Bristol Neighbourhood Guide: Southville

Bristol Neighbourhood Guide: Southville

Posted on: 20 Apr 2023

We’re back with our guide to Bristol’s diverse and vibrant neighbourhoods – with some cherrypicked spots to showcase just how much is going on in each corner of the city.

 

This week, we’re making our first foray into South Bristol with the vibrant residential neighbourhood of Southville. Incorporating the lively nucleus of North Street, Southville is a veritable melting pot of bustling pubs, trendy hangouts, acclaimed restaurants and cultural favourites.

 

Read on for our guide to all the nightlife, food, shopping, cultural and historical highlights of Southville…

 

Nightlife:

 

Opening our nightlife rundown of nightlife in Southville is the Bristol Beer Factory Taproom. Right amongst the hustle and bustle of North Street, the taproom is located a mere stone's throw away from the BBF brewery. It is a utopia for beer lovers, serving all your favourite BBF brews with five rotating hand pulls as well as eight keg lines and fridges full of cans, ensuring there’s always something new to try.

If that’s not enough, the brewery has recently opened ’Studio BBF’, situated just behind the taproom. This latest addition to the BBF family is a space like no other: previously The Pony Bistro, beer lovers can watch live sports, indulge in food pop-ups and even hire the space themselves! Perfect!

Nestled out of the way of the busy North Street, The Coronation is a real South of the river favourite with students and locals alike. With a cosy, friendly atmosphere and mind-bogglingly cheap food and drink prices. The beloved Kingston Road boozer is often seen as a hidden gem with a popular Monday pub quiz; an impressive food menu featuring burgers, pizzas and more; a yearly street party and two resident cats.

Just down the road from The Coronation is the Southbank Club. This unusual art and live music bar features exposed brick and stripped floors, as well as a gallery space and dance studio. The versatile space has something for all the family with a busy programme of folk gigs, kids classes, fashion shows, regular dance classes and much more.

If it’s a sun trap beer garden you’re looking for then The Spotted Cow is the place for you. Situated back on North Street, The Spotted Cow boasts a rich heritage going all the way back to Bedminster’s agricultural past over 200 years ago. The pub features a sprawling walled beer garden to the rear and serves one of the best roasts in Bristol to boot.

The Old Bookshop is another North Street bar with a relaxed, friendly atmosphere that prides itself on its carefully picked roster of Beers, Cider, Natural Wine and Spirits. Featuring an ever-changing list of beers from all over the world, there is always something new to try alongside a menu curated by Nasty Baasto - offering a 100% vegan menu, ranging from authentic Gujarati Small Plates & Indian Street Food. 

Another North Street venue, North Street Standard has become a South Bristol staple in recent years. A cafe as well as a bar, it features an extensive, revolving list of alcoholic beverages (including beers, cocktails and much more) as well as a mouth-watering food menu - their breakfasts are a real highlight! With an expansive, trendy inside space and a sizeable front garden perfect for summer evenings, North Street Standard also hosts regular comedy nights hosted by hilarious Bristol comedian Dani Johns.

Finally, The Steam Crane is another popular North Street watering hole with plenty of space, a plethora of comfy leather sofas and a minimalist interior. The pub hosts both live music and comedy nights as well as an impressive roster of drink options, but the main attraction is its beautiful walled garden complete with heaters and a covered area. The site also has a long and fascinating history - more on that later though!

Food:

 

Southville is also a hub of quality food with a wide range of cafes, gourmet restaurants and comfort food vendors. First up is a critically acclaimed, family-run restaurant, Sonny Stores which is nestled in the heart of residential Southville.

 

This welcoming restaurant with a strong Italian influence has received rave reviews from prestigious critics such as Jay Rayner. Opening in 2020, experienced husband and wife team Mary Glynn and Pegs Quinn have created a beautiful delicatessen where foodies can pop in for a quick plate of pasta or hunker down for a leisurely three-course meal and a bottle of organic wine.

Another acclaimed restaurant, this time located on North Street, is COR. Ran by another husband and wife team, the food and drink at COR is influenced by the Mediterranean, providing a fine dining experience that is also fun and stylish. It's a small, seasonal menu that is created with the aim of reducing waste and surplus in the kitchen with creativity from the team shown on our menus.

Also located on North Street is Yafo, a new addition to the busy high street that serves authentic falafel, plant-based food, street food, vibrant alcoholic beverages and much more. The menu includes many traditional dishes passed down through generations, made on-site with care and authenticity. This bustling Mediterranean eatery gives customers an authentic taste of Tel Aviv in the heart of South Bristol.

