News / New Openings
French wine bar and restaurant opening soon
“A neighbourhood wine bar in the city” is how Richard Tring describes Le Poivrot, due to open any day now in the former fancy dress shop on Colston Street (now in new premises in the Galleries).
It will be light and bright, and unmistakably French, with Fleur-de-lis tiling and an atmospheric cave at the back with long, communal tables.
At first it will only open in the evenings with basic food. But soon the menu – classic French – will expand and it will open longer, serving lunch alongside coffee and croissants, because “we can’t drink wine all day”.
is needed now More than ever
The idea behind Le Poivrot, says Tring, owner of Red Light bar on Unity Street and with his wife Sarah owns Weber & Tring’s wine and spirits shop on Christmas Steps, is to diversify his business from cocktails and prove he can do something creatively different.
Its aim is to be relaxed and friendly. Kids are welcome (Richard and Sarah have a littl’un themselves). Dogs, maybe.
There will be a few aperitifs, but mostly wine, 60 regularly rotating references, mainly Old World and 75 per cent French – not only because France is the origin of most grapes, but because modern French wine makers have embraced the new technology their parents eschewed, “with the quality of French wine has risen loads over the decade” according to Tring.
Tring is aware, however, that French wines can intimidate, so there will be plenty of information on the menu and the staff will all be expertly trained.
The service will be “intimate, not patronising”, Tring says, “with no sir or madams. No one will doff a cap, but we speak to people as equals.”
Read more: ‘Bristol is about as good as it gets for bars in the UK’
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