We visit the dog-friendly Bristol pub where locals are happy to pay over £6 a pint

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The pub runs a weekly quiz and monthly comedy night

Lucy, Coco, Poppy and Beady - those are just four of the regulars whose colour photos are stuck to the wall of The Cambridge Arms.

There can’t be many Bristol boozers with a gallery of furry customers but canines visiting this Redland pub are given pride of place on the ‘doggy wall of fame’ near the bar.

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Of course, it’s not just pooches who flock to this large, red-brick Edwardian pub on Coldharbour Road. In a large area with only a few pubs, it’s a popular meeting place for locals.

And with many houses in the area worth £2m, this is a pub where deep-pocketed residents are happy to shell out £6.60 for a pint of Peroni, although for those beer drinkers watching the pennies, the cheapest pint is the Dark Star Hophead at £4.40.

Being a Fuller’s pub, I went for the London brewery’s flagship real ale, London Pride, which is £4.80 a pint and it was in immaculate condition. They certainly know how to look after their beer here.

Inside the dog-friendly Cambridge Arms in RedlandInside the dog-friendly Cambridge Arms in Redland
Inside the dog-friendly Cambridge Arms in Redland | Mark Taylor

Also on tap for lager and beer fans were Fuller’s Oliver’s Island pale ale, Guinness, Amstel, Asahi and Cruzcampo. Cider drinkers have a difficult choice between draught Westons Vintage, Thatchers Gold, Thatchers Haze and Cornish Orchards Cider, as well as three of the fruity Thatchers ciders.

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Food is also one of the big draws here and several tables were booked for lunch on the day we visited. The menu changes seasonally and current best-sellers include slow-cooked beef Bourguignon, Cumberland sausage and mash with red wine gravy and roasted root vegetables, and London Pride battered haddock, chips and peas.

The Sunday lunches are hugely popular at The Cambridge Arms and include whole roast lamb shank with mint sauce for £19.50 and roast pork belly and crackling with apple sauce for £14.50 - all roasts coming with roast potatoes, maple roast carrots and parsnips, braised red cabbage, savoy cabbage, cauliflower cheese and ‘bottomless’ gravy.

Time your roast late enough and you could stay on for the Sunday evening pub quiz (7.30pm). The pub also runs stand-up comedy on the first Tuesday of the month.

On the evening of September 9, the pub also hosts a special ‘Shakespeare in the Garden’ event when Open Bar bring their acclaimed production of Romeo & Juliet to the beer garden. This outdoor event will happen come rain or shine apparently so umbrellas and waterproofs may well be advisable.

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After this wash-out of a summer, maybe they should be performing Macbeth instead - at least that way, the actors could dust off the Bard’s famous line of “When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain?”

The Cambridge Arms, Coldharbour Road, Redland, Bristol, Bristol, BS6 7JS.

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