Pubs and Bars / Pub of the Week
Pub of the Week: The Spotted Cow
There’s not a soul inside the cool grey interior of the Spotted Cow on a hot Tuesday evening, but the spacious back garden is steadily filling up. Young children toddle around on the grass, while trendy friends clink glasses and sip cool prosecco under the shade of the wooden smoking shelter, and couples on dates chat and laugh as they eat an early dinner in the sunshine.
The barman polishes glasses as he waits for custom, standing behind the extremely well-stocked bar. Local is the order of the day on the hand pumps, which offer Dawkins Ales’ Bristol Best, brewed in Easton, Butcome’s Gold from Wrington, and Golden Bolt by Trowbridge-based Box Steam Brewery, among others.
Spirits including local gins from Psychopomp and 6 O’clock Gin stand proud on an island behind the main bar, crowned by a dramatic candelabra absolutely coated in dripping wax like an art installation.
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At the very back is a collection of almost a dozen red wines, framed by a vibrant collection of pump clips from the likes of Arbor Ales, Moor Beer and Bristol Beer Factory: the latter could pop over from their brewery just a couple of hundred yards further along North Street and change the barrel if it ran low.
Funk plays over the speakers and wafts out through the open doors back and front: the pub is also a safe space to escape the World Cup football frenzy as there isn’t a television in sight.
In the garden, the couple at the next wooden bench browse a menu that far exceeds usual pub grub: burgers here are homemade lamb and mint affairs in plump buns that come with hand-cut chips (£10.50), while vegans and vegetarians are catered for with the likes of a wild mushroom carbonara (£8.50) and a tempura vegetable noodle dish with peanut relish (£9.50).
The seagulls circle high above, and the faint roar from a pub down the road drifts in on the breeze as a goal hits the back of the net. For a second the safe cocoon of the walled garden begins to crack, but the noise dies away to be replaced again by chirping birds and the soft swish of traffic. Peace is restored on this stretch of North Street.
The Spotted Cow, 139 North Street, Bristol, BS3 1EZ
0117 963 4433
www.thespottedcowbristol.com
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