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Knights Templar, Bristol

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user reviews of Knights Templar, Bristol

please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.

Very poor beer quality on our visit this time. Very convenient for Temple Meads station
Steamer1 - 22 Sep 2016 16:20
It's handy.

It's cheap.

It's bland.

It's Wetherspoons.

6/10

montie49 - 4 Mar 2016 19:46
A pretty useful pub on my brief visit to Bristol in July, next to Temple Meads and across the creek from my hotel. Usual Wetherspoon's food & beer range, but its customer base seemed more office worker & commuter than hen's party & solo sipper. I had pints of Brains SA (2.50) on my visits, which were fine, and the food was filling if not exciting.
Queenslander - 3 Oct 2014 23:11
I always enjoy going in here before i get the train back home.

quick friendly staff, good choice of drinks and food. Plenty of room even when quite busy
waterall57 - 23 Aug 2013 10:05
As Spoons pubs go, this is not too bad. The food is the usual prepared off site microwaved fare, but the staff were friendly and helpful. When I asked if they had a bottle beer that wasn’t in the fridge, instead of telling me they had sold out, the barmaid went out the back to fetch some. Useful for those travelling from Temple Meads, even though it was mostly full of suits having lunch when I was there.
LennyBanter - 19 Feb 2013 10:42
Good Wetherspoons as they go. Close to Temple Meads station, so called twice, just after arrival and just before departure. Food (breakfast bloomer, scampi, curry etc.) well-presented and perfectly edible as W'spoons food goes and due to the current beer festival I was also able to enjoy two well-kept pints of different porters at �2.35 a time. I would be perfectly happy to do the same again next time I visit Bristol by train.
Stamfordian - 17 Oct 2011 12:22
One oddity about this bar is that the customers quee outwards from the bar sometimes the quee reaches the door, i've never seen that before , strange because its a very long bar, maybe its something that happens a lot outside Bristol, it is near the railway station after all.
Anyway away from this triviality, have none of the problems some peers have with the quality of the Beer the exmoor beast is often on and the choice is usally good, although perhaps not quite as good as the commy rooms.
beatles38 - 22 Sep 2011 21:59
A good wetherspoons , despite my incumbence with the cider a few months ago , perhaps a wider issue here , because visiting a few wetherspoons don't feel theyre fully comfortable with selliing cider.
Away from that the beer is generally pretty good , and the beast frequently availalable always goes down well .
Service is probably a lot better than the commercial rooms , as there always seems to be a few staff behind the bar.
Toilets also much cleaner than the commy rooms.
beatles38 - 27 Dec 2010 14:03
thursday curry night.went in at 1730. just in time as the pub was getting busy ever second. soon got a seat.the abbot was a good pint and order a curry 20 min later which arrived within 15 mins which was good service. the curry was well cooked but my mates was lukewarm but good in taste.

this pub looked looked like is a very busy every evening due to being next to temple meads station and their was a lot of workers in the pub who has finsh work.

i found this one of the better spoons pub with the position in bristol
forestwood - 24 Oct 2010 14:15
bad wetherspoons day , asked for a pint of cider , but cider i chose had only enough left in the barrel to fill my glass four fifths , said i would drink it if she gave me a discount , this could not be done , but offered to top it up with something else or have an alternative . chose the alternative which frankly tasted like it was coming to an end , took it back.
beatles38 - 10 Sep 2010 10:32
Much better than usual today - served within 2 minutes and the place was packed to the rafters! Decent pint of the - hard to find on draft - Dark Hare to boot. Definitely an improvement on previous visits.
Dandillus - 12 Mar 2010 22:18
Voluminous Wetherspoons hidden by office buildings - we stumbled on it looking for the Barley Mow, around 8 ales on including a couple from Pewsey and a very nice Box Steam Funnel Blower which has a distinct vanilla aroma to it. Cheap micro brewery beer and comfortable surroundings is all you need.....
Booze_Allen - 8 Feb 2010 17:08
Modern jdw, usual clientele, perhaps slightly less chavvy than normal, cheap beer prices and reasonable beer range, beer quality was good
Abteilung - 7 Feb 2010 20:32
Not bad for a Wetherspoons. Handy for work, and always a reasonable pint.

