Pubs and Bars / Pub of the Week
Pub of the Week: The Nova Scotia
“The word is bom-bar-dee-ay but the beer is Bom-ba-deer,” says the barmaid at the Nova Scotia on a recent Friday afternoon, politely correcting a customer who has ordered a pint of the golden ale from Bedford’s Eagle Brewery.
This historic Hotwells pub, originally built as a terrace of three houses in 1811 and later becoming a coaching inn, has also got a beer sharing its own name on tap.
But today it’s not the Nova Scotia Ale nor the Bombardier but Thatchers that is being poured the most. There is a choice of four here: Dry, Gold, Haze and Traditional – with pints passed from the bar to regulars ensconced in the snug.
is needed now More than ever
Also known as the captain’s cabin, the snug is accessed through a door with frosted glass saying ‘private bar’, with another regular telling a newbie that it’s okay to go inside as it’s actually no longer private.
The snug at the Nova Scotia is also known as the captain’s cabin
Until recently, the Nova Scotia – which hosts a weekly folk music club every Monday evening- used to have rooms to stay in upstairs. Its tables outside overlooking the Floating Harbour remain popular.
Inside, the walls are covered with yellowing nautical charts, and black and white photos of boats and historic scenes of Bristol including the Cumberland Basin before a 1960s system of road scythed through this corner of the city.
From the food menu chalked on a pair of blackboards, ‘doorstep sarnies’ cost £3.75 each, with pub favourites such as scampi and chips from £6.50, and specials the likes of sword fish, and liver and bacon casserole.
The Nova Scotia overlooks the Floating Harbour
Above the bar, pint glasses hang from nails that have been attached to a large wooden oar that was presented to the victors of the 1905 London Inter-Hospital Challenge Cup (whose sister rugby tournament is the oldest rugby competition in the world).
The bar itself is said to have originally been designed and constructed to go in a ship that was never built.
As a second pint of Bombardier is ordered – pronounced correctly this time – a regular arrives with an Army-style camouflage backpack and promptly disappears into the snug.
The Nova Scotia, 1 Nova Scotia Place, Hotwells, Bristol, BS1 6XJ
0117 929 7994
Read more: The future of the Cumberland Basin
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