News / Bristol
Pub of the week: The Avon Packet
The Avon Packet has been a staple on Coronation Road for many years, passed by hordes of South Bristol commuters every day, most of whom won’t even give it a second glance.
Born of a time when a pub was a place for a pint and smoke after work, a catch up, and maybe a flutter on the nags, its dark red and green exterior boasts chalkboards advertising some pretty dam cheap prices for ales, but gives little away of the true treasures within.
With the last vestiges of the recent summer heatwave still hanging around, it is hot inside the crowded bar.
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The entry of a lone female draws a couple of hellos, but eyes return quickly to the far end of the room, accompanied by the odd shout as a race at Ascot reaches its crescendo on the big screen.
Locals are an affable bunch, shuffling to make space at the bar and the landlord wordlessly pours the requested cider, conversation unnecessary for a man who has been in business for longer than the person he is serving has been alive.
The Avon Packet has real character, colourful fairy lights surround the top of the bar, the ceiling is adorned with a vast collection of keys, along with a few tankards and more chalk boards advertise the inarguably fair prices – Natch is on special at £2.85 a pint and happy hour begins at 5pm.
Through a couple of back rooms, lies the garden beyond, an early evening suntrap with a riotous display of colourful flowers and wooden tables on an idyllic patio area that leads on to a lawn, with more tables and a hammock hanging casually in the corner.
“It’s like an Aladdin’s Cave isn’t it?” Says a man in a wonderfully flamboyant flowery shirt, gesturing to the deserted garden.
He is tending to a fenced off area housing a trio of ducks, splashing happily in a small, newly replenished pond of water.
“We call him Duckcliffe after Peter Sutcliffe,” he says of the larger drake, who apparently has a habit of getting rather too amorous with the female ducks. “Alright me babber?” He chats affectionately to another duck making her way out of the shade.
This is one regular all too aware of the value of this true South Bristol local, speaking affectionately of landlords Steve and Sue. He reckons Steve’s 35 years here makes him the longest running landlord to have remained in the same pub in Bristol.
Sue’s scotch eggs are also apparently the best around, a claim that certainly has to be put to the test.
Further exploring of the expansive garden reveals a sort of make shift pool room at the back and among the tables, watering cans and pots of flowers, there are lanterns aplenty to light up a summer night.
Back inside, more regulars are packed inside the small bar area. It is lovely outside they agree, showing no inclination of moving.
“It’s a lovely garden, but there is a strict no swearing policy and we’re a right bunch of c***s,” says one regular with a friendly grin. There is more banter, revealing a real affection for the long-serving landlords.
Biting into what really could be the finest scotch egg in the city, it seems almost wrong to tell anyone about a pub that might just be South Bristol’s best kept secrets.
The Avon Packet
185-187 Coronation Road, BS3 1RF
0117 987 2431
Read Bristol’s first truly independent food and drink guide, EatDrink24/7, online here
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