First time and a little disappointing. The food was way over salted, especially the lamb and the…read moregreen beans and I do like my salt so this is saying a lot. Great setting, but food was a little disappointing.

This was one of my Christmas presents, a meal out here. It's an amazing room, with wonderfully high…read moreceilings and stairs like the scene out of the Titanic. We were seated in the bar area and I opted for what I thought was a glass of champagne but it turned out to be a champagne cocktail 'the classic'. Wasn't to my taste! But my mistake. They have no draft beers, but some bottled and a good selection of bottled ciders. We were then seated at a big round table - too big in my opinion cos I felt I needed to shout to everyone on it! The menu looked amazing. As French as you could possibly get so I was in heaven. The waitress then came over and told us half of it they didn't have! Bit naughty not to mention it on the website cos there was a lot missing. I chose the steak tartare to start, It was delicious! Fillet steak minced with pickles and mustard through it, it was quite fiery actually, I think there was quite a bit of Tabasco in it too but it really enhanced the dish. Wasn't sure about the raw egg yolk served on top but I was pleasantly surprised. I opted for a bottle of the Pinot noir which was nice and subtle, the more expensive of the wines at 30ish quid. But that was at the top of the price range on the wine list so quite reasonable really for all the wines ( it helped I wasn't paying too! ). For the main I went for the sirloin steak, served with fries and the best pepper sauce I have EVER tasted. Yes The Yeoman - it beat yours! (can't believe I just said that). I asked for it to be cooked rare but it was slightly overdone. Usually I would have sent it back but it was so tasty I didn't actually need to. Everyone else was thoroughly enjoying theirs too. For pudding I shared a cheese board and again was transported through those pearly white gates. The cheese's where magnific! Melt in your mouth blue, Brie to die for, a lovely smoked one which I thought I wouldn't like. Yum. Yum. YUM! My friends chose the baked Alaska which was flambé'd at the table, it looked amazeballs. We all left stuffed and giddy. It was a real treat, I highly recommend for a extremely pleasant evening out. Thankyou Jane and Keith!

This club is a private members club so it doesn't run public club nights or anything, however one…read moreof my friends hired out the place for her 21st birthday and I went along to this and I thought it was a great little venue - perfect for this kind of occasion! The place itself is located in Berkley Square at the top of Park Street, so in a pretty posh place really, and this is reflected through the club... you go down some stone steps to the entrance and then you are met by an interior of classy slickness, and a really cool cocktail bar! All the staff are dressed incredibly smartly which adds to the posh ambience, and you really feel like you are in a top notch place - with brilliant service! At the back of the club there's a cool spiral staircase which leads to an upstairs dining area where they serve food, I've never eaten here personally but I've heard it's great! I have been up to the terrace however, which is pretty cool. I'd probably say this is the smartest venue I've been to in Bristol, and if you are looking for somewhere to hold a special occasion or business do then it's definitely worth a look and I'd give my recommendations!

The square club is a private members club so its not somewhere you just drop in for a quick pint…read more It is a lovely venue and is also home to the Square Gallery. I went to a private view here held by the artist Jim Starr (http://www.jamesstarr.co.uk/) When I visited Jim's work was to be seen throughout the Square Club, it looked amazing on the walls of this elegant Georgian house. It makes for a great gallery space. Outside there is a fantastic Terrace, it is an ode to zen like tranquility with wooden furniture, ambient lighting, out door art and chill-out music filtered through speakers, making it difficult to believe you are actually in the heart of the city. Drinks are however rather pricey but if you are after a nice drink in a refined tranquil atmosphere it is worth it. If you want to come here for an interesting evening (and don't want to become a member), the best thing to do is join The Bristol Explorers who regularly have talks here. The last Bristol explorers drinks evening had a talk by Monty Halls about his six months spent in the Outer Hebrides! So if there is an adventurer in you, definitely look our for the next Bristol Explorers evenings at the Square Club. http://bristolexplorers.com/

Elbow room has everything going for it; it's got a well stocked bar, good location and a cool name…read more But I am really not a fan. Not to sound like a Park Street snob but this bar is usually packed with people who wouldn't normally enjoy the quirky retro chic of the other bars up and down the hill. On more than one occasion I've walked in to find people passed out on the floor or crying in a corner - not a great start to any one's evening! I'd recommend coming here during the day when the pool tables are empty and the aforementioned undesireables are yet to come out and play.

I don't like this place. It's halfway up Park Street and gets rammed with a slightly 'Trevory'…read morecrowd. It's half bar, half pool hall, but the bar part isn't big or unique enough to keep you interested and the pool tables are those big American ones and are expensive to hire (you pay at the bar for a certain amount of time, not by the game). Also, despite the name, it's not really big enough, which is pretty ironic, though considering the Stateside focus of this unspectacular place, they probably wouldn't understand this. The only time I've vaguely enjoyed this place is on a Sunday afternoon watching the footie, as it's less crowded then and they have some cheap drinks offers.

