable environment though with a friendly service and decent choice of beers. This whole arrangement feels very Bath, an air of quality, decadence and rarity. Although having noted that, I then went to McDonald’s for a snack, but I try not to be overly predictable. The venue is very well reviewed with just one negative review, which is from someone barred for antisemitism, so hard to fault the owner there for just wanting some standards and no hatred. I’d come here again and I’ll forgive them the 50p overcharge.
These are the Parade Gardens in Bath and I thought that they looked surprisingly busy given that there’s an admission charge to enter them. Or, at least, I thought there was a charge and then I noticed that the ticket booth was closed. It’s in a decadent location, the gardens sit beside the River Avon and look across towards Pulteney Bridge. And, as they were free, I decided to investigate.
The history goes back to the early eighteenth century, when the area was laid out in 1709 as St. James’s Park, linked with the Assembly Rooms built for fashionable spa visitors. This was the Bath of Beau Nash, promenading, social display and people taking themselves very seriously in wigs, the Richard type middle class of their time only probably with more powder and fewer computers. A gravel walk known as Harrison’s Walk was laid out along the edge of the site and the gardens formed part of the wider pleasure-ground world around the Abbey, Terrace Walk and Orange Grove. In 1824, when the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution was built on the site of the former Assembly Rooms, the gardens became known as Institution Gardens, because nothing improves a garden quite like giving it a name that sounds as though it may require a committee. Unfortunately, the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution was demolished and is now under a road system, but I’m sure that it was nice when it lasted.
The gardens changed again in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as Bath remodelled the surrounding streets, demolished buildings and adjusted the relationship between the gardens, Grand Parade and the river. Historic England notes that they came into council ownership in the 1930s and were laid out as a municipal park in 1933 to 1934, which gives them their more formal public garden character.
It is a rather lovely place, although they’ve decided to start charging for the toilets but that feels like a fair deal for allowing free entrance to the gardens. I was able to find a bench to sit down on to enjoy the lovely views, albeit they were primarily of my phone, but it’s nice to be in nature when looking at my phone as doom scrolling is better surrounded by trees. I did wonder for a while why no-one was sitting on the benches here, but I realised that they were in shade and the cold which probably suited me more than most as I’ve developed to be fonder of the refrigerated section of horticulture. But it was all a very lovely little pause in the heart of Bath and that view of Bath Abbey in the above photo was agreeable.
When I was in Bath, I thought it would be sensible to tick off a few more Good Beer Guide pubs in my ever failing quest to visit them all. I didn’t pick a great time to do as it was hot, it was a Saturday, Bath were at home playing their rugby thing and so the city was busy. But research requires bravery at times, and I am nothing if not heroic when faced with the possibility of sitting indoors with half a pint.
Anyway, before I get further distracted, this is the Raven on Queen Street which has four bars across six different rooms and although the upper floor is more for dining, drinkers are welcome throughout.
The Raven’s history stretches back from uncertain Roman and pre-Roman origins to a site that was part of Barton Farm’s farmland in the 17th century, before appearing on a 1735 map as a narrow garden, apparently lower than the surrounding streets and now forming part of the building’s underlying structure, in a pleasingly Georgian “just build upwards and hope nobody asks too many questions” arrangement. By 1800 the site was occupied by tradesmen including John Jarvis, a calenderer, and Thomas Trendell, a grocer, before the Carnall family butchers were associated with the address in the early 19th century.
The move into licensed trade came in 1864, when Thomas Toleman took over the Bazaar Wine Vaults from Charles Wright, who was described as a wine merchant to the Royal Family. The premises later became Fuller’s Wine Vaults, then Hatchett’s Wine Lodge, with Second World War pilots from a nearby airfield said to have used the pub and left messages on the upstairs ceiling, sadly painted over in the 1960s. It later became a city centre pub favoured by Goths and bikers, opened as The Raven in 2004 and expanded in 2022 by taking over the adjoining building.
There were ten real ales available including their house beers of Ravens Gold and Ravens Ale, brewed by Blindman’s Brewery. There were also beers from Stonehenge Brewery, Exeter Brewery, Frome Brewery, Otter Brewery, Sandstone Brewery, Goffs, Bowland and Wharf Brewery, so that’s a fair number.
