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Bristol’s city center pub that used to sit right by the water

Located next to Bristol Racecourse in the city centre, The Drawbridge Pub is usually full of people – either sitting out front watching the city go by with a cold drink, or tucked inside comfortably enjoying a bite to eat or watching a big event sport on one of the big screens.

While quite an iconic and historic pub for the city centre, The Drawbridge, now part of the Greene King pub chain, wasn’t always as we see it today. It used to sit much closer to the water’s edge and had a completely different name.




As the signage inside will tell you, the Drawbridge was originally built to allow boat access along the River Frome, which ran along the front of the pub. A map on the ceiling of the pub shows exactly where the pub was in relation to other landmarks in the city and how far into the city center the Bristol Floating Harbour.

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It means you can sit in a pub booth and travel back in time to a Bristol that looked a lot different to the one we know now. The Harbor went up over the turn to Clare Street and almost to the turn to Little Street, the map shows – it’s hard to imagine what those enjoying a drink outside would look like in modern times if we went back to those. days now.

As well as the historic map, other nods to a bygone era can be found as you venture around the pub, which is quite substantial in size and boasts a floor – although it’s rare to you see someone sitting down there. Above the bar, there are a number of miscellaneous items to match the theme – from an old hat adorned with a feather to binoculars, old bottles and more.

Map on the ceiling of The Drawbridge pub(Image: Ellie Kendall/Bristol Live)

Just inside the doors of the Drawbridge, which was once called the Horn and Trumpet, there are checkerboard floors, ornate gold lights and frames, and a sign that reads: “Open different doors, you may find a person about that you never knew it was. yours”. Funnily enough, just past this sign is a box photo booth where you can take a memento of your night, meal or general visit to the pub. The photo booth costs £5 a time and there’s another sign telling you how you can bring the pub’s history into the future by sharing photos on Instagram and the like.

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