The Apple provides us with the best possible venue for sampling the fruits of the cider maker’s art; one of the unique things about the West Country is the variety of styles of ciders produced so close to Bristol, and to lose the Apple due to a planning dispute would be criminal on the part of the council.

There is, however, a problem with 31 Corn Street. They serve Fosters.  Not only do they serve Fosters, but they serve Fosters for £2.50 a pint, hich is about on a par with the Commercial Rooms (Wetherspoons) up the road.  The problem with this is that, sadly, Corn Street seems to attract street drinkers and problem drinkers. When I checked out 31 Corn Street, last Friday, there were too rough, dirty and drunk looking men at the bar arguing with the manager.  Not quite the image they want to give, and a problem they will have to deal with.

The second bar I discovered this week was the Canteen, which, according to the website (which has not been updated since the opening of the bar), is intended to be the heart of the Coexist project, providing a place to meet and exchange ideas over a drink or some food. Canteen takes over the ground floor of the notorious Hamilton House on Stokes Croft, and, along the front of the building, they have created an outdoor seating area with scaffolding and fencing.  As with all things in Coexist, my feeling is that maybe they rushed the opening – the bar looks good, but the rest of the room is very much a work in progress.  It will be much improved with the addition of some more furniture. 

Beers from Bristol Beer Factory, No.7 at £2.70 a pint, a DJ setting up in the corner, artwork on the walls, and a good varied bunch of the usual Coexist types made for a lively and busy place when I visited on Tuesday on my way to and from iglab upstairs.  A freindly, open place, I hope they do well and look forward to more evenings on the terrace.

The first thing to note is that, over the last few years, Guinness has taken an increasing chunk of the market for stout.  How many pubs are there that don’t serve Guinness? (please let me know of any you may know – especially pubs serving Murphy’s stout, which seems to me to have particularly lost out at the hands of Guiness). As a result of this near monopoly situation, the price of the product has increased, and the company have, according to my sources, become arrogant and difficult to deal with.

On the other hand, the Bristol Beer Factory are (currently) a small operation, with their stout only available in a small number of places – there are nine pubs listed on the website, and now the Watershed. The stout itself does not have the texture – the dense, creaminess – of Guinness, but it does have the depth of flavour, with intense bittery hops followed by a chocolatey finish.

One week is not sufficient to know whether the regular Guinness drinking clientele of the Watershed will take to the new drink, or whether they will choose other options.  I will keep a close eye on this brave but risky experiment.