🧭 Bristol North-West-South-East Pub Crawl

11 Jul 2026

I have been meaning to do the bristol.pub Compass Rose challenge for a while. Choosing to do it in the middle of a heatwave was a bit daft, but there we go.

In the challenge Bristol is defined as follows:

For the definition of Bristol we’ve gone with the official boundary of the City of Bristol as published by the council.

This feels slightly odd, as there’s another pub only a few hundred metres further east of the Black Horse. However, you’ve got to draw the line somewhere and it’s a Spoons so good call. I had never been to any of the pubs in the challenge, but had an idea of what to expect. We started at the Northern-most point and proceeded in an anti-clockwise fashion. First call: The Old Crow.

Starting at 14:00 the pub was fairly quiet. I was pleased to see not one but two dartboards inside, which would be a theme for the day. I had a throw while I waited for Nathan, the only other participant due to some late dropouts. The heat necessitated lager shandies all day, but I didn’t spot anything interesting on cask anyway. On Nathan’s arrival we shifted outside to a shady spot for me to lambast him for not bringing a spare inner tube or patch kit (he had brought tyre levers and a pump to be fair). On unlocking my bike I discovered I had a flat front tyre. No problem, out come tyre levers, spare tube, pump, spanner for removing the front wheel because it’s not quick-release… ah. I had forgotten that my front wheel is bolted on as it contains a dynamo hub. A short walk, £6.99 and suitably chastened for my hubris, I had an adjustable spanner and the new tube was in.

We timed our arrival at the Avonmouth Tavern poorly, arriving just after a large group. No worries, it also had a dartboard and it was Nathan’s round, so I could get some more practice in while he queued for the shandies. There was only one shady table outside, occupied by some burly looking bikers so we picked a corner inside. Certainly a very local spot and the cans of Natch were flowing. As this tour coincided with the World Cup, with England taking on Norway in the quarter-finals that evening, there were probably more England flags than usual on the outside, but I’m not sure that the baseline level is zero.

Shandies dispatched, it was time for the longest leg of the crawl, crossing the M5 bridge and heading up the Pill path along the Avon, also easily the nicest bit of the tour. The heat took its toll and the long drag up Hartcliffe way was tough, even with its very gentle gradient.

On arrival I had no thoughts for the provenance of the pub’s name, only getting a cold shandy in me as fast as I could. Could it be named for Count Binface’s alter ego? The area seems more likely to favour his opponent in the 2026 Clacton by-election. A bit of googling reveals John Harvey & Sons, proprietors of Bristol Cream Sherry. I had never heard of it, but from the adverts [1][2][3] it sounds like a must-try. I also counted no less than three dartboards, the high score of the day. With England taking on Norway in just five hours the pub was starting to fill up with England shirts and we departed for our final stop.

We struggled even more up the final hill, dead legs pedalling through Avonview Cemetery. Although I’m not super fit, I wasn’t expecting a 50 km ride, punctuated by three pub stops, to feel gruelling, but the heat was relentless. The Black Horse was a welcome sight, and the final two shandies were a soothing balm for dry throats. It was very quiet, but the bar staff and couple of regulars were friendly, chatting about England’s prospects that night. I only spotted one dartboard, it’s a large pub with other rooms left unexplored. The mostly downhill route home was an easy finish, with a total ride distance just over 60 km. I would do it again, perhaps if the two that couldn’t make it on the day fancy getting their Compass Rose Challenge badges. However, there are definitely better routes you could take for a similar distance with nicer riding and better pubs. Thanks to Alex Norton, the creator of bristol.pub for the challenge, and recently adding a friends feature; add me if you fancy.