King Street, pub by pub

Every beer city needs one street that does the heavy lifting, and in Bristol it's King Street. Laid out in the 17th century — named, it's generally said, for Charles II after the Restoration — it survived with its cobbles and a run of timber-framed buildings intact, picked up the oldest continuously working theatre in the English-speaking world along the way (the Bristol Old Vic, since 1766), and then quietly filled up with pubs.

These days locals and landlords have taken to calling it the Beer Quarter, and for once the branding undersells the thing. You can drink your way from the harbour end to Welsh Back through half a dozen genuinely different venues without walking more than a couple of hundred metres.

The walk, in order

Start at the harbour end and work inland. Here's who you'll meet.

• The Llandoger Trow The famous one — a timber-framed inn usually dated to the 1660s, leaning agreeably with age, and one of the most photographed buildings in the city. The stories attached to it are the best in Bristol: it's long been claimed as the meeting place of Daniel Defoe and Alexander Selkirk, the castaway behind Robinson Crusoe, and as an inspiration for the Admiral Benbow in Treasure Island. Enjoy those tales as legend rather than sworn testimony — but do go in, because the building itself needs no embellishment.
• The Old Duke The jazz pub — named after Duke Ellington rather than any aristocrat — with live music most nights and a crowd spilling onto the cobbles opposite the Llandoger on warm evenings. Go for the trad jazz as much as the beer; it's one of Bristol's great free nights out.
• The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer "The Volley" to locals — an old coaching-inn building turned serious beer venue, with a long tap list that leans local and changes constantly. A good bridge between the street's historic and modern halves.
• Small Bar The modern craft stop: an emphasis on independent breweries, beer served in thirds and two-thirds, and a board that rewards the curious. If you want to understand what Bristol brewing is doing right now, this is the room to do it in.
• The Beer Emporium The cellar one — a bar set into vaulted stone underrooms below street level, with a long run of taps spanning local and continental beer. It's also where our own Bristol Craft Beer Experience finishes, around 4pm, with a beer flight served alongside cheese and charcuterie. We chose it deliberately: finishing here leaves you at the top of this exact walk with the evening ahead of you.

That's the spine of the street. There are more doors worth pushing — King Street keeps adding drinking spots, and the neighbouring stretch along Welsh Back has waterside options too — but those five give you the range: legend, jazz, coaching inn, craft bar, cellar.

Doing it properly

• Go in the afternoon. Weekend evenings on King Street are a crush, especially when the Old Vic turns out. An afternoon start means seats, conversation and a fighting chance in the smaller bars.
• Drink small. Halves and thirds are the only sensible approach to five venues. Small Bar in particular makes this easy.
• Look up. The upper storeys of the timber buildings are the best free sight in central Bristol, and almost nobody on the street ever notices them.
• Book ahead for groups. A dozen people arriving unannounced won't fit anywhere here comfortably. For organised outings, our private group tours end on this street with tables waiting.

Making a full day of it

King Street works brilliantly as the final act of a bigger day. Our tour spends the morning and afternoon getting here the long way round — meeting at 11:45am outside The Grain Barge on Hotwell Rd, crossing the docks by private boat with tastings on board, going behind the scenes at Moor Brewery — before the King Street finish. If you're building your own day instead, our notes on what to do before and after a brewery tour and our Floating Harbour guide cover the approaches. And a gift voucher for the tour is, in effect, a gift voucher for this street.

Common questions

Pubs and bars change hours, and occasionally hands, without much notice. Please check each venue's website or social media before making a special trip. The historical stories above are the street's cherished legends — we've flagged where history shades into folklore.