The ‘proper’ Bristol pub with cheap pints, darts and a family fun day in its huge ‘secret’ garden

The only pub in Broomhill, The Good Intent has been at the heart of the community for as long as anybody living there can remember.

And they’re lucky to still have a pub they can call their own as so many of these large 1930s red-brick corner pubs have disappeared over the years.

The Good Intent - or the ‘G.I’ as locals affectionately call it - would have been built around the same time as a number of similar pubs no longer with us.

Pubs like The Happy Landings in Hengrove (now flats), The Friendship at Knowle and The Fellowship on Filton Avenue (both now branches of Tesco) closed and left a huge vacuum for people living near them.

And so it’s good to see The Good Intent still open, still well supported and still trying its best to serve the local residents.

This Friday, there’s a Motown and soul night, with drinks promotions including Strongbow Dark Fruits and Kronenburg at just £3 a pint.

On Saturday, The Good Intent has its family fun day, with a bouncy castle, barbecue, face painting, slide and water fight.

It’s all a far cry from the days, around two decades ago, when the pub gained an unfortunate reputation for being a little too ‘lively’ and they needed bouncers on the door.

Prior to that period, the pub had been run by the Moore family for several years but, somewhat surprisingly, a famous TV personality also had an involvement in it.

Cockney comedian Mike Reid - best known as car dealer Frank Butcher in EastEnders - is said to have been involved in the management of the pub for a short time, although quite how that came about is unknown.

For a time, The Good Intent offered proper restaurant meals, with table service, although that finished a while back and the only food on offer now apart from crisps and pork scratchings is a selection of hot toasties (£2.50) and filled rolls from £2, which is great value whichever way you look at it.

Drinks are just as affordable - my pint of Thatchers Gold was only £3.60 - and the best-sellers include the draught Bass, Thatchers Haze and Old Rosie.

A large, airy two-room pub with dartboard, pool table, original wooden parquet floors and high ceilings, there is also a huge two-tier garden at the back which many people don’t know about.

Open all day seven days a week, The Good Intent is exactly what a community pub should be. OK, some might say it’s a little rough around the edges, but my experience is that of very friendly staff, chatty locals and bags of character.

Give me a ‘proper’ suburban pub like The Good Intent over an overpriced, poncy city centre place any day.

The Good Intent, 90 Broomhill Road, Broomhill, Bristol, BS4 4SA.