The Gloucester Old Spot: We visit the best pub in Bristol -"Great food, great service and a nice environment"

BristolWorld

Located on Kellaway Avenue, The Gloucester Old Spot was the winner of the “Stonegate Group Pub Partners Pub of the Year” award.  Amy Devenish took over the pub 10 years ago and changed everything about it: “the name, the way it looks, everything.”  When asked about the name of the pub, Amy replied: “People kept changing the name, but it was always The Kellaway or The Kellaway Arms. And then when I took over, I knew that we needed to change the name just as a totally fresh start.   “So, actually, I think my dad came up with it. We were sitting in another local pub, The Wellington, and we were talking about names and we were talking about  animals and I think my dad said ‘I think we should call it The Gloucester Old Spot’, and we looked it up, ‘is there another Gloucester Old Spot in the country?’  “And there was just one, and we said, ‘well, we can get away with that.’ So that’s where it came from.”  Above all, The Gloucester Old Spot is community pub as became evident from Amy’s fondest memories of the pub: “There’s been countless occasions where we’ve hosted somebody’s wedding, and then they get married and they come in with their baby.  “It’s a community pub. So we’ve see people bring their kids in from a young age, and now they’re washing dishes in our kitchen.  “It’s the sort of feel that you get from a local pub, really.   “So yeah, it’s been a long 10 years. Lots has been going on.”

Transcript

00:00We're just outside of the Gloucester Oldsmoor which has recently won a Great British Pub

00:09Award. And just in time for the 10 year anniversary, let's go inside to find out what makes this

00:15pub so great.

00:16Yeah, we feel amazing. Yeah, blown away. I don't think that we thought that we would

00:20win and we went to Manchester and we came home with the award, so yeah, we're thrilled.

00:25And how are you celebrating the award?

00:27Well, we've got our 10 year birthday party which is a week on Saturday, Saturday 28th

00:31September anyway, so I think that will be an extra special celebration. So we've got

00:36like live music and kids entertainer and face painting, so it's always a great day in the

00:42calendar anyway, so I think this year will just be extra special.

00:45Can you tell us a bit more about the pub?

00:49So the pub, I've had for 10 years. I've changed everything about it, the name, the way it

00:56looks, everything. And we opened 10 years ago and then it's just gone off like a rocket

01:01and it's just getting busier and busier. We've got great staff, we've got great following,

01:07great community and we've been doing a lot more events and functions and weddings and

01:12things like that. And it's just, I've just signed another 10 year contract, 10 year lease

01:17should I say, so we're just gearing up for another 10 years.

01:23What's your favourite thing of the Gloucester Oldsport?

01:27My favourite thing about the Gloucester Oldsport has got to be the customers, 100% is the customers.

01:32We wouldn't be here without them for a start and also I think that they, you know, being

01:38that place where people come and celebrate, they have a drink, you know, they talk to

01:42you across the bar, they tell you about their problems, they tell you about their life,

01:46you know, and hopefully you put a little smile on their face and it's that that just really

01:50brings you quite a lot of joy, yeah. I love it.

01:55And what are some things that customers can expect from the pub?

01:59From coming here, I would say that great food, great service and a nice environment and that's

02:05all you need. And as long as you've got those three things in a pub, I think that you're

02:09winning, you know. The food doesn't have to be Michelin standard food, you know, the drinks

02:14don't need to be craft beer, it just, everything needs to be really great and if it's all really

02:19great then people will keep coming back.

02:23And what's the dish you would most recommend from the menu?

02:26Oh, at the moment, I've been eating a lot of, I've been trying to lose a bit of weight

02:31so I've been eating a lot of Pad Thai salad actually, which is a really nice cold salad

02:35with some home smoked chicken they smoke in the kitchen, that's delicious. So that's my

02:39favourite at the moment, although we have been in summer time and I have been trying

02:42to lose some weight but coming into the winter time, we're just about to put a really nice

02:46old spot pork chop on, yeah that's going to be a really nice dish so we're launching

02:51that in about three weeks time, a new menu.

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