Tucked away behind City Hall, The Lime Kiln was for many years known as the Horse and Groom. In those days it was a popular haunt at a time when council workers from across the road slipped out at lunchtime for a couple of pints of Courage Best and a packet of pork scratchings, rather than an oat milk latte and an avocado and mung bean salad.
Named after the nearby Lime Kiln Dock built in the 17th century and covered over in 1903, The Lime Kiln is now very much on the map when it comes to Bristol’s beer drinkers. There are usually six different beers on tap and the range changes as soon as the barrels are empty, which is frequently.
A traditional two-room pub with a small central bar, The Lime Kiln is a back-to-basics, no frills boozer. There’s a resident black cat, wobbly floorboards and a faint whiff of the gents toilet, none of which matters as the regulars are there only for the beer and cider.
The range and quality of the beer on offer is quite staggering and when I visited this week, there were beers I’d never heard of from breweries all over the place. These included Epic IPA from Yorkshire’s Settle Brewery, Byatt’s Platinum Blonde from Coventry and Hawkshead Red from the Lake District.
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I went for the Byatt’s Midnight Export, a strong stout with plenty of chocolate and coffee notes. At 6%, it was a beast of a stout and you wouldn’t want too many of them but it was a proper winter pint
Also flying out was the Wingding Extra Pale made by East Sussex brewery Only With Love. It’s a brewery with something of a cult following among beer fans and rare to see it in Bristol.
For cider drinkers, The Lime Kiln has two from the award-winning Bristol Cider, which makes proper cloudy cider as well as fruit flavoured versions such as mango or rhubarb.
Handy for a pre-gig pint before shows at the 02 Academy and Beacon when The Hatchet Inn is too rammed, The Lime Kiln is also five minutes from the Park Street shops and the harbourside.
The Lime Kiln, 17 St George’s Road, Bristol, BS1 5UU.