Highbury Vaults

The highbury vaults is a proper boozer, no frills, the toilets smell of piss and it’s all a bit rough around the edges but it’s wonderful, in a world of wine bars and gastro pubs and pubs with huge vases of freshly cut flowers you definitely need places like the highbury vaults, it is a really popular hang out and I can’t believe I have only just discovered it after living in Bristol all of my life — the most intriguing thing is a little model train that runs up and down one side of the pub in a Perspex tube !! And the sausage rolls were amazing !!

Cozy place. Great selection of ciders and beers. Great for a pint after class. The archaeology department tends to migrate here after lectures during the week, so if you want to hang with cool people, this is the place.

A great pub! My post-​exam celebrations saw me move on from one pub/​bar to another and this was perhaps the best. If you’re a fussy lager drinker you’re limited by the choice of Heineken or Fosters, but if real ale is your thing they’ve got a great selection.
The pub provides a warm and friendly local community atmosphere as Eleanor S. says everyone is happy to integrate on the big outside tables. I almost got chucked out for ceremoniously burning an exam paper that we’d all just finished, but the barman very calmly and without being patronising just gave me a dustpan and brush and just asked me to clear it up. Legend!

The Highbury Vaults is a great pub in Cotham — great ales, the ideal pub atmosphere and lots of character.
The interior feels quite small but that is just the lay out, the quirky feel adds to your drinking experience. My favourite place to be in the Highbury Vaults is the beer garden out back — a large area of heavy wooden benches, it is very easy to spend afternoons here that lead into long evenings… and hung over mornings.
The bar staff are great — it is very easy to build a rapport with them and after a couple of rounds they know what you want without asking. And the price of drinks is good too; very reasonable for Bristol and especially for some of the specialist ales they have in.
The only negative I have to say about the Highbury vaults is the food window; it is very narrow and I have missed it twice! The kitchen opening hours, especially for lunch time, are very strict. If you do manage to order at the right time you won’t be disappointed, the food is cheap and the menu reflects this, but after a few beers it’s exactly what you want.

Love this tiny little pub! Why? Well a lot of it comes down to the fact that a miniature train set runs along the side of the building, covered in perspex casing so no one makes off with Tomas the Tank Engine. It is such a bizarre but enduring feature of this equally quirky pub, and provides hours of entertainment if you can convince your friends to make tunnels out of their mouths…
Every time I’ve been here the place has been packed with people but far from making for an annoying experience, it actually adds to the lively atmosphere. Be prepared to cosy up to strangers to share tables or brave the garden, which resembles a rainforest, covered in Technicolor lights.
Although owned by Youngs, the pub doesn’t have a chain feel at all. There are some great ales, including Brains, Bath Ales and Bristol Beer Factory. The walls are covered in old sports team photos and the tiny bar is barely visible under a veil of tacky postcards, old coins and beer mats.

The default drinking hole for students from the university, the Vaults are rather grotty, rather dark and loud, but rather fun. I’ve never quite understood why it’s so dark inside; perhaps it’s to accommodate the flinching hangovers of students hiding out here after lectures.
It’s quite cramped and uncomfortable inside, but has the most brilliant covered back garden which more than makes up for the dingy interior. With loads of comfortable seating, it’s a really great place for drinking outside in the warmer months. Large groups of students do tend to assemble out here for smokes and loud chats of the «oh my God, I was so drunk last night» variety, so steer clear if you don’t like that kind of thing.
On offer at the bar are some very cheap sandwiches which are friendly to the student wallet. All in all, it’s pandering to the student clientele, but that’s not surprising, and doesn’t seem to have put off the older locals who still come here for a cheap pint in what is essentially a traditional pub.

Allegedly once the site of hangings (or perhaps that’s just urban legend), the Highbury Vaults is something of a Bristol University institution. Parked up the road from the arts department, lecturers and students alike have been known to conmingle in its oakened interior.
Meals are simple yet tasty and filling, drinks are mid-​priced and in generous selection and there’s even a pool-​table for when cider loses its fascination. The décor is largely wood-​based — tables are authentically pint glass-​streaked, with ageing photographs and engravings depicting times past the artwork of choice.
Despite the student demographic, locals are often to be seen out in force as well. After all, it’s hard to say no to satisfying food, a decent drinks selection and a capacious outdoor seating area rimmed by foliage.

I may be wrong but I think I am right in saying that the Vaults is the oldest pub in Bristol. The small pub is everything you would expect from an establishment that lays such a claim. The corridors and rooms are disjointed and very higgeldy piggeldy, which gives it a certain charm, and character that is out of reach for modern pubs. There is a nice big smoking area outside, so big that it is almost bigger than the pub itself making it an even greater place in the summer.

Looking around the pub, it seems as though somebody has grouped together people from all sections of society and plonked them in one, long room. Every time I go I bump into a lecturer, which would ordinarily be rather awkward but at Highbury Vaults it doesn’t seem to bother me — everybody is there to enjoy the alcoholic delights. I am not a real ale fan but I am told it is a haven for ale-​fans. What I like about Vaults are the labyrinth-​layout, the outdoor heaters and the friendliness of the bar staff. It is the longest building I have ever walked down, made even longer by the garden. The garden is fairytale like with pink lights and vine leaves to make you forget you are sitting outside in the middle of winter. Many times I have been at the bar and a competition is being held, usually something silly like ‘attempt to balance a penny on top of a floating orange without it rolling over’. The atmosphere, added to by the dingy lighting and dark wooden décor, is like an old-man’s pub. Smaller tables filled with empty glasses are usually occupied by old men, but there are plenty of long tables filled with students to keep the Vaults fresh.

