Pubs and Bars / A-Z Bristol pub crawl
A-Z Bristol pub crawl: The Jolly Colliers, Bedminster
Just a few hundred yards south of the Jolly Colliers was once Malago Vale Colliery, with a pit that was 250 fathoms deep – almost 460 metres.
Above the former mine, which was only in use during the latter half of the 19th century, is now the Airpoint building with a running track on its roof.
The name of the pub is a reminder of days when south Bristol had numerous collieries. By the 1820s, there were more than a dozen coal pits scattered throughout the Bedminster area.
On what is now Dame Emily park for example was once the Dean Lane Coal Works; while South Liberty Colliery was opposite what is now South Bristol Crematorium.
Outside the Jolly Colliers, a mural by street artist Andy Council is a representation of a mine with a multitude of smoking chimneys.
Andy Council has become well known for creating composite beasts made up of architectural landmarks and other recognisable elements – photo: Martin Booth
“Jolly Colliers – Bedminster, still a PROPER pub” is the name of the pub’s Facebook page, the capitalisation theirs but one that reinforces the fact that it is becoming a rare survivor among rapid change.
Inside, there is a pool table (free to use in January) and five dart boards, with the pub having teams in pool, darts and cribbage – the latter in a league made up of other pubs including the Sandringham, Coopers Arms, White Hart, Colosseum and Luckwell.
On a recent Thursday night, Sky Sports News was showing a countdown clock ticking away until the end of the January football transfer window.
“Two Golds?” the barmaid in a Jolly Colliers-branded black hoody said to two regulars when they walked into the pub and leant on the bar soon before 8pm.
Nearby, a few more regulars were loudly discussing a range of topics including the extinction of woolly mammoths, the Chinese government intentionally releasing coronavirus in Wuhan and Bristol City’s upcoming game against Preston.
Once they had found the chalk, the Thatchers Gold drinkers began playing pool, overlooked by the latest results of the darts, ladies darts, crib and pool leagues.
They had been working on a building site all day but it does not take a huge leap of imagination to picture a similar scene with miners coming to the Jolly Colliers straight after a day down the pit.
The Jolly Colliers, 57 West Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 3NU
Main photo: Martin Booth
Read more: The secrets behind one of Bristol’s last remaining thatched homes
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