I went for the Lyra’s IPA from Sandstone Brewery and it was citrusy, well rounded and had a decent flavour. I hadn’t had a beer from Sandstone before, but they’re based in Wrexham and have been brewing since 2008.
The food menu has pies and sausages at its heart, which is never a bad start. There is also quite a broad selection beyond that, and the pricing wasn’t unreasonable for the location. The team members were friendly, the service was efficient and it wasn’t quite as busy inside as I had expected. Certainly, in my humble view anyway, a well deserved entry in the Good Beer Guide with its beer, history, character and atmosphere.
It’s not entirely optimal to approach a railway station and see that it’s a bit shut and there are people milling about outside.
It either meant that someone famous was there or the bloody railway network had broken again.
It soon became apparent that this was another Network Rail debacle.
But, having noted that, I like a bit of drama in my life. I am not seeking genuine peril, civil disorder or an unscheduled night on a station concourse. Just a little deviation from the norm, that sort of thing.
The difficulty was that I did actually want to get to Swindon, which is perhaps not a sentence people write very often. Indeed, most people spend their lives trying to avoid needing to get to Swindon, and yet here I was, standing outside a closed railway station, regarding it as a cherished destination.
At least I could see the entrance now, it’s a bit like seeing a lifeboat on a slightly sinking ship.
The police told people not to push, although by trying to hear what they were saying they pushed forward. Fortunately, I am sufficiently well built that it is quite hard to push me very far. I have many flaws, but being easily displaced in a railway related crowd is apparently not one of them.
There was more vibrancy to the arrangement at this stage. By vibrant I mean a combination of confusion, annoyance and the need for signage.
So near and so far from entering….
I was let through soon after this and was rather pleased as I did need to get to Swindon at some point as it was getting late and there was no alternative way of getting there as taxis were over £125 and there weren’t any buses. Praise to the British Transport Police and the station staff who were doing their best to manage the crowds and entry onto the platforms with some rather difficult circumstances.
In the early 1940s, the Germans were making slower progress than they would have liked in the Second World War and British air raids on Germany were increasing. The Germans had the idea of damaging historic British cities primarily to try and impact on the morale of the nation and they initially targeted Exeter, Bath, Canterbury, Norwich and York. Bath was hit between the 25 and 27 April 1942 with substantial damage being done to buildings, as well as the injuries that were caused to people.
This building is the former Labour Exchange, which had only been completed in 1938, and it was badly damaged during the air raids. They patched the building up as they wanted it to continue in use, but after the war it was just left without the first floor and nothing much happened until around fifteen years ago. It was then decided to bring the building back into use, but they wanted to do something as a memorial to the Baedeker Raids. I think that it’s a nice looking transformation of the building which has retained some of the historically important elements whilst also bringing the structure back into use.
And so, in memory of the 417 people in Bath who lost their lives during the Baedeker Raids on the city, this part of the wall was retained with the original war damage.
The memorial plaque which was a little hard to read, although I like its style and how they’ve recreated damage to the plaque as well. The text reads:
“IN MEMORY OF THE 417 PERSONS KILLEDIN THE WORLD WAR II BAEDEKER RAIDS OF 1942
In 1938 Bath City Council demolished 43 houses and cottages to build this building. A much-needed Labour Exchange building, a place for people to find employment. During the preceding decade many people simply had no work and the depression of the 1930s was shown by how many 1932 onwards. When World War II broke out in 1939 the building was extremely busy looking after the unemployed.
On 26 April 1942 in the early hours of the morning a 500kg bomb hit the area. The bomb directly hit the ground where the garden is now placed. The Labour Exchange was badly damaged by the impact and the Labour Exchange staff were very brave working as they must not stop providing badly needed services to the bombed-out homeless on the north side of James Street West, opposite the Kingsmead North junction.
Wartime records show that the new Labour Exchange was badly damaged by this second blast. The buildings walls immediately crumbling from the first attack, workers through the rubble, there more than one attempt to rebuild it. Despite this and the efforts the fire in the roof spread and burned out the whole of the top floor.
It was recorded that the scene of the building as it stood after the first night attacks continued on fire and the damage can still be seen on the restored replacement building.