Southville seems to be a breeding ground for top-quality Mediterranean food with our next pick, Souk Kitchen, serving delicious Middle Eastern Cuisine. The bright and colourful venue encourages Bristolians to share and try new things, with a menu filled with small plates, mezze, dips, tagines, salads and grill dishes inspired by the traditional souks of Damascus, Marrakech and Beirut. Created using aromatic produce such as preserved lemons, tahini, honey and orange blossom, this is a stellar menu that will make you keep coming back for more!

 

Our penultimate North Street food pick is a restaurant known throughout South Bristol as providing a new way of enjoying that great British classic, traditional fish and chips. In addition to chippy staples, Fishminster customers can enjoy other exciting options including falafel, calamari, scampi, seafood salads, king prawns tempura and battered halloumi.

Finally, Coronation Curry House is something of a hidden gem amongst Bristol’s Indian restaurant community. Located on Coronation Road, this tiny yet long-established, community eatery is always full to the brim serving a blend of old favourites and chef specials. This is a spot that, once you’ve been, you’ll return to again, again and again.

Culture:

 

As well as being a centre point for South Bristol’s most acclaimed pubs, bars and restaurants. First up, we’re taking a look at The Tobacco Factory which boasts a massive café bar offering food, drink, music and a weekly market as well as a beautiful theatre. An intimate space, the upstairs theatre is renowned for its eclectic programme featuring everything from in-house theatre to Shakespeare productions.

Another multi-use cultural space is the Southville Centre which, together with the Chessel Centre, has been open since 1991 improving the lives of people living in BS3 and the surrounding area. The centre features a nursery & pre-school, a slew of regular community classes (kids and adults yoga, pilates, baby ballet and much more) and is open for room hire with wedding, music and alcohol licenses.

Next up is a real South Bristol staple, Friendly Records. Opening in 2016, the much-loved record shop has since evolved, becoming a real nucleus for South Bristol’s alternative music community. In 2018, the venue opened a bar space and hosts a diverse programme of intimate live music performances as well as various other events. With a wide selection of local beers and a friendly, community atmosphere, why not drop by Friendly and browse their record collection then enjoy a pint while taking in a stripped-back music set?

One of North Street's more recent additions (opened in 2018) is Storysmith, an award-winning independent bookshop stocking a curated selection of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. In addition to their extensive collection of reading materials, Storysmith also locally roasted coffee, and encourage browsers to linger while enjoying it. This year the shop was named Independent Bookshop of the Year for the South West at the British Book Awards.

Our final cultural highlight for Southville is the popular skatepark, Dean Lane, located in Dame Emily Park. Bristol has long been a hotbed of skater culture and Dean Lane (or Deaner as it's know locally) has always been an important part of that. Opening in the 1970s when skateboarding first became popular, it is one of the first in the UK - it was even recently featured in a Bristol City FC kit launch video with some local skaters!

History:

 

Southville is another area of Bristol steeped in history, not least in an area synonymous with Bristol - street art. Europe’s largest street art festival, Upfest is renowned for bringing together street art’s freshest talents to South Bristol biannually. Founded in 2008, It was originally conceived to get a group of 20 like-minded artists together for a day of painting here in Bristol, however, the first festival quickly grew to 50 artists and has been developing ever since.

Another prominent bit of Southville history is that in 1827, The Bull public house (now The Steam Crane) displayed a caged lion to entertain revellers. The pub’s landlord persuaded ill-fated barman Joseph Kiddle to enter the cage to serve drinks, where he was immediately killed by the poor beast! Find out more about this crazy story and much more (think grave robbers, body snatchers, hanging judges and missing millions from Britain’s biggest robbery!!) by attending Show Of Strength Theatre Company’s ‘Blood and Butchery in Bedminster’ tour - book your slot HERE.

 

 

So, there it is, 365Bristol’s guide to Southville. It’s impossible to round up all the nightlife, food, shopping, cultural and historical highlights in 1,000 words but please get in contact with us here and let us know your favourite hangouts or locations.

 

Images: Patrick Bate

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Article by:

Stanley Gray

Stan is a born and bred Bristolian, recently graduated from studying English Literature in Sheffield. His passions are music and literature and he spends the majority of his time in venues all over the city, immersing himself in Bristol’s alternative music scene. A lifelong Bristol City fan, Stan’s Saturdays are spent watching his team both home and away.