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Bristol micropub named among UK’s best
One of Bristol’s smallest pubs has been named among the best eight micropubs in the UK.
“For anyone who feels pubs are becoming too corporate, too noisy, impersonal or full of screens, the micropub offers a refreshing antidote,” writes Pete Brown in the Sunday Times Magazine.
“Interesting beer, to be drunk with strangers who are new friends by the third pint.”
Among micropubs in Norwich, Newcastle, Liverpool and London, the Drapers Arms on Gloucester Road has made the cut for Brown.
The pub opened in December 2015 and won Bristol Camra’s pub of the year in 2017, and was runner-up in 2019 and 2025.
“You can instantly see why,” says Brown. “It’s always busy, with a loud buzz of conversation, but in a wonderful example of attention to detail also has fabric-covered sound baffles hanging from the ceiling to soften the din in what is otherwise a sparsely furnished wooden box.
“The beers, from local brewers such as Ashley Down and Good Chemistry, are so painstakingly sourced that, each day, the blackboard gives the ‘beer miles’ they’ve travelled to reach the pub.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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