Pubs and Bars / Pub of the Week
Bar of the Week: Backstage Bar
It seems only right while at the Backstage Bar to have a bottle of the 1766 Anniversary Ale, made especially to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Bristol Old Vic.
As the name suggests, this new bar takes up some of the backstage space at the theatre while its front of house areas undergo a multi-million pound refurbishment.
Cavernous though it is, this is a part of the theatre that usually remains hidden to punters.
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What was previously known as the Paintshop (and still has splatters of paint on some of the walls from previous sets being decorated in here) has been converted into this pop-up bar, which opens 90 minutes prior to each performance.
On a recent Thursday evening it began filling up rapidly from around 6.30pm with theatregoers looking forward to King Lear having entered the theatre via the stage door on The Rackhay off Queen Charlotte Street.
As bottles of 1766 Anniversary Ale and other drinks including Bounders cider on draught and a dozen different wines and spirits were being ordered at the bar, the evening box office was operating efficiently to one side.
The room has various elements to it which other bars would call design features but here are just part of the fabric of the high-ceilinged space which not so long ago was purely functional.
There are exposed breezeblocks and brickwork, theatre spotlights, and bare concrete pillars dividing the standing half of the bar from an area with a handful of sofas.
“We’ve been thinking for a long time about how best to use this space that people often don’t know is here to our best advantage,” said Old Vic chief executive Emma Stenning.
“Then it was pretty obvious that we’d turn it into a bar.”
Backstage Bar, Bristol Old Vic, King Street, Bristol, BS1 4ED
www.bristololdvic.org.uk/restaurant.html
Photos by Jon Craig
Read more: Old Vic begins next stage of transformation