As secrets go, a secret room within a secret bar is probably as secret as you could get. Hyde & Co may be just off the Clifton Triangle, one of Bristol’s busiest nocturnal thoroughfares, and surrounded on almost all sides by kebab shops, but if you didn’t know it existed, you might walk by it blissfully unaware of the delights within. Cocktails dominate but are most certainly not the only drinks here, with bottles of Wild Beer and Burrow Hill cider both making the short journey from Somerset.
Ask your average Bristolian for their absolute favourite place to drink and they’ll likely reel off a list of bars and pubs so long you can’t remember a thing. They’re really not trying to be difficult: Bristol is a city that treasures its drinking culture, and it’s genuinely hard to choose between the exceptional watering holes scattered from North to South.
Though bars open and close at a pretty high rate in these parts, there’s a good handful of old faves still knocking around, while up-and-coming brewers and world-class mixologists shake up the scene along newly throbbing drinking drags. Boozy bucket list need updating? Whether you’re more into beer, cider or cocktails, these are the 19 bars in Bristol you totally shouldn’t miss.
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