The main building was severely damaged, the following morning now there were, are badly damaged. The story of the depot shows was heavily asked to make a temporary roof and the need of the bombed-out families and community. The Labour Exchange continued to provide more jobs during the War period, including in areas of sharp demand making sure they were short they suffered misery.
This became even more important when wartime demanded such industry, many local companies and big businesses opening up, employment for functions that assisted the war efforts and the Labour Exchange had to help them find suitable jobs.
For a long period after the war the Labour Exchange was housed in the library space. In 2002 it was designated as a Grade II listed building. Having lived one of the last surviving examples of the “made do and mend” necessities of wartime when workers, tools and materials were both in very short supply.”
I had been reading about the controversy of Bath’s fire station being demolished, so I felt the need to go and have a little look as I was in God’s own city and I like to find controversial things I can have an opinion on that no-one else will be interested in.
I think it’s fair to say that it’s probably too late to reverse the decision now. The Twentieth Century Society opposed demolition and argued for its heritage value, while the fire service argued that the building no longer met modern operational needs as the doors weren’t big enough or something.
Bath Fire Station is on Bathwick Street and Cleveland Bridge and was built between 1938 and 1939, with design work begun by Alfred John Taylor and completed by his daughter Gertrude Molly Justice Taylor, later Molly Gerrard. I think that’s interesting as female architects were hardly being overwhelmed with public commissions in the late 1930s. Avon Fire & Rescue Service closed the station in February 2026, moved crews temporarily to Roseberry Place/Lower Bristol Road and says the rebuilt station is expected to open in summer 2027.
I do naturally veer towards the side of heritage, but Bath does have quite a lot of architectural history so that softens the blow a little, although it’s a shame to lose some interesting twentieth century architecture. And this is a working building, so the priority has to be about firefighters having a structure that’s actually useful for them. It was nice to see the building before it was entirely demolished though and I’m sure that there was some sort of consultation process to make people feel a bit better about the whole arrangement. On which point, I must do an update on the Sheringham bus shelter debacle at some point.
Located literally opposite the Travelodge in Newport is the Queen’s Hotel, a former JD Wetherspoon venue which they sold in 2021.
I have stayed here before back in 2018, so I have some photos of the inside. The history on their website noted:
“A grade II listed building, previously the Queen’s Hotel, this three-storey premises opened in 1863, soon after Bridge Street was laid out. Named after the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria, it dominated the western end of Bridge Street which soon became known as Queen’s Square.”
The bar as it looked back in the halcyon days of March 2018 and there were a good number of real ales on.
The standard JD Wetherspoon breakfast and, in this case, an overcooked egg…
The single room that I booked.
The view from the hotel room window and I accept that it’s not the sort of vista that would cause a Romantic poet to start trembling near the curtains or something similar, but it could be worse.
The room plan and I remember from the time that this didn’t feel like a typical Wetherspoon hotel, they had by that time started to have grander rooms in either purpose built extensions or they had been heavily renovated. They hadn’t done that here, they’d just tidied up the existing rooms and did the best with what they had which is a noble British tradition and also the basis for about half of the country’s hospitality industry.
I didn’t take carpet photos back in 2018, as I obviously didn’t know how to live, but at least it’s visible in this photo.
I remember that the pub was a Lloyds so they had music and were showing sports, with the whole arrangement not really fitting into the broader chain’s dynamic. I’m not entirely surprised that they sold this venue, it seemed an odd fit in many ways. They never reopened up after the lock-down in Wales required pubs to close and it sold for nearly a million pounds, but successive operators have struggled with it and I think that it’s currently entirely closed. Anyway, hopefully it will open again at some stage but it’ll be hard for any operator to make it as busy as it was when JD Wetherspoon managed it.
I mentioned in my previous post for my two excited loyal blog readers that I had decided to stay in Wales rather than Bristol as it was just cheaper to do so. I took this photo standing outside of Newport railway station and it gives an indication of the length of the walk. I think even my friend Richard could manage this sort of walk.
There was no-one on reception when I arrived, but I could hear the receptionist on the phone to her friend in the back office. I then heard, “I’ll phone back in a bit, just got a customer” and since she said it in a way that didn’t sound annoyed, I didn’t feel like an inconvenience. This is, I think, the very summit of modern hospitality.
