A South Bristol pub with a regional reputation for its live music is up for sale. The Thunderbolt, on the Bath Road in Totterdown, boasts regular gigs and passionate regular customers, but the owner Dave McDonald has decided to sell up and move on.
He said he hoped someone with a similar passion to keep the pub going as a live music venue would take it on, and added that the pub’s proximity to Totterdown and the soon-to-be-built Temple Quarter university campus, would mean it would attract a lot of potential new owners.
The pub is being marketed by JS Reakes estate agents, who said the pub was a “charming Victorian Gothic Grade II-listed building”.
They said the sale was “an exciting opportunity to acquire this well established live music and party venue”. “The property benefits from having a large enclosed rear garden with BBQ and children’s play area,” the agent said.
“The Thunderbolt is a charming Victorian Gothic grade II listed building located in Totterdown. It is within walking distance of Bristol city centre and immediately adjacent to Bristol Temple Quarter where a development of 130 hectares of brownfield land including 10,000 new homes is underway.
“Previously known as The Turnpike Inn after a new turnpike act came into force and gates were erected all around Bristol city, so people using the road had to pay tolls. There are many original features remaining,” they added.
Gig-goers and locals raised £11,000 as a crowdfunder to keep the Thunderbolt alive during the various Covid restrictions in 2020 and 2021, and since the return to normality, the pub has thrived once again with regular live music taking place on most nights of the week. Back in November 2020, after a Crowdfunder raised a five-figure sum, Mr McDonald formed a ‘supergroup’ called The Venues, with the owners of three other iconic Bristol music venues – the Fleece, the Louisiana and the Exchange – and released a charity single to support the pub.
The pub has a reputation for guitar bands, rock, punk, screamo and metal acts – but in an average week, all kinds of music is played there.
And the pub won’t close while the freehold sale goes through – a process which could take a few years, Mr McDonald told South Bristol Voice. “We’re going to keep the place going for all of that time. We’re not going anywhere quick,” he said. “Most importantly any bookings, gigs, weddings and parties are all still going ahead. We are still here AND still available for your event,” he added.
The area around the Thunderbolt is transforming. As well as the Temple Quarter development across the other side of the River Avon, the Boat Yard development across the other side of Bath Road has been built, albeit it still has not been completed. And next door to the Thunderbolt, a former petrol station is being redeveloped into flats too.