Pubs and Bars / Pub of the Week
Pub of the Week: The Llandoger Trow
The Llandoger Trow is the stuff of fairy tales – or perhaps more accurately nightmares, given that it’s rumoured to be haunted by no less than 15 ghosts.
Boasting arguably the finest frontage of any hostelry in Bristol, this historic pub is also said to be Robert Louis Stevenson’s inspiration for the Admiral Benbow in Treasure Island and favoured watering hole of infamous buccaneer Captain Blackbeard.
Dating back to 1664 and one of the last timber-built buildings in the city, the Llandoger certainly looks the part.
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A glow of orange light shines through the panelled windows a recent chilly Tuesday evening – the night before Halloween – and a small cluster of men stamp their feet against the cold on the cobbles outside, their smoke drifting up in the night air.
Inside, some remnants of the traditional boozer the Llandoger once was remain among the fixtures and fittings beneath its creaky beams.
The wooden bar is fairly quiet, with just a couple of office workers eyeing up their post-work pint options.
“Petrified wood that is,” mutters a man, gesturing at the impressive carved centrepiece above the fireplace in the main bar area. Clad in shorts, pint in hand, the lone drinker has a beard that Blackbeard himself would have been proud of (albeit a white version) as he shuffles past, settling down at a nearby table.
Both he and the wood he’s referring to look very much at home in this olde-worlde setting. The plastic skeleton, cobwebs and framed posters promoting the Brewers Fayre Christmas menus less so.
Bon Jovi plays overhead as the bar tender serves drinks – gin and tonics with ice, but no lime as the delivery’s not been.
Comfortable window seats that were once leather clad have been worn down by years of drinkers, and menus on the polished wooden table tops detail the extensive range of pub fodder available at Brewers Fayres up and down the country.
The cold night air outside creeps through the single-glaze panes. There are a good few large fireplaces within this vast historic premises, but it’s a while since there was a fire in any.
The Llandoger clientele is as eclectic as the range of watering holes stretching down King Street – swathed as it is in myth and legend, it doesn’t take much imagination to imagine the pub of centuries ago.
A plaque high up on the walls, nestled just below the peeling paint ceiling, depicts Blackbeard himself, along with the words ‘From Bristol to Davy Jones’ Locker’.
The music’s switched from Bon Jovi to Queen on the overhead speakers. But if you sit back and close your eyes, you might just hear the ghost of a young boy with leg braces, who walks with a heavy limp. His uneven steps can be heard in the dead of night climbing up and down the stairs.
And for tales like this, long may the legend of the Llandoger Trow live on.
Llandoger Trow, King Street, Bristol, BS1 4ER
01179 261 650
www.brewersfayre.co.uk/pub-restaurant/Bristol/Llandoger-Trow-Bristol
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