And the receptionist was rather friendly, chatting away about how to get in the hotel if I stayed out late, which wasn’t relevant to me, but I obviously looked like someone that went to nice pubs a lot so I was pleased as there are worse personal brands to have developed.
These are the newly designed Travelodge rooms and I rate this whole set-up, as long as the prices are affordable anyway. The room was clean, functional, modern and was comfortable, so that’s pretty much everything sorted.
There was quite a lot of external noise from drunk women shouting in the evening, but I rather like city life and didn’t find it problematic. I also had a fan on my window and there it is in the photo…..
I had a little look at the reviews as I like doing that and they’re not great on Google…..
“Honestly, this has to be the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in. I know it’s cheap and you get what you pay for but I would rather have anything else than this. The place was dodgy from the start. I was given the key card by a man without uniform, nevwr asked me for my ID, just the name. The room was clean but could see a lot of broken or stained things as shown in the photos. The place also seems like a gathering place for the local alcies as they were right by my windows. I also booked the hotel through work and it was meant to include breakfast. This place has no restaurant so breakfast was a box that contained a stale pain au chocolat, a flap jack and some cereal. Will never see me there again.”
I’ve looked at these photos and I can’t see any staining, it’s not entirely clear what someone wanted from the arrangement. And I’ve never been asked for my ID in a Travelodge, just my name and address. I often don’t have any ID with me anyway, so I don’t want to be asked.
“Would AVOID!! Council are housing undesirable people here, got zero sleep as people were running up and down corridor at 3am, police were there !! Music blaring out of some rooms, if you want a peaceful restful night this is not for you.I had an 8 Hr drive the next day with little sleep. Be aware.staying here.”
Undesirable people is perhaps a rather loaded way to describe anyone.
“AVOID AT ALL COSTS… customer service shocking and really not helpful at all!! We were booked in here 26/12/25 for one night only whilst we were visiting family..one family member asked where we had booked so we told her and she said DO NOT STAY THERE!! She works local to the travel lodge and said it’s a drug den and been raided with on going issues!”
If it was a drugs den it was a very well kept secret from me, although that would hardly interest me unless they were dealing in crisps or something. Well, maybe some decadent craft beer I suppose, although I don’t tend to buy that in hotel corridors. It feels a little sub-optimal to be offered a mixed fermentation saison by a man standing near the lift.
Most of the reviews on Google aren’t actually negative and on TripAdvisor it’s all much more positive. However, nearly every review on TripAdvisor names a staff member which is this guilt trip thing they try on me of “if you could leave me a positive review and mention by name then I get a bonus” which feels really quite unfair of the chain to me to make their team members do this.
Anyway, I found the whole stay to be positive enough, it was clean, quite internally and I didn’t see this den of iniquity that others discovered. For a cheap stay it feels like a very viable option and it worked for me as a cheaper alternative to accommodation in Bristol.
After leaving Bristol Craft Beer Festival it was the railway station of Clifton Down that was the most convenient to depart from. I was heading to Newport as accommodation in Bristol was too expensive and the savings on hotel prices by staying in Wales more than made up for the rail fare, so a handy bit of financial prudence. The entrance to the railway station is a little tucked away in a car park, it’s not the grandest of approaches that I’ve ever seen.
The frontage is a little better.
The railway station opened in 1874 as part of the Clifton Extension Railway with the preceding station being Sea Mills and the following station being Redland. The railway station was particularly useful for the nearby Bristol Zoological Gardens and that formed a helpful part of its traffic during its history, although the zoo closed in 2022.
The railway station buildings that were here have now been closed for passengers, but there is access from the other side and it’s now used as a pub named Steam.
The train arrived several minutes early and, as usual, I was standing at the wrong end of the platform. This is one of my more consistent railway skills. I also had to stand, as the station has not burdened itself with providing much seating on this platform, presumably to keep passengers alert and characterful.
On board the train that took me to Bristol Temple Meads.
And the delights of Bristol Temple Meads. I didn’t have long to make the connection so I couldn’t meander around for long and I’ve taken enough photos of this railway station before. I like the GWR benches though.
I’m 6’0″ and for the many people taller than me, these seats just don’t have enough space. But, there are power outlets, so that will just have to do as I don’t want to sound like I’m always complaining but that ship (well train) may have already left the platform….
