Start the Bus
7-9 Baldwin Street, BS1 1RU, Bristol
What's not to like about Start the Bus? oasis of (clearly) Stokes Croft influenced cool amongst the vileness of the soul-destroying chain bars and grubby cafes of central Bristol?
A muted turquoise colour scheme ticks all the right boxes, and the carefully-sourced retro furniture is a great antithesis to the usual pine-?n?-lacquer fa?ade that ruin many a good city centre bar. Artwork by local ?street? artists grace the walls and pleasingly fits the ?alternative? mould pretty well.
The choice of drinks is excellent, with too many well-engineered lagers on tap to even bother trying to relate, and the bottles of booze are at once local and exotic. Minor American indy acts and superior DJs playing nearly every night of the week, and a young, trendy crowd force themselves down into the centre of town in worthwhile numbers.
Unfortunately, smokers are forced outside to suck down their roll-ups next outside on the pavement, and after nine on weekends a constant horde of well-liquored apes parade up and down Baldwin street, beating their chests and growling at anything in a skirt. Start the Bus certainly took a gamble setting up shop on such a well-trodden path, but it looks like it?s paying off.