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.

Full of school groups who constantly disrupted the performance. I asked to move but it was…read moreunfortunately sold out. I emailed the hippodrome to complain and felt very brushed off. I was told that they cannot ask children to be quiet due to child protection, however they can sell a ticket which requires me to sit amongst them? It doesn't make sense to me. I saw 4 other members of the general public on the upper circle being affected by the noise, the rest just school groups. I was also told that the book is taught on the curriculum so to basically expect school groups - it isn't my first thought when booking a show but even so it doesn't excuse the disruptions. Won't give me a refund and bought my ticket with an NHS discount to make it affordable for myself. So disappointed with my experience, and zero empathy from the hippodrome. Avoid if you can.

Disaster, Theatre is really tired, the worst I have seen, seating is awful, too many seats for size…read moreof theatre, my wife and I are slim, but it was so tight, could not move our arms, people next to us were complaining about same issue, seats were hard and uncomfortable, show was Mary Poppins, every 10 minutes there was a delay to start, ended up 50 minutes later start! we had to go to catch our coach, spoke to Theatre manager, I asked for refund, she said that would be done by contacting customer services, but they would refund a penny! was a disaster, "NEVER EVER GO THERE AGAIN"

The Southville Centre, housed in a grade II listed Victorian building about a fifteen minute walk…read moreaway from Bristol city centre, is a community-oriented centre offering all sorts of classes and events for children and adults. Used mainly by local Southville residents, there are scheduled classes that anyone can join, such as aerobics, yoga, nutritional therapy, piano classes, circuit training, drama courses, pilates and Taekwon-Do - amongst others. It also organises the annual Southbank Arts Trail (which usually takes place around May each year). The centre also offers family services such as an after school club and holiday playschemes for children, and there's a cafe just opposite the reception area, serving daily specials, homemade cakes and good coffee. The centre was recently awarded a licence to perform weddings, too, and has space for receptions as well.

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.

Food, service and atmosphere was great. Staff were so friendly and smiley it was really good.read more

Racks is a high end wine bar, on St Pauls road, between the heart of Clifton Village and the bottom…read moreof Whiteladies Road. It's quite a posh place - expect the real, clichéd Bristol Uni and general Cliftonite crowd in here. I'm probably a fan though - the outside seating area is a really nice place to have a drink, even in the evening as it's serviced by a good amount of patio heaters. You've got to come prepared for Clifton prices though, as a drink is going to be quite far the wrong side of £3. They do a good range of shooters - last time I was here I tried the more lethal concoction of Jagermeister, Goldschlagger and Midori, which went down surprisingly well, and at £3.50 was an adequate, but not cheap, price for a shooter like that. They do have a table service, even if you're just drinking, which is quite helpful and surprising, you really don't expect that in Bristol. Also the staff here seem to be unfailingly attractive - I'm sure the management must have some sort of ploy going on, but I'm sure there's not too many complaints. As well as a main menu of good pub type food, they do a range of set menus, including buffets, BBQs and a more gormet set menu. The food is an excellent quality, and I actually think fairly priced for the standard. The only drawback the menus other than the main are only available to large groups, but the main one is pretty wide ranging. Maybe a bit boring, but I advise the burger, a beer, a bit of sunshine and have a chill in the patio area - it'll do your soul good.

Lovely environs and decor. The menu was fairly classic with some refreshing twists (eg. we had a…read morestandard English breakfast with chorizo beans, a flair that my partner really liked) and all was delish. The service was very attentive but not obtrusive at all.

We first entered the grand old bank that is now Cosy Club last week for breakfast and promised…read moreourselves that we would return for dinner, so this evening I had tapas (£11.50 for three small dishes) that consisted of small Cumberland sausages, chorizo and fish. The other dish was a New York steak ciabatta (with amazing chips). We ordered wine and washed the tasty meal down before following it up with sticky toffee pudding and a decidedly evil peanut butter cheesecake (which comes in a glass). We like it here. It's grand and light, and the food is good and reasonably priced. What would we change? We would upgrade the condiments, so that the ketchup is better, and that authentic maple syrup is used on our pancakes rather than golden syrup, which is thick and doesn't taste of much. We would also have preferred our meals a bit hotter, as we felt like we had to wolf it down before it got cold. But these are small niggles that can be easily fixed, and probably will be at some point if the professionalism of the staff is anything to go by. They're friendly, not over-familiar, not too pushy, and they seem to want to go out of their way to make sure you enjoy Cosy Club. The wine list is short, but will hopefully improve in time. As of writing, it's only been open a couple of weeks. I look forward to being able to buy Champagne by the glass!