Going back on other comments. I think an_ecunemical_matter must really like this place. He has been moaning about it since December 2006, yet keeps coming back. I dread to read the reviews left for other places. ;)
Jules_B - 28 Jan 2010 19:18
probably the best jdw in central bristol ,though that's probably like being greenlands best sandcastle maker , joking aside easily the best jdw in cn at the moment , probably cuz , they have someone in charge who appears to know what he's doing . 7/10
beatles38 - 2 Dec 2009 20:41
Last pub on the BITE Bristol Pub Crawl and both the newer and better of the two JDW�s. Finished off with the 6% Cwmni Bragdy Bleddyn 1075, which presumably I ordered by pointing. Handy for the train station, from where we were transported back to our temporary home in Bath.

Millay - 11 Oct 2009 19:51
Handy for the station and a decent selection of cheap ale, so not too much to complain about. However, it is a fairly charmless modern building and the staff didn't seem very organised.
rpadam - 9 Oct 2009 22:40
Nice and cheap.
Gets very busy on a Friday night from 4ish with local office workers. As other posters have mentioned its messy. Can take an age to get served with the staff not taking note who is next...

If this is on your route then fine, if not don't bothing going out of your way to go there.
Blueh - 28 Sep 2009 13:32
Went to this place for the first time last night, and first impressions are good. Nice floor to ceiling glass windows, and very airy inside. Not too busy so was nice. Now, being a born & bred Bristolian, I do have dulcet tones, so when I ordered an Archers & lemonade (After waiting for what seemed like an eternity to be served, as mentioned on other posts, the girls seem to faff around with nothing before serving), I was given an Orange & lemonade, which I then corrected, so being a pub in Bristol, they should understand the lingo!!! But apart from that it was a nice place and I will go there again.
gimjam1983 - 11 Sep 2009 11:58
This place getting quite comical - ratio of bar staff to punters getting ever wider. The staff that are are supposed to be serving seem content to keep themselves busy by faffing around at the end of the bar polishing glasses and doing anything except serve the increasingly frustrated throng out front. Was eventually served with something approaching disdain by the stroppy bar girl who must have been off sick when Spoons did the customer service training- and why do spoons staff always ask you if that's all you want when you ask for a pint?
For the record - the beer was great. Davenports from Birmingham and could not be faulted. However, this doesn't atone for the appalling service Mr Knights Templar manager, but at least it reminded me of why I was there in the first place
Dandillus - 2 Sep 2009 18:36
Previous poster got lucky in so far as he got served. This morning at 1115 most tables were full of uncollected plates,and rather than collecting them more eagerness was shown by the manager and serving woman towards collecting the breakfast menus while still leaving the plates in situ. So "breakfast till noon" became 1140ish Tim. In fairness Pete who's been there since the year dot was soldiering on at his own pace but the previously mentioned serving woman seemed to think that breaking the crockery was a handy way not to have to wash it up. Same disinterested manager as the children sitting on the bar experience previously alluded to was on duty..... Get a grip folks.
an_ecunemical_matter - 9 Aug 2009 19:49
Visited yesterday good choce of real ale on offer. I had Bath Ales Golden Hare which was very good. Tends to get busy as it is so close to Temple Meads Station, a lot of Stag / Hen parties get in here as was the case yesterday.
Roberttherailway - 9 Aug 2009 19:06
EXCELLENT pint of Arbor Single Hop tonight-but.......glasses still filthy and children sitting on the feckin bar at 8pm! Recent visits have found surly female staff selling big head pints. And no-one in charge gives a fiddlers. Grr.
an_ecunemical_matter - 2 Aug 2009 20:44
Been back a couple of times since last review - the first I just gave up after seeing how packed the place was and with only three stressed out bar staff serving and with lots of frustrated punters queued at the bar. Went back this Sunday out of convenience more than anything else and the same story - beer choice was as uninspiring at W'spoons staffing policy - the Arbor Ales Brigstow was borderline take back in quality and Gem was as Gem is, nice enough but nothing to get excited about and not great quality either. Mmmmm.
Dandillus - 6 Jul 2009 14:57
A fairly typical Wetherspoon's really, without the atmosphere that some of their more interesting conversions have. This is part of a modern office block and doesn't have much character.
That said, for somewhere that's so tucked out of the way (of an evening, once all the adjacent office workers have gone) it gets suprisingly busy.
They could do with a few more staff, it seems that I often to have to wait a while.
Ashton Press on tap now which is result, plus Blackthorn.
Blackthorn - 2 Jul 2009 16:37
Visited here before 10am and found the place surprisingly busy. Cider and a JDW breakfast is an interesting idea, but not something I would do on a regular basis.
Briz_Drinking_Bloke - 5 Jun 2009 10:57
How hum , nice weatherspoons , but for second time 2 day have to disagree with EAM , MY bb was cold ,but it was a lager day ntb 6/10
beatles38 - 31 May 2009 21:38
Beer coldness issue seems to be now resolved. Beer quality and range reasonable lately. Never enough competent staff when busy though. Glassware filthy. Sorry if this isn't controversial enough!
an_ecunemical_matter - 29 Mar 2009 19:11
Bright W'Spoon, dare I say it, even a bit different in atmosphere to all the other Spoons that abound. Not particularly better, just different. Serving (I think) eight ales. Disappointingly, the Wickwar Severn Bore was dull and tasteless but not overly cold as per a lot of criticism their ales have received previously (what is it with Wickwar beers- am I just being served them in less than decent nick or are they always this bland?) Not as rough as most Spoons, with more office workers and gentle grey haired CAMRA types than the rabid 4 pints of (99p) beer before breakfast punters that you get in the Redfield / Bedminster versions.
Dandillus - 7 Mar 2009 13:02
I have never been a fan of Wetherspoons, largely owing to the type of Tossers they tend to attract....however, this one is a Gem.

