Bristol Neighbourhood Guide: St George & Redfield

Bristol Neighbourhood Guide: St George & Redfield

Posted on: 25 May 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 taking a look at St George and Redfield, an area of Bristol that boasts some of the city’s finest green spaces in St George Park and Troopers Hill. However, that’s not all the community have on offer with a plethora of delightful cafes, atmospheric pubs and more.

 

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

 

Nightlife:

 

Kicking off our nightlife rundown is a Redfield pub that is instantly recognisable thanks to the colourful, distinctive mural (courtesy of local artist Skinny Gud) adorning its exterior. With an impressive selection of award-winning beers, The Old Stillage is a pub with a dedicated fanbase thanks to its regular DJ and live music nights that traverse the genres of dubstep to old school rhythm and blues and everything else in between. If you’re looking for a drink and a dance in Redfield, this is the place for you!

The Pied Horse is a proudly dog-friendly pub and a real favourite within the St George community. The impressive, traditional pub features a large, recently renovated beer garden complete with a children’s play area, two large screens showing Sky Sports, a jukebox, pub games including pool and darts and always guarantee a good selection of beverages, whether that be boxed real cider or Arbor Ales. 

While St George is perhaps not the obvious location for a swanky cocktail bar, that’s exactly what The Bristol Spirit Bar on Whitehall Road is. Owned and run by Sam Espensen (of Espensen Spirit), the venue blends quirkiness, a lively atmosphere and delicious drinks, becoming a locals' favourite in the process. With new cocktails constantly being unleashed, Bristol Spirit is like a tap room showcasing the best of Espensen Spirit. You can even enjoy a pizza from Dough Heads (who occupy the venue’s kitchen) while sipping on a mojito, bliss!

Another Redfield venue with a real buzz, The Dark Horse has a rustic yet wacky atmosphere and boasts a rooftop space, disco lounge and a massive event space available for gigs and private hire. In addition to its impressive list of features, pub clientele can enjoy an immensely popular weekly pub quiz, a roaring fire in the winter, a piano, a plethora of board games and card, a free book exchange and plenty more besides.

Food:

 

First up in our food highlights for St George and Redfield is The Orchard, an East Bristol institution that have both a bakery and coffee shop just across the street from each other on Clouds Hill Road. The bakery offers a wonderful selection of sourdough, tin loaves, pastries, donuts and delicious cakes, the perfect partner to a nice hot coffee. The Orchard Coffee also offers a menu stacked with blissful brunches and butties, mouth-watering Moroccan Shakshuka, succulent soul bowls and tasty toasties. 

Another popular mainstay on Bristol’s bakery scene is The Bristol Loaf, which has a Redfield site, in addition to their Bedminster and Bristol Beacon locations. A high-quality artisan bakery, The Loaf pride themselves on delivering handcraft delicious, certified organic breads as well as savouries, pastries and cakes.

If it’s a top-notch evening meal you’re looking for then The Lock Up may well be the place for you. Opened in 2016, this is a family run restaurant right in the heart of the Redfield community. With a relaxed yet stylish environment, The Lock Up offers modern British dishes including seafood, meat dishes and more, as well as renowned Sunday Roasts.

Lauded as the purveyors of one of Bristol’s best vegan breakfasts, The Faraway Tree is a cosy, family-friendly café located on Church Road in Redfield. Whether it’s a cooked breakfast, a top notch lunch, a hot cup of coffee/tea or a quiet beer you’re after, these guys have you sorted with locally sourced, free range produce always guaranteed.

Culture and Lifestyle:

 

St George is perhaps best known for its extensive green spaces, indeed, St George Park is often cited as one of the best picnic spot in Bristol. This sprawling Victorian park, nestled within a tight knit residential community has a range of exciting features to keep the whole family entertained. St George’s features include an excellent playground, five bookable tennis courts, a lively skatepark, a bowling green and a café kiosk as well as many of the park’s original Victorian features!

A mere 20-minute walk from St George Park is the veritable hotbed of nature that is Troopers’ Hill. Again, situated covertly within an unassuming residential area, Troopers’ Hill sits atop a flight of steep, crooked steps. Once you reach the top and catch your breath, you’re sure to have it taken away once again by the sheer epic majesty of its stunning panorama. 

 

A beautiful nature reserve offers the perfect the River Avon, Troopers’ Hill is one of Bristol’s true natural wonders. The hill is home to a myriad of exciting wildlife, with 24 species of butterflies, 84 species of bees (Troopers’ Hill is the most important site for bees in the Bristol region with multiple rare and endangered species!), thousands of crickets, reptiles, birdlife and much more – the perfect hangout spot for wildlife enthusiasts! It’s not a bad spot to watch the balloons during Bristol Balloon Fiesta either!

In recent years, Redfield has hosted Redfest, an annual community arts and music festival that regularly attracted thousands of Bristolians with a range of performances, exhibitions and instillation as well as fringe events. While the festival has been absent since 2021, we all hope it’ll be back soon!

 

History:

 

Not only does Troopers’ Hill have a thriving ecosystem, it also has a rich and long lasting history. In the 1600s, the hill was part of the royal hunting ground, however, by the late 1700s and into the 1800s, it became an industrial centre point – used for both copper smelting and coal mining. Today, the scars of this can still be seen through the square chimney at the foot of the hill. Since 1995, Troopers’ Hill has been a Local Nature Reserve.

So, there it is, 365Bristol’s guide to St George and Redfield. Please note that we have had to be loose in terms of neighbourhood borders so as to fit everything that’s amazing about Bristol into these guides. It’s also impossible to sum up everything that’s great about our city in such a short article, but please get in contact with us here and let us know your favourite neighbourhood highlights.

 

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.