The Old Lock & Weir is perhaps best known for two reasons. The Hanham Mills pub is a popular haven for drinkers looking to relax by the riverside, offering beautiful views from the garden. It’s perched on the very edge of the river with a huge beer garden that can see hundreds of drinkers flock there in a single day during the summer.
It also made national headlines in 2022 after a grey seal arrived on its doorstep after travelling some 300 miles from Scotland, putting the pub on the map. Their seal pup visitor, nicknamed Nacho, had emerged from the nearby River Avon.
“I looked out of the door and there was just a seal sat right out the front door. We called the RSPCA and the British Divers Marine Life Rescue and kept the seal in an area to make sure he didn’t escape,” said assistant manager Lauren Rees, who still remembers the seal’s arrival clear as day.
Read more: The incredible life of Nacho the seal pup who travelled 300 miles to Bristol
Nacho, who was found severely underweight at the time, was later nursed back to health by the RSPCA. West Hatch wildlife supervisor Paul Oaten said at the time that it was very unusual for a baby to travel so far and he likely found his way there swimming upstream from the coast.
The pub has been run by the Rawlins family for almost 20 years. Lauren has been with the pub for 12 years, currently helping to manage a team of 10. It has just 15 tables inside the pub, but in the summer months, the number of drinkers swells dramatically with around 50 tables.
“We’ve tried to keep it as a proper old English pub and I think the location is the main thing. We’re so close to Bristol and Bath but we’re also out in the sticks a bit. There are some really lovely dog walks in the area.”
Being so close to the water attracts lots of drinkers, too. It also means the pub is prone to occasional flooding, with the last bad incident hitting the Lock & Weir in January.
“We flooded quite badly in January. The whole ground floor was flooded,” she remembered. “The building is designed to deal with it as it’s had to deal with it for years and years now - if Bath gets flooded they open the floodgates, which sacrifices our area in Hanham Mills.”
The pub experiences some form of flooding at least once a year but the water rarely makes its way in. A bad bout of weather in January saw the pub close for around a week to allow the team cleared the water out and prepared it for reopening.
As it stands, the team are unconcerned about increased flood risk, and Lauren even said the flooding will attract more visitors. “Last week, the river was up quite high and the Chequers Inn garden was flooded. It just missed ours but the amount of people it brings down to see how high the river is and for a photoshoot is amazing.”
te bar is tied to St Austell Brewery on the beers meaning it sells Tribute and Korev, alongside guest ales in the summer. The ciders, which are around £4.80 a pint, are one of the most popular choices at the Lock & Weir. The team has recently installed a new Thatchers pump giving them three new flavours.
Lauren said: “We were one of the last Bristol pubs to have the old slush pumps but we got rid of that recently. We tried to keep them going for so long and were buying old machines from other pubs for repairs but in the end, we replaced it for the Thatchers Fusion - lemon, blood orange and dark berry flavours.”
During the winter months, the menu is reduced to seasonal specials that change on a daily basis, including honest pub food like sandwiches, jacket potatoes, scampi, and ham, egg and chips. The kitchen expands the menu to more options in the summer including homemade burgers and pizzas made in the special pizza oven, taking up half the kitchen.
Although quieter in the winter months, the pub still has its regulars looking to cosy up around the real log fire. Lauren said it was the Sunday roasts - particularly the homemade gravy - that attracted people in their droves.
“The homemade gravy is what people come down here for I think. It’s pretty good I’m being biased,” Lauren joked. “We had two customers last week say they come here just for the gravy.”
The pub also has a history of live music, although Covid meant the team reduced this offering to focus on one big event on August Bank Holiday. “We used to a beer festival before Covid all weekend but now we just do the Bank Holiday Sunday to put live music on,” Lauren explained.
“Putting live music on during Covid would have made things difficult but we wanted to keep the tradition of doing out beer fest, hosting a band on Bank Holiday Sunday.” As per tradition, The Old Lock & Weir will be reprising this event for 2023.
The Old Lock and Weir, Ferry Rd, Bristol BS15 3NU. Open weekdays (11am - 10pm) and weekends (11am-11pm).
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