Monster breakfast for under �4, and 6 Real Ales on....in pretty good nick it has to be said! My only real gripe has been echoed below on numerous occasions, and that is that the temperature it is served at is not quite up to scratch, but credit where it's due......they keep a good pint.
bitterboy1970 - 25 Oct 2008 10:16
Best Wetherspoons I've been to and guest ales always changing. You don't get the usual idiots that you find in other Wetherspoons - probably because of it's location. And it's a lot cheaper than the rip-off bar in Temple Meads station.
mattbeer - 10 Aug 2008 22:52
Still come in here virtually everyday after work and yes the beer is too cold...

A) Let It Warm Up

yes it takes a long time to get served at times.....

But Also has some of the friendliest most helpful bar staff around(and there are still idiots who order cappucino at ten in the evening)

I have never in 20months of visiting had one bad pint.......

KEEP UP THE EXCELLENT WORK GUYS!!

p.s. How about some Cheddar Ales on tap........;-)

fat_beer_badger - 4 Aug 2008 22:31
I think this is one of the best wetherspoons I have been in, always pop in after footy, while waiting for the train home.
scrumpyred - 11 Jul 2008 00:14
Evening all,

It't nice to see some constructive criticism for the pub. I'm sorry most of it points in the direction of the cold ale.

I can assure you this is a problem we (and head office) are aware of although I don't see there being a quick fix. As far as I can tell it's to do with the beer lines being too close to our super chilled Glycol lines which causes the problem. Unfortunatly I can't see the company forking out the money to fix this in the near future although we did have a visit from one of the directors who shared that same concernes as most of you - hopefully he can help sway the situation and get the problem sorted.

As for the real ale selection. We do have a duty to our customers to supply ales they know and like. We'll always have Abbot, Green King IPA and Pedigree on (not only because we have too, but because the're good beers!) aswell as Courage Directors (by far the most popular beer in the pub). We do try to have at least two guest ales available all times but often have the same beers reappearing due to there popularity. I know this isn't to the taste of those who would like guest ales on all lines and I'm all for trying new ales and breweries However, I don't think there's anything wrong with a pint of something you know.

