In addition to cheap food and drink, Wetherspoons is well known for taking old buildings and giving them a new lease of life as pubs and nightlife spots.
With 10 of the chain’s pubs in Bristol, these are the stories behind each of the region’s pubs and how they turned into boozers after, in some cases, a long history.
5. The WG Grace
Clifton College cricket ground, known as The Close, features in a famous poem by Sir Henry Newbolt. It was also the ground where Dr WG Grace, one of the all-time cricketing greats, played his first serious representative match, at the age of 15. Born in 1848, at Downend (then a village and now a suburb of Bristol), Grace scored 14 first-class centuries at The Close, including 221 runs against Middlesex, taking 10 wickets in the same match. | Google
6. The Robert Fitzharding
Named after the lord of the manor in Norman times, Robert Fitzharding was the king’s official representative in Bristol and founded the Abbey of St Augustine in c1140, now the Chapter House of Bristol Cathedral. | Google Maps
7. The Van Dyck Forum
This pub is the former Van Dyke cinema. Last used as the Fishponds Social Club Bingo, the site was built in 1926 by WH Watkins. Several cottages were demolished to make way for the building. It showed films for many years, making the almost inevitable transition into a bingo hall in 1973. | Google Maps
8. The Kingswood Colliers
Opened in March 2000, this pub was purpose built on the site of Kingswood Market. It is named after the ‘Great Number of Under Ground Workmen’ who lived and laboured in this area. In 1739, the great Methodist preacher John Wesley wrote: “Few persons in the West of England have not heard of the colliers of Kingswood.” The city of Bristol was wholly dependent on the miners of Kingswood Chase for its coal supplies. | Google Maps