A new Bristol wine bar is currently in the works, and hoping to open its doors on Whiteladies Road next year. According to a brand new Instagram account, Tapps Wine Bar and Kitchen promises “drinks, food and music“, and will be situated at 87 Whiteladies Road, the former home of restaurant Thai Classic.
It’s set to be the new venture from the owners of The Shakespeare Pub in Redland. The historic pub, rumoured to have stood on the same site since 1803, has been in the hands of Neil and Olivia Greenwood since 2014 – and now it seems the couple have taken on a new challenge.
Posting to its Instagram page on Tuesday (November 12) The Shakespeare wrote: “News is out, our Shakespeare has a sister! @tappswinebarandkitchen on Whiteladies Road, due to open next spring. Give us a follow for updates.”
The new venue also posted a series of photos to its account this week – one simply with a set of keys and captioned “incoming…” Another showed a bottle of bubbly in an empty building, captioned: “We are in. Here we go again! The hard work starts now.”
A third showed a section of Whiteladies Road, and also two people (Neil and Olivia) enjoying a celebratory drink in the empty venue. Meanwhile, a fourth contained a video of some refurbishment going on inside the Whiteladies Road, and was captioned: “Gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelette”.
Neil and Olivia will also be known to many a Bristol pubgoers as being the landlord couple who took over and transformed the former John Cabot pub on Gloucester Road, reopening it as The Royal Oak. They announced back in 2021 that they would be ‘moving on’ from the Gloucester Road pub after 14 years at the helm, as building owners Stonegate wanted to operate it as a managed house.
At the time they also owned their current pub, The Shakespeare, but have been keen to look for a new venture they can also get stuck into. Taking to the comments, fans and locals were quick to share their excitement at the news, with many calling the new venture “exciting”, and adding that they “can’t wait to visit”.