I'd appreciate your comments both in person and online and would just like to assure you that if you do find anything wrong with your beer I'd be happy to replace it.

Thanks,
Dale.
MonkyD - 21 Jun 2008 03:28
This used to be a great place with decent beer quality, and very handy for Temple Meads. Sadly, my last few visits have been very disappointing as the beer range has been uninspiring, and the beer quality has been consistently poor. Come on JDW, sort it out!
Dylanwing - 11 May 2008 23:33
It was too good to be true. Had a good pint of Brains Milkwood totally ruined by it being colder than the lager being drunk by the man next to me!!!!

The pleasant (rotund!) barman appeared to be serving booze and waiting tables,so I'd didn't burden him further with my grieveances,but I know he's heard it all before from people compaining about cold ale. I believe he has made representations to his superiors-but has been presumably ignored.

A shame for not the worse spoons in the world to continue to let itself down.
an_ecunemical_matter - 6 May 2008 19:49
i had an issue with this pub wen i visited because the conditioned beer was far to cold and left a haze..on my 3rd visit the problem seemed to have been resolved...as this is my first port of call in bristol cos of its proxemity to the staion and its farmhouse breakfasts my first pint has gotta be good..third time lucky..glad it was cos it would be a shame to knock this off me stagger of bristol..foods never let me down.
graybagsinburyonceagain - 13 Apr 2008 23:21
As a general rule the ale IS served too cold, but there is a wide-ranging selection of it - cheap too. Food handled better than your average 'Spoons as well.
getsit - 27 Mar 2008 23:38
Yes previous poster,the whole town talks about the ale being too cold here. The company know about it,its been the same since the place opened 5 years ago.

However I must admit some non freezing Cotleigh Kookaburra was enjoyed here last week. Place was friendly enough,I didn't recognise many of the staff from previous cartoons. Worth trying again,but I'm sure to be disappointed before long.
an_ecunemical_matter - 12 Mar 2008 21:19
Average Wetherspoons, on today were Archers Six Hop, Pedigree, Cottage Buzzard, Burton Bridge Sovereign Gold, Abbot and Wickwar Mr Perretts. The two I had were ok, if a little cold.
GuideDogSaint - 16 Feb 2008 22:24
Pub in a very convienient location near Temple Meads stations.Just had Sunday lunch which was average for Wetherspoons (usually partially cold). would recommend the wide range of beers at usual Wetherspoons value
adrian7886 - 20 Jan 2008 13:53
Well, what can you say about a JDW venue that�s been housed in part of a new office complex. In short, it�s somewhere for the people in the �Concrete City� of Temple Quay to go for a pint.

�Early Doors� brings in all the old boys in the area that used to drink in the decent pubs in the centre of Bristol before the trendy people took them over to cater for the students that now live there. Not sure whether starting on the beer at 9:30am would go down too well where I work just round the corner?

Locally, there�s nothing within a good ten minute walk, so if you want a pint at lunchtime, then this has to be the place to go.
TalbotHill - 26 Dec 2007 22:23
Breg.

Don't take it personally,there are some well run Spoons,exception rather than the rule alas. A lot of people have had the same experience as you due to the general inept management in this firm,ie "we don't like you showing head office how we actually really are(grossly incompetent!!) so you're barred!!!" I'd boast about it,get a t-shirt made up and stand outside!!!! Rise above these clowns.
anonymous - 20 Oct 2007 09:21
Better than many Wetherspoons as not too chavvy, good value as ever, hardly a destination pub but worth the 2min detour from the station.
theoriginalbeermunkeh - 26 May 2007 16:49
I do like the Wetherspoons pubs in the city.
This one is particulary good, great ales every day.
fastjedi - 12 May 2007 20:48
Have just moved 2 the Bristol area and this has become my afterwork sanctuary many nights.
It's not the most amazing building but they really do look after you here. The beer is almost near perfection every time especially the S.A. Gold,and have sampled loads of guests which are regularly changing and taste great.The staff are very nice and friendly and the service is generally quick apart from fri evenings. Highly reccommend this place 4 a decent real ale. 8/10
fat_beer_badger - 12 Mar 2007 12:44
Cottage still on with a vengeance served by ignorant staff. Pedigree cloudy,but in opinion of barwoman "OK". A few of us drink here every Fri after work,there's one particular barwoman,after each round always says "and one for me as well did you say???" CHEEK.

