The Hope & Anchor — Restaurant in Bristol

After asking if children were welcome and then being advised "only if you sit outside and do not eat!" The barman then showed concern as we walked through with two 6 year olds and a 3 year old between 6 adults saying " Oh they are quite small and there are alot of them!" Whilst almost trying to usher us back out the door, then decided it was ok with a flap of his hand and a sigh. We made our way through to the garden and up the stairs to find there wasn't a soul out there anyway. I went to the ladies toilets to find the corridor stank of urine and the cubicles were small and dirty. The cubicle door had to be forced to shut and there was a basket of half used toilet rolls to pick from. The best part of the toilets was the hand dryer. I returned to the garden to find our group had chosen a small covered seating area to the right of the stairs. Our family went to the bar to buy drinks whilst we watched over our very well behaved boys who sat patiently and quietly. Our family found the service at the bar to be rude and witnessed the staff refusing to reserve a table for another guy saying "they don't like to reserve tables with the hope no one will come to their pub??" I don't know if they are desperately trying to be ironic but they definitely came across as unwelcoming and rude. My glass was dirty and my husbands soft drink tasted like water. There was rubbish hidden behind a make shift curtain by the garden door and more junk behind the door that was pinned open. In all I would absolutely not recommend this pub to anyone and would never want to go again. Maybe they are happy with there regulars and not keen on newcomers? If that's the case good luck...

When we rang ahead, we were able to make a reservation without issue and were given a friendly reception by the staff. Also great that they were still serving late into the day, considering many places run out of a lot of stuff by half 1.

The Sunday roast itself comes in a giant Yorkshire pudding, with red cabbage in red wine, green beans, gravy, roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese, with your choice of meat or veggie alternative (of which there are multiple) on top. I'll have to be honest and say it's far from the best roast in Bristol, with no interesting flavours really popping out at you, except maybe the cauliflower cheese. The green beans were a little underdone too. But it's less than a tenner and I've had worse that cost nearly £15. There's a good choice of dessert, though I wish I'd gone for the crumble instead of the sticky toffee as it looked more substantial.

There's the usual selection of ales for a pub of its size, but where it shines seems to be its selection of rum.

Ambiance wise, the setting is cosy, especially on a late Sunday eve, with books adorning the windowsills and fireplace sort of affair. However, I'd have preferred if the staff had noticed the palpable air of annoyance caused by some rowdy patrons propping up the bar, making enough noise to disturb people eating and trying to converse at indoor volume, and made some effort to ask them to pipe down. This is simply a matter of being conscious of the majority of your clientele who are just trying to relax.

So in short, sure I'd come back here again, but I'd like to see them up their game with the roasts, even if they have to...

Very disappointing. Didn’t live up to reviews. When we arrived 2 lads were standing in the doorway smoking, these 2 turned out to be the staff. We got here just after 3 and asked if we could eat. We were told yes but the cook wasn’t quite ready. We were the only punters in the place. We ordered 2 pints of an interesting looking pint after asking for a taster and being met with a displeased look. After 1 and a half pints the pump ran dry and we were told we couldn’t have the 2nd half pint. We only had card as payment and 1 pint (£4.80) didn’t meet the minimum £5 card spend. When we asked the barman what he recommended he said he wasn’t into craft beer. So we had to ask again what would he recommend... the cider is good. Ok, so which cider do you recommend... probably this one. I mean come on! I’m in your pub, I want a drink, I will just about drink anything, your the Barman and you can’t suggest me anything!!! Don’t tell me you don’t like beer, just tell me “this one is really popular”, So the guy tries to pour me a pint of cider, pump doesn’t work! I say give us a pack of crisps, we’ll share the pint and be on our way. An afternoon of drinking and 2 square meals, you could of had an easy £50 from us, instead it was a reluctant £6 and a vow never to return.

So we drank up as quick as we could and could hear some sort of commotion about the gas being out, no more gas, can’t get any more in till tomorrow...! I’m sure we weren’t the only guys who were disappointed that Thursday...