The Clifton Wine Bar

Clifton wine bar… Not somewhere you would normally find me. Sounds a bit la-​de-​da me thinks. But I was hungry and they were advertising some tasty sounding burgers on there board outside, so in I popped.
Funny little carnivorous place with a nice but slightly tired décor. Although I wasn’t personally interested in the surroundings I wanted cow in face and quickly please !
We ordered a couple of a couple of pulled pork burgers and a cow burger with blue cheese and bacon for my salivating self.
For drinkypoose we were fortunate to be able to take advantage of prosecco for 2 quid a glass (available 6 – 9 fri & sat) and I had pint of Corvus which was a delight. All in all a very reasonable priced outing. Tenner each for the grub and pints at 3.60 not bad for la-​de-​da.
The burgers came and went. And were absolutely brilliant. A decent size and very juicy on a lightly toasted seasamee seed bun. I thoroughly enjoyed every mouthfull and would be as bold as to say it was on a par with any burger ive had recently !
The only reason I wont give this a five is due to the lack. of atmosphere (it was deader than dead at 9 on a friday) and the slightly tired décor.
But the grub and the booze was right on up there !!

The bar area seems to be modelled on All Bar One (sights set low then), but with a less interesting selection of foreign lagers.
The ales were all from Wadworth, which having only ever encountered their 6X, I found unusual. Regrettably my Wadworth Horizon was either off or flavoured with cleaning fluid!
This was a real shame as my initial thought was ‘well this may not be a pub, but at least it feels kinda warm and cosy’

I first came in here back in 2000. My friend had just started at the University of Bristol and was placed in the poshest halls of residence, Wills. As a result she found herself hanging out with a colourful bunch of toffs. So, when I came to visit we all hit the town. Now that was an interesting experience. We started the night at the Clifton Wine Bar and apart from me, we fitted in perfectly. The place comprised a lot of really affluent and sometimes arrogant well-​off people more than happy to pay almost a fiver for a glass of wine (remember this is a decade ago when most bottles of wine were less than a fiver). More recently, and now I’m not a completely skint student myself, I’ve found the wine bar to be a lot more amenable. It’s actually a really nice, low ceilinged setting (though not nice for my gigantic husband) with a relaxed vibe. A great place for good wine, conversation and company (depending on who you take along).

Another bar with very little personality but once again, is this a bad thing? Located on the outskirts of Clifton Village, the Clifton Wine Bar stretches back into a cave-​like space with a large garden at the back.
The furniture is nice, the quiz box things are nice, the drinks are nice (the prices are not that nice) but there is very little left to say about this place. Popular on the weekends with students and groups of men and women out on the pull, I prefer the quieter weekday evenings when there aren’t so many sleazy men lurking around every corner!

This bar finds itself to be very popular with students from the main Bristol University, largely due to the fact that it’s located right next to university accommodation along Richmond Terrace. The wine bar is also very popular with locals and adults alike, so there’s a varied and buzzing atmosphere most evenings — especially on Fridays and Saturdays.
I personally find this bar pretty standard, there’s nothing special to shout home about; but saying this, it has provided me with a couple of really good evenings. There is a great selection of wines (as should be expected) and a few hours here with a few glasses and a good group of friends makes an enjoyable evening. In terms of pricing it is pretty expensive, and you wouldn’t expect it to be so popular with students — however, being located just within Clifton I guess you could expect a slightly higher price range.
One thing I would say is that the place could do with a bit of a revamp and some redecorating, because it does have a bit of a ‘naff’ feeling — but if you look past this it’s a good place to chill out!

I might be being a bit harsh with my rating, because there is nothing actually wrong with Clifton Wine Bar. It is clean, the food is edible and there is plenty of seating. But where it falls down for me is on its lack of soul and atmosphere; the interior is pretty bland and unattractive and it all has a rather unwelcoming effect.
It is a huge bar and I have had some great nights in there sat around a table chatting with friends. As a place to just be with your friends it is perfect. But if you want to watch the sport, get a table early. Perhaps it’s because of the low ceilings and positioning of the Telly’s, but the view can be restricted. That said it is great that they show all the football and rugby and I do enjoy watching it there, I’m just obviously not alone there.
It doesn’t offer much else for me, I wouldn’t go there to listen to music, soak up a cool atmosphere or try a tasty cocktail but it is known as being a big favourite with recruitment consultants and estate agents. And if you smoke, there is a fantastic garden for that.