You’ve heard the term old-​man pub? Well at heart this place is an old man’s pub, but somehow they’ve made that seem cool. The reason it is so cool and ultimately popular is due in no small part to the traditional English boozer feel of the place. It has the traditional old beams and a great collection of traditional beers and ales.
The food is also great and the staff are very friendly, particularly the manager, who alone makes a trip to Highbury Vaults worth the effort. You do get an odd mix of people in here. On the one hand you have the real ale drinkers. You know the sort. Middle aged to old, with scant regard for their personal appearance. Along side them you have what you might say is their polar opposite. Students. Young, mildly irritating, with a high regard for their personal appearance.

The Highbury Vaults’ interior is nice and cosy with two smallish bars offering an intimate atmosphere that attracts both the young and old. Real ale drinkers in particular will be in heaven with around eight different bitters on tap — Fosters, Guinness and Kronie are also on offer.
However, the jewel in this already mightily impressive crown is the snug and cosy garden which surely ranks as one of the finest in the city. With comfy seating for 70 (odd) and row upon row of hanging baskets bringing a certain ambience to proceedings, this is the perfect place to relax for an hour or five and indulge in that classic combination known as drinking and chatting. And before you ask: yes they have got heaters to stave off the upcoming chilly months…

Apparently the basement toilets were once the cells where people on their way to the gallows were detained. I certainly wouldn’t want to be locked up in the toilet, but wouldn’t mind too much being locked in the Highbury Vaults for a few hours.
Fairly traditional in style, this long thin pub has nice wodden floors and furnishing and a good range of real ales. Pretty dark in the day time, hiding away in one of the booths is a nice way to spend a spare afternoon. There’s a pretty garden out the back too, so smokers will be fine here, and you don’t have to worry that you’re missing the sun on a fine day. The Highbury Vaults is a traditional pub done well.

The Highbury Vaults is exactly what a traditional pub should be.
From the outside, you’ll see a tiny front of house bar and you’d be forgiven for thinking this is the smallest pub in Bristol. But walking into through the heavy door you enter Narnia.
Bearded old men and 30-​something couples sit at the solid wooden tables supping real ale alongside groups of students knocking back the sweet Addlestones cider.
If you’re peckish, then fear not, there’s an array of homemade rolls at the bar, which could’ve come straight from the Women’s Institute.
Perhaps the piece de resistance, though, is the spacious covered beer garden out back.
A near perfect pub nestled in the back streets of Cotham.

A Good place to start the evening. Nice mix of people. I’ve spent many a Friday/​Saturday afternoon in the beer garden.

Great beer, great atmosphere, fantastic garden, a really good mix of locals and students of all ages. The bar is quite small, but there is always a good number of bar staff to get through the customers. They also do food here, but I have not sampled this as of yet — although it looks very good quality and is reasonably priced.

Intimate, dark and on top of the hill. I heard that prisoners were brought here for their last meal although I don’t know what time period or where they went after that. There is a gorgeous garden outside and inside it’s lovely and warm. Everyone sits close together because it’s quite small but it feels friendly. I would recommend it for at least one drink.

The Highbury Vaults is a pub where I normally take guests, as it has the feel people are looking for when searching for a traditional pub. It has old beams, dark corners and a very good stock of beers. It is kept clean and tidy. The pub food is done with thought and the chilli is very popular. The staff are nice and the Landlord is a quirky and very nice guy who organises the yearly festival in the area.
The atmosphere can be ruined somewhat by the students who at this time of year are jostling for position in their newly formed groups, bragging loudly about their feats in their previous six form rugby teams and impressing all with their impersonations of the local accent. How funny it is to hear the highly original ‘Vicky Pollard’ jokes each year.
You can easily escape to the nicely sized and well planted garden with benches, great for the smokers.
Things to spot: The model railway running through the pub.

The highbury vaults is an institution in Kingsdown. Located very close to the university, it is a place where students, lecturers and workers can all come. A watering hole in every sense of the word.
I don’t come down this way as much as I would like but this pub is a real treat. It doesn’t have a secret to it’s success it just does everything that it can do, very well. For example the menu isn’t large but the food is superb, the bar is tiny but crammed with as much real ale and drinks that can fit, the staff are cheerful and polite to the customers. (To any landlords reading this, follow these 3 points and you will have a great pub).
The first thing you may notice when approaching the Highbury, is a BANKSY stencil on the side wall (I personally doubt it’s authenticity, but its better then a Yates sign). Inside the bar is ye olde pub style but behind the bar it’s vibrant with cuttings surrounding it. There is a reasonable amount of seating inside (it does get busy at lunch time and in the evenings though). The place to be though is the beer garden.
Relatively small the beer garden is enclosed which holds the heat well but also smoke from any people enjoying a smoke. The garden has a nice green leafy atmosphere without it drowning in plants, there’s a few statues and ornaments hidden in the foliage also. The seating outside is plentiful and varied.
However, the two real draws for coming here are: the beers, they had 8 real ales on tap when I came and the food which is very good as well. It is generally typical pub fare but at restaurant standard. On my last trip here I had the sweet potato curry which for five pounds was a huge portion and truly excellent. Finally there are the staff who are great fun. They tut at people that order lager which I find amusing (but others may find offensive, you have been warned).
As mentioned this place does the most with what it’s got, and it gets the simple things right. This is the sort of public house that would convince you to move house just to be closer. Truly excellent.

This is a nice little real ale pub. The covered garden is the best thing about this pub its very pretty.

Much as I love the interior of this old, real ale pub, on my last (recent) visit we sat outside and were overcome by the fumes from adjacent smokers because there is absolutely no free flowing air in the so-​called ‘beer garden’. By the time I left not only did I stink, but I had my first asthma attack in about 6 months. So come on guys, sort it out and remove those ridiculous glass canopies, or at least make part of the beer garden ‘non-​smoking’ so we can enjoy it the way it used to be when all the smokers were inside.