‘Bristol is about as good as it gets for bars in the UK’

An indelible passion for revamping Bristol’s bars burns bright within Richard Tring.

He is already the founder of Red Light, a speakeasy-style 50s-themed cocktail bar accessed via a payphone beside a graffiti-strewn doorway on Unity Street. 

He has twice been shortlisted for the Imbibe ‘Bar Personality of the Year’ awards – though he wonders if his inclusion is not just a nod to the provinces. 

And his wife, Sarah Weber – they met doing bar work – runs Weber & Tring’s, a charmingly bespoke spirits merchant which recently celebrated its third birthday on the Christmas Steps, where they now occupy larger premises a few doors up from their original home.

Tring’s latest project, however, is a notch up – a sophisticated wine bar, Le Poivrot on Colston Street, which roughly translates as the ‘wino’. 

Is Bristol short of winos? I ask, when I meet him in Weber & Tring’s, where he is helping serve customers.

He laughs. “It’s not really ‘wino’. It’s more romantic than that, more the old sot, the charming old boozer. It’s not like calling someone a drunkard.”

And what about wine bars. Does Bristol need more? “I don’t think Bristol has any wine bars,” he says. ‘Well, there’s a few in Clifton, but in the centre you really just have Bar Buvette.”

For 32-year-old Tring, Le Poivrot is the culmination of a decade’s work. Growing up in Bath, the eldest of two, he planned to go to university, only fell into bar work in the summer holiday and “instantly loved it”.  

Embracing his passion, he spent the next six years in Chamonix and London, largely working at Match Bar, where he received what was then considered the best training in the world.

Tired of big city life, he returned west six years ago, first working as head bartender at Milk Thistle, before opening Red Light with old friend and business partner Alistair Woods.

Is he pleased he chose Bristol? “Oh yeah. Five, six years ago, it was on the cusp of being something, and now it’s about as good as it gets in the UK, particularly for its size. Its reputation is very high, largely because we’ve always had good people and bars of a national standard.”

What else does he like about the city? “Well, I was going to say it’s forgiving, but I mean adventurous. Christmas Steps has a new games café, Chance & Counters, where people play board games. I don’t know many locations that would embrace such a place.”

What about Shoreditch? “Well, thankfully Bristol is not Shoreditch. No one really needs a cereal cafe, it seems so short term.”

But there’s plenty of scope for other ideas, Tring says. And despite his relaxed veneer (he keeps his own wine collection by a radiator, a serious faux pas he’s willing to admit), it’s clear he’s got his eye on more. 

Le Poivrot, he says, will keep him busy for at least a year, and he mustn’t forget Red Light, because it’s special to him and also because it makes the money. 

But when things have settled down, who knows. “Maybe a non-secret cocktail bar… a party bar?”

Does Bristol need a party bar? If anyone can open one and make it work, it’s Richard Tring.

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