This is a very popular haunt with Cliftonites and students alike, which is odd, because from the outside it doesn’t look that appealing to Cliftonites (bit drab and cavernous). Plus it’s called «Clifton Wine Bar», and as a former student, I wouldn’t have gone some place with a name like that. But there it is filled with both pretty much every night of the week.
The fairly anonymous and dull frontage gives little clue of the Tardis-​like qualities inside which runs to intimate lounges, discreet nooks and crannies (should they be required) and a larger bar with flagstone flooring. All of this gives the wine bar a great deal of character and really adds to the charm of the place once you’re inside.
Food is pretty good here and one of the main reasons I often pop in, as its’ still (I think) a Pie Minister Pie place, which are awesome. Plus they’re burgers aren’t too bad either.

I visited the Clifton Wine Bar with my housemates on a quiet Sunday night, still entering despite the smoker outside that strongly advised us not to go in as there was no one there; this turned out to be to our advantage though as it meant we had a little room at the front of the pub to ourselves. We shared a bottle of wine between us, which was fairly inexpensive, at £12.50. The bottle of red smelt delicious and tasted pretty good too. The quietness was perfect for a Sunday night, allowing us to muse over the size of our yet to be bought Christmas tree and plans for socialising over the festive period. Looking at the menu, the dishes on offer were quite cheap, appealing to a student budget. The best thing about this pub is its many nooks and crannies to sit in, it’s quite a rabbit warren inside. I can imagine it’s pretty stressful to visit if busy though.

I’d previously always thought of this as being a bit of a daytime/​early evening haunt. It’s a large place with Sky Sports on a number TVs and a big, open garden that acts as a decent sun trap, both being the sort of thing that have attracted me in on a weekend afternoon.
However, I went in briefly after a gig at the Anson Rooms recently and it wasn’t quite so nice. It was absolutely rammed with students and the music was blaring out. This isn’t a massive problem but it was definitely of the commercial/​cheesey type, which I wasn’t so keen on. This place is slightly less classy than the name suggests (though it is indeed in Clifton in fairness).

Although on street level, Clifton Wine Bar is below a raised promenade, which means stone walls and ceilings and not much natural light. The result is you feel a bit like you’re entering a wine cellar. Those as tall as I am will have to stoop, and it can be a bit dingy.
With those disclaimers made, I really like the experience here. It’s snug, somewhere good to go on a grey winters day, and sitting in a comfy chair here you feel a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of Bristol city centre, say. They do a good trade in after work drinkers, and I think thats why. Clifton Wine Bar is an escape.
With the words ‘Clifton’ and ‘Wine Bar’ in the name you wouldn’t expect this place to be particularly cheap, and it’s not. Neither is it somewhere to go for a part, things are civilised here. Worth the money anyway, in my opinion.

Rather a depressing place which is fine if you are feeling depressed.
Frequently frequented by wanabee and real students (although the Union bar just 20 metres away must be cheaper) the Clifton Wine Bar verges on the spit and sawdust style that used to be so popular in the 60’s although S + S is done somewhat better by other places in Clifton like the Coronation Tap.
As for the ‘walled garden’, well, the best that can be said is that it certainly has 4 walls.
Maybe a change of name to reflect the true nature of the place would lower rather than raise expectations.
In the meantime, a great place to drown your sorrows if you are feeling miserable or if you are a student with extra cash to spend.

A short walk from the Bristol University student union and tucked in between 20^th century flicks nad hte 10 o’clock shop, this bar is a good little hideaway for an afternoon of drinking. The best thing about this bar is that it is one of the few nicer places in the city that has sky sports and shows the football and rugby, and are happy to put a game on if you want to watch, as long as it doesnt clash with something they were intending to show. They also have a lovely little garden with differnet sections — its a walled garden with lots of tables and a nice place to drink in the summer. They have a wide selection of drinks and there is a food menu, but I am never really sure when thery do actually serve food — it never seems to be when i am in there though. The staff are just average — they do there job and nothing more. The atmosphere is ok, it definatley benefitted from the refurb a few years back. There are lots of different rooms, so it depends on where you are sat as to the type of experience you have, but it is often full of students.

This bar is quite a good place to go to watch a match of football. It has a lot of TVs dotted around the place, and quite a lot of seating.
The drinks are quite good, a reasonable selection, if a little pricey, and the food is quite nice too.