Home to many great designs and pieces of art (and once putting up a design by me!) the Architecture…read moreCentre offers interesting educational displays to do with the profession. Their exhibition space changes regularly, currently offering work by the artist Neville Gabie looking at the recent Cabot Circus development. A nice contrast to the more contemporary art focused Arnolfini, this corner of town really does have a lot of cultural offerings. You'll particularly like this place if you have any interest in the built environment, not just 'architecture' in the stereotyped classical sense of the word. As well as exhibitions they have events every now and then, things like debates and big art projects. The various goings on make it the Architecture Centre a stimulating experience, particularly if you're interested in buildings.

Squeezed between the busy youth hostel and the celebrated Arnolfini, this little gem is often lost…read more With its aim of promoting and supporting architecture and the built environment, it all sounds a little dry but you will be surprised. The venue has exhibition space for projects worldwide and is a hub for finding out about conferences, talks and events to do with architecture and the environment. They hold their own little events as well looking at Bristol in particular and are quite strongly devoted to encouraging children to look at their city - for example they have some design classes coming up and a drawing day. The gift shop at the front of the venue is fantastic - I actually use this as my main card shop in town - and their commitment to children's education continues here with a nice selection of educational and design-led toys, making it great for buying gifts for some of the parents I know! They also have a nice selection of jewellery from local artists, some very unusual things. On top of this they have a conference room to hire.

Despite the slightly less-than-glamorous demeanour of the shop on Church Road this is actually a…read morevery successful and useful company. What they do is simple, they find venues for events. Now I know it seems everyone you talk to these days is somehow involved in event management or some similar off-shoot and thus it's easy not to take it too seriously. The vibe here is very different. Specialising in conferences they provide the whole package from finding a place, to the layout to any specific requirements you may have. It is in instances like these where it's handy to have a middleman; they know what they're doing and they have a portfolio of satisfied clients behind them - things that in this world, carry a lot of weight.

From the owner: Venue research and event management for all corporate business needs throughout the UK and Europe…read more With expertise and specialist knowledge of the conference industry we provide free reseach and advise to make the most informed decisions. Our clients have worked with us for many years in many cases saving valuable time and effort. Check out our website www.eventsvenues.com If you are local - we also offer secretarial services, faxing and copying from 9p per copy - copy from original OR memory stick

Home to Dancing Jesus! IYKYK. Ok if you don't know, I'll tell you. They've got a huge mural that's…read moredubbed "Dancing Jesus". It's a favorite spot and fixture in Stokes Croft to grab a pint and something to eat. Sitting outside lends to great people watching. Soup and toastie of the day is my go-to for lunch when in the area. Everything is locally sourced meaning fresher ingredients. A toastie may sound just like a toastie but there's something about the way they grill it here. A perfectly crisp bread with properly melted cheeses. I like that they use butter for pan-frying the toasties. Some places use mayo and that's a big ew for me.

This place has confused me for a long time…read more... Firstly I just thought it was a big disused office building where the drunk, jobless people would hang out at all hours of the day. Then they put massive amounts of scaffolding up (carefully avoiding Banksy's 'Mild, Mild West' piece) but yet again, more people would congregate outside it with pints of beer and glass of wine in hand. Then the scaffolding came down, but apart from a new graffiti piece on the side wall I couldn't see any difference. I must visit I thought to myself. I was pleasantly surprised (and slightly ashamed that I thought it was a communal area for the homeless). It's a large bar area with enough seats to hang with your mates and put the world at rest, yet small enough to retain a good atmosphere. There are some comfy sofas if you fancy a coffee and weirdly (in what is essentially a pub) a bookcase with second hand books and magazines. It's a bit of everything but it works. I am not exaggerating when I say that everyday it is packed to the brim so they are obviously doing something right!

This hotel is in an ideal location. It's walking distance to everything literally. We didn't have…read moreto move the car because right outside was a bus stop and to my left and my right were thrift stores, ample coffee shops, restaurants and the Harbor as this hotel is positioned right in city centre. I will only stay here next time I am in Bristol which will be this spring. We didn't not try the Michelin star restaurant for exploring the city and eating out however the bar was lovely. Marcel one of the bartenders although they closed at 11 if we were still enjoying ourselves along with other patrons he would keep the bar open longer; so accommodating. Also there were times I had leftovers that I would wake up wanting and the front desk would warm them up for me. Our room was clean and even when sleeping in it didn't matter that I got up after 2pm they still ensured our bedding was changed and fresh towels. This place is gorgeous bummer that they no longer have the spa and pool on the ground level but I understand it can be pricey to maintain.

