I love holiday’s and the experience of downloading an out of date lesbian listings, to confuse the charming locals, in my search of venues was reminiscent of being in lost in China.
We started at the Prince of Wales, which was not on any list, but has to be mentioned for the genuinely unpretentious and gorgeous women many sporting traditional short hair, thus tantalising my gaydar.
After stopping for food, we progressed to gay friendly “The Scotchman and his pack”, (St. Michael’s Hill, Kingsdown) in the posh grammar school stuffed district of Bristol. I got hugged by Becky the bar maid, for she didn’t know that the pub had been outed. In fact, according to the fishing obsessed owner, the listing is 11 years old and he had e-mailed the site owner to inform them that the pub was indeed gay friendly but not gay exclusive. Just like my first website the owner had left university and thus lost the right to update.
Upon the Scotchman recommendation we rocked on up the hill to Bar 155. This lovely little cafe bar was decked in the joy Christmas which in itself is worth checking out. Aiden and Peter run their bar for the local community (rather than the gay community) and the clientele ranged from students, couples, groups of friends and elderly locals. Enormously friendly. It was enough to end our evening by discovering that we were part of the lock in.
Suggestions for dancing include the Vibe and Queen Shilling which allegedly sports the butch variety of lesbian.
December 12, 2006 at 4:37 pm |
Bristol is rather disapointing on the whole lala front (what a cool word)… i digress… For a fairly big city there isnt that much variety for us gay folk, especially for women compared to somewhere like london. Where do all the women go i often wonder! Here are just a few of my opinions on the Bristol Scene…
There is a women only night held upstairs of the Hatchet every las sat of the month. Is pretty good and has varied clientele of all ages. Worth a look n see.
An alternative music gay night called Wonky @ manhattans in St nicholas street…every last friday of the month… very popular unfortunatey for str8 ppl too. Very busy for a small venue playing Indie, punk, old music etc. to the usual camp stuff. But if your into that sort of music then u go for it!
The Main pubs
The pineapple … just up from the Vibe is pretty poplular. It is your typical warm up pub… with a variety of entertainment including a quiz. No pool table thou.
The Vibe… has 2 rooms….traditional camp music, cheese and hard house.
The Shilling … also a very popular… fully mirrored for those of you that those extra views of your selves. O and apparently making the club seem bigger than it is. Not much room in the toilets thou.. for us women… an after thought after the refirb. Original only 2/3 but they sqeezed an extra one in behind the door (often over looked).
The Elephant (St nicholas St)
Keeps changing hands but used to be really poplular
Outside the centre
There are a few bars and a club in old market…
Prague (formally the Rainbeau @ Masons Arms) … I have not personally been there since it reopened as Prague… i was under the impression it was male dominated… but apparently women are allowed too.
Orchid (formally tatu) … Very nice little place… its a shame its not closer to town. It is the only gay venue that has a pool table!
There are a few other pubs along old market that are gay friendly and worth a visit
The club in old market… the name escapes me at the moment but is men only from what i remember. It used to be really poplular a few years ago when it was called Winns.