Previous poster seems like staff if the only 3 pubs commented on are wetherspoons.......
an_ecunemical_matter - 20 Feb 2007 09:11
great new manager now on site. Excellent range of real ales and great food.

New leather sofas are brilliant!

I would reccommend to all
fastjedi - 19 Feb 2007 11:46
You can see what to expect from the photo, however it's not all bad. As Wetherspoons goes, it is tolerable, and serves as a handy meeting point and breakfast venue, being only 30 seconds walk from the station. Beers are generally fine.
fromedrinker - 22 Jan 2007 14:16
A big drinking den designed for the suits and keyboard chimps that inhabit the newly-developed Temple Quays complex, so try the old UV light in the bogs next time you're in and fancy something a bit more adventurous than a pint of Futtocks Old Roarer.

Staff seemed barely trained. Beer is average (served a cloudy pint to my mate), and the food was OK, though they didn't ask if we wanted chips or rice with the Chilli which most usually do.

Nothing special, make the extra few paces to the Cornubia or Kings Head for a much better pint in easy reach of the station.
Quinno - 5 Jan 2007 20:20
Big Wes from Commercial Rooms is evidently the guvnor here now!!!! WAHAY. New undermanagers as well,has there been a worm-turning?
Still COTTAGE,COTTAGE or COTTAGE as guest ales though,maybe a throwback to some arrangement the previous "management" made.
If Tim Martin is tuned in can you fix the sinks in the gents,they've only been broke 4 years,
can you encourage the staff to wake up and serve people and discourage them from canvassing people to buy them drinks and we'll all live happily ever after!

Potential,seems to be an underlying Bristol pub word.

an_ecunemical_matter - 26 Dec 2006 11:40
Don't knock it too much. They've tried to create a pub in an almost impossible location, and made a reasonable stab at it.

All the usual Weatherspoon virtues and vices.

For a straightener directly before or after a train journey, it's probably a better choice than the staion bar, or the Reckless Engineer.
Joan_Crawford - 2 Nov 2006 12:15
Cavernous drinking barn almost as charmless as it looks in the photo. Skilful staff rostering ensures that however busy (or empty) the pub, there will always be only one member of staff serving per five people waiting. Fairly adventurous with their ales, though invariably served too cold.
WebelMC - 25 Sep 2006 21:22
Passing through Temple Meads early one morning and starving hungry I decided to check out the breakfast here. It was hot, well cooked and came with a coffee for under a fiver! Not bad egh? I noticed some brave souls on the next table drinking cider before 10am!
DickStilton - 31 Aug 2006 23:18
just minutes from temple meads station so ideal if waiting 4 a train. Open early 4 breakfast too. Usual spoons cheap beer,decent real ale,well worth a visit. 8/10
fat_beer_badger - 12 Aug 2006 13:45
This is a big shed for drinking in. It is not a pub.
anonymous - 11 Aug 2006 20:05
One of Weatherspoons fleet. Very modern and purpose built smack bang in the middle of a raft of office blocks. Full of suits and skirts at lunchtime (Especialy Fridays). Dont know the cellar arrangements here but somehow I dont think the beer is as good as at the other Bristol Weatherspoon joints. Food is the usual Weatherspoon fodder. No great shakes but cheap.
DickStilton - 17 Nov 2005 22:21
As good as any other Wetherspoons for beer. Miserly portions of food, compared with other Wetherspoons pubs.

A safe choice, but nothing fantastic.
cowbutt - 9 Oct 2005 19:22

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