Highbury Vaults, Bristol

Mid 19th century pub that retains two little altered bars despite being extended back in the early 1980s (by Bristol United Breweries?).

There is an excellent tiny snug at the front with a bare wood floor, old, possibly Victorian bar counter with elaborate brackets in gold on the dark green painted front, the bar top looks to be more modern and has a fine set of 5 Gaskell & Chambers hand pumps with a date of 1936 on them. The dado panelling and wall bench seating on the front and right hand side are also painted dark green. In recent times the render has been taken off the right hand wall to reveal bare brick. The very old bar back fitting is of two bays with three narrow mirrored panels and a gilded decoration in relief - a third bay is a doorway for staff. There is a further section of mirrored back fitting on the right hand wall which is of a different design and added at a letter date.

Inner doors lead into a passage that runs down the left side of the pub and on the right is a split door that may have been the off sales. This area has been enlarged by removing the wall between what was probably a private passage to the left and has an old looking panelled dado and wall bench. The private passage would have run all the way down to the rear so the other rooms are now much larger than originally.

Doorway leads into the bare wood floor rear bar with an old counter but with much plainer brackets than the front one so maybe from the inter-war period? The bar back fitting is old with the top part held up by brackets and covered in tat. The panelled dado painted dark brown looks old.

The rear bar was the extent of the original pub but in the early 1980s a sympathetic extension saw the creation of another bare boarded room with fixed benches - the left hand side being an alcove created by a partition wall. There is a good long narrow table on the right hand side. Up two steps is another bare boarded room with a panelled dado painted dark brown and beyond this a patio area.