"Where else can you see your friends, get a pint, have an amazing meal, see free live music, and stay for the night, without leaving the building?" It's hard to believe that such a place exists in Bristol, or indeed anywhere in the UK, but Clifton is home to a pub that has it all.
The Alma Tavern on Alma Vale Road was taken over by landlord Toby Bywater who breathed new life into the building in August 2017. Toby moved down to Bristol to train staff in Raymond Blanc's restaurant in Cabot Circus, leading him to launch his own restaurant in Stokes Croft in the early 2010s.
"I left Stokes Croft because they smashed my restaurant up a fortnight apart during the riots. The insurance company wouldn't pay up because police refused to call it a riot," Toby explained.
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Toby has two sites for Zazu's Kitchen at one time, a popular neighbourhood cafe by Turbo Island and on North Street, but called time on the restaurants when the pub side of the business started taking off. "We worked out that restaurants are a bit of a dying thing and if you do really good food-led pubs then there is more than one reason for people to go there."
The Alma Tavern is part of the Zazu's Pubs family, a small Bristol pub group co-directed by James Savage and Toby, that owns venues in different neighbourhoods. It includes the Greenbank, the Knowle, the Westbury Park Pub & Kitchen, the Eastfield Pub and the Alma. All of the group's pubs have more than one facet to them - the Greenback is home to a huge function room and flats and the Eastfield Inn has one of the largest pub gardens in Bristol.
It's the perfect escape for all seasons, with its inviting, cosy interiors for winter and a suntrap garden for the summer months. At the bar, the pub is tied to Green King on certain beers but Toby likes to showcase Bristol's breweries, with Arbor and Bristol Beer Factory available on draught.
Head chef Tim Woodhead and Zazu Pub's executive chef Charlie Hurrell - who's been with the company for seven years - are the brains behind the pub's menu, which promises unpretentious, quality cooking with seasonal produce. The pub's Sunday roasts are sell-out each week with each option served with two elements to it. "If it's the beef you get a braised shin, the chicken comes with stuffing and the pork comes with extra crackling," Toby said.
It's the theatre, however, that makes the Alma Tavern stand out. It's believed to be the oldest pub theatre outside of London and hosts a whole range of performances almost every week of the year, offering everything from magicians, student theatre and comedy, including sell-out shows from Taskmaster contestant Mike Wozniak.
"It's been a bit strange this year, we've had a few instances when someone has had to cancel the day before because someone's got Covid, but we do have to be responsible and protect our audiences. It's about adapting."
Opening in 1997, the Alma Theatre was converted into a perfect black box theatre with 48 in-tiered seating from what used to be two separate function rooms. It has its own in-house Production Company, Schoolhouse Productions, which has garnered a reputation for its performances of Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, Ibsen's A Doll's House and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
The pub also houses a stylish, contemporary five-bedroom Airbnb, which Toby said was one of the only reasons the pub survived the pandemic. "It's a non-contact situation so as soon as people were allowed to travel again, that was great. There were a lot of people visiting their student children up here."
Its colourful Georgian rooms are equipped with an en-suite and a double bed making it a comfortable yet practical hub in a vibrant area of Bristol, costing £60 per night. It also hosts free live music every Sunday - with one band even setting up shop in the middle of the pub for a jam session - and is a popular wedding reception venue, with bookings already filling most of 2023.
"We've also got what I believe to be the best pub quiz in Bristol on Mondays. It's hosted by the ex-lead singer of the Zen Hussies with music rounds, and plasticine rounds and it's all written weekly by him performed live."
The Alma Tavern shouldn't work as well as it does with this many functions; for many venues, it would be a classic case of biting off more than they can chew. The Clifton pub flourishes, however, as a big melting pot of culture and community for the area.
"Where else can you see your friends, get a pint, have an amazing meal, see free live music, and stay for the night, without leaving the building? We've also go a pub dog called Tiggy."
Toby attributed much of the success of the pub to his dedicated front-of-house and kitchen teams. "I support them outside of work and they give it their all in work. One of my staff has just finished filming for Sex Education and another of them at the drop of a hat his agent got him a gig covering a Shakespeare play in London."
Alma Tavern, 18-20, Alma Vale Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2HY. Tel: 0117 973 5171. www.almatavernandtheatre.co.uk
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