My stay here was deeply undignified, which I had a chilling premonition of through the greeting I…read morereceived (or should I say lack thereof) by the young woman on the reception desk. She was eating celery sticks, and staring at something on her screen; hopefully nothing obscene, but who can say with these kinds of people? Anyway, she appeared not to have noticed me so I clacked my heels on the floor, and the reverberating echo which rippled through the foyer startled the lass and she quietly screamed. After she had recovered from her shock, she had become angered, and made little effort to conceal it. I told her that I was here for a hotel room and she said "yes I think I figured that part out thanks" before typing with her keyboard. Eventually she assigned me to a room without saying anything else to me, just handing the key card over without another word. The key card was greasy and almost slid out of my hand. That did mean that it slid into the sensor with ease, however, so this I cannot complain about. That being said, I would have probably preferred to have just stayed in the hallway and tried my luck with the mercy of the other guests. The room was about as sanitary as a swamp on a humid summer day, and I tried to make sure that I did not touch any of the surfaces as they looked diseased. The bed had a disturbing morphology and, upon further inspection, I found it's undulating crevices to be distressed. There was also a dead bee in the sink. I put the bee out of the window to decompose in the natural world, but then I could not close the window no matter how hard I pulled. My room had suddenly become an access-all-hours, free-for-all for the opportunists of society. You won't be surprised to learn that I didn't sleep very much on the lumpen, deformed and gravelly mattress. I decided to purchase the breakfast buffet, and went down to the restaurant area wearing a business woman outfit and heels so no one would question why I was dining alone. I should have turned around and sought alternative victuals after glimpsing the wretched nature of the diners. Their levels of physical fitness and mental acuity were subterranean, which reflected poorly on the breakfast foods. The scrambled eggs were fibrous, and the coffee that I had been so foolish as to sample tasted as if it had been brewed in a nuclear reactor. I knew at this point that I needed to get out of the hotel as soon as possible and never return.

This somewhat decripit building was definitely due for a refurb and looks all the better for it. It…read moreis doing an excellent job in serving its local community, which stretches from the Burghs to Lawrence Hill and Easton. It runs a huge swathe of classes for people of varying backgrounds and seems very inclusive. I've attended some fantastic yoga there and although the room was small, the teaching was excellent and the classes very cheap. There's all kinds of things going on here, from silver jewellery making to Alexander Technique and Tai Chi. It also provides a meeting place for lesbian and gay forums, AA meetings and sessions for Asian families who have children with special needs and disabilities. It's well worth checking out their very varied programme and going along to a session.

I love St Werburghs Community Centre. Everyone is very friendly, the place is modern, clean and…read morefull of life. There are some excellent classes held here too.

The Watershed is a welcome break on that row of bars and clubs by the waterside. Where all the…read moreother venues simply exist to be a bar where the rowdy Saturday crowd revel in, the Watershed is more focused on socialising, good food, and screenings of movies with depth and intelligence. Much like the Little Theatre is to Bath, the Watershed is a must -go for more alternative, independent films. I love coming here to watch films because you are ensured that every film being shown is a good film, and not something brainless that you might waste your money on. The cinema rooms are a fraction of the size of a big cinema like the Odeon, which just adds more charm to the movie watching. It feels much more intimate, comfortable and private. Much like you're watching a good secret. Prices are good too, if you come here for a film before 4pm, rates are £4.50 (£3.50 concessions), which is a real good price for a good film. After 4pm, prices go up to £7 (£5.50 concessions). They have movies and documentaries for children too, during their Cinekids days, where kids pay £2 for a movie, and £3.50 for accompanying adults. Plus their Cinebabies days (which I think is such an amazing idea), where parents can bring their under 12 month old babies to watch a movie! The Watershed provides great facilities like a place to change nappies, and even a bottle warming service! This is super for parents to enjoy a film with their newborns, and get to know other new mom's around. The watershed is such a great place, all the years I've been going here, it's never disappointed me in terms of the films they screen, or the friendly service they give you when you're here.

The Watershed function spaces are great for small to medium conference events. They are…read moremultifunctional; the three cinema rooms (seating 43, 102 and 198 respectively) offer comfortable, air conditioned lecture spaces and the watershed 1, 2 and 3 rooms can be used individually or joined together to create a large space. The cafe/bar/restaurant sits between the cinemas and function rooms, offering food, drink and free wireless Internet. The staff are extremely hospitable; catering for all of your needs throughout the running of the event; from setting up spaces, to catering and even running last minute photocopying or printing. The Watershed is newly refurbished, clean and welcoming and in an ideal central location.