After leaving the tunnel, we were safely sweeping through Wales.
I was staying overnight in Newport but had to leave again early in the morning, so I didn’t get chance to have a little look at Newport Castle. Next time….
And this is Wales. It was then only a two minute walk to Travelodge, which is very handily located for the railway station. Everything was on time which gave me a limited time to enjoy Newport, but the early start meant that I could head to God’s own city of Bath.
This is the new JD Wetherspoon in Bath that opened a few weeks ago in March 2026, the second one of the chain’s pubs in the city and this refurbishment cost them £2.2 million. This building was once Bath’s Post Office, but was for the last fifteen years or so used by Revolution until they closed.
One thing that JD Wetherspoon does well, amongst many other things, is having an interest in the history of their buildings. This reads:
“York Buildings is a grade II listed Georgian terrace, with a grand frontage along George Street. Completed in c1760, most of York Buildings, excluding No. 2, was the York House Hotel, latterly the Royal York Hotel. No 2 is at the end of the terrace. Previous uses include the Midland Bank, an auctioneer/estate agent’s premises and Bath’s main post office.
York Buildings was designed in the Palladian style by John Wood the Younger, who also designed Bath’s world-famous Royal Crescent, one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in Britain. The porches were added in the 19th century, with ground-floor alterations made to No.2 in the 1870s. Bath’s architectural transformation into a Georgian city was begun by his father, John Wood the Elder. An outstanding architect and town planner, he began laying out George Street in 1734.
On the front of 2 York Buildings is carved ‘The Old Post Office’. During 1854–1927, these premises housed Bath’s main post office, with Oldham T Taylor its postmaster for nearly 30 years (1863–90). Thomas Moore Musgrave was also a long-serving postmaster here. On 2 May 1840, Thomas famously posted an item of mail from the Bath post office, then at 8 Broad Street, with the newly invented Penny Black postage stamp — this was the world’s first adhesive postage stamp’s earliest use.
Ralph Allen was another famous postmaster. He arrived in Bath in 1710 and worked as a postal clerk. Two years later, aged only 19, he became the postmaster of Bath. In 1722, Ralph was elected mayor of Bath. During the intervening years, he made a fortune from reorganising the main postal routes across England.”
The downstairs bar and it all looks colourful, bright and clean.
The window seat was handy for people watching. There’s an upstairs bar as well and the whole arrangement is quite sizeable.
My now obligatory carpet photo.
There were six real ales on (with beers from Thornbridge, Oakham, Brains and Greene King), but as it was still morning I went for the £1.89 refillable coffees.
As usual for this chain, I felt drawn to look at the online reviews and it’s one of the higher rated JD Wetherspoon locations on Google although it has only been open for a few weeks.
“I was disappointed to see the lack of diversity in the interior design of this new bar in Bath. The images displayed throughout the venue only portray white men, which feels out of touch in 2026 and does not reflect the diverse history and communities that exist. Public spaces should be inclusive and representative of everyone. I hope this is something the management considers improving ASAP as it would make the environment feel more welcoming and inclusive.”
Although the photos the reviewer took showed half the images in the venue were women and there is perhaps a limit of how many eighteenth and nineteenth century diverse images of famous Bath residents they can find without it looking a bit forced. I can’t imagine that this will be a priority for JD Wetherspoon.
“Arrived to the new weatherspoons and looked good. Asked if we could have a table with our dog and was told yes out side. Sat down ordered food , told I have to order to a table inside and take it out side my self . After getting oue drinks and paying I am told that I must leave as my dog was not welcomed due to policy. I understand policy, how ever being told I can have a table outt side then order my food .to then be told I have to leave is not on. I did get a full refund , as my food arrived. Will never return”
There’s already a review that JD Wetherspoon don’t accept dogs anywhere in their venues, that didn’t take long.
And that’s about it, just some disappointment about cold breakfasts and tables that weren’t cleared down very quickly, otherwise customers seem to like it. It was certainly busy when I went on a Saturday morning in June, with the service all being fast and efficient. All very lovely and that’s another one of the chain’s venues that I’ve visited, so I then thought I’d better visit some Good Beer Guide pubs as well.
