Pubs and Bars / Pub of the Week
Pub of the Week: The Old Lock & Weir
Mid-afternoon on a recent Saturday, the queue to the bar at the Old Lock & Weir stretched down a small flight of stairs towards the back of this historic pub.
At the bar, pints of Thatchers Haze were being poured in quick succession into plastic glasses.
Despite a dozen or so customers in the back room – which had reggae on the stereo and fierce local rugby derby Gloucester vs Bath playing live on the television – most people come to the Old Lock & Weir to sit on its unrivalled riverside terrace.
(Well, unrivalled except for the Chequers [owned by London brewery Young’s] next door.)
Old photos of the pub are framed on its walls inside
On the 300-year-old pub’s extensive terrace, a few dozen picnic tables are sought after commodities when the sun is shining, the soft gurgle of the weir a soothing background sound.
The bridge taking the A4174 over the River Avon can be glimpsed through the trees, a reminder of how close the city is to this pub, mentioned in Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1889 novel Micah Clarke, and best accessed from Bristol by bicycle along the river from St Anne’s.
“I had to buy two wines to take me over the £10 card limit,” one 30-something woman with a puffer jacket and oversized sunglasses said to her friend as she returned from the bar. She wasn’t disappointed in the slightest with this turn of events.
Soon after 4.30pm, a couple of new customers arrived by stand-up paddleboard, wisely choosing to stop for a drink at the pub rather than take their chances with the fast-flowing weir as a family of four ducks swam upstream.
Drinks are served in plastic glasses so you can take them outside
The Old Lock & Weir, 7 Ferry Road, Hanham Mill, Bristol, BS15 3NU
0117 967 3793
Read more: Humans of Hanham
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