As an example of a modern pub made for its location, you could find little better than this place.
As you can see... it's on a hill. Image taken from the pub's website (click on the picture to visit)
Born, apparently, from the ashes of a scrofulous hole, the latest incarnation of the Windmill arrived at a time when this hilly, pastel-shaded corner of Bedminster, home to armies of young parents with bohemian aspirations, had nothing within walking distance that this audience would deem worthy of a good night out, or a boozy Sunday afternoon.
It’s been packed full of Those Types ever since, cooped up in the family pit, clutching their Thatchers scrumpy, wiping Pieminister detritus from their stomachs/beards, fluffing out a broadsheet supplement, all the while trying to ignore the din emanating from their brood. Up by the bar, Sky Sports News burbles unobtrusively in the corner, while suspiciously cheery groups of vaguely young people hang out and laugh and talk and look like they’re posing for an advert for some kind of aspirational hotel, except with more pint glasses and scruffy hair and less power-suited shittery.
Maybe that’s what this pub’s missing – a good dose of business-networking bullshit and Hollywood teeth. Wouldn’t that be a thing to find up a hill in south Bristol? Wouldn’t it indeed. But until investment brokers and international recruitment consultants start flinging their weight around Windmill Hill, this crowd will have to do.
I see I have failed to mention the back bar thus far. A tip: don’t explore the back bar. It’s too wide and wondrous for any good to come of it… (srsly, how often does a pub this size get to use one of the best spirit ranges in town?)