The Bank Tavern is an all-round great pub. Situated in the city centre, close to some of Bristol’s finest music venues, shops and restaurants, it’s our go-to boozer when in town. It’s also open fairly late on weekends, which is a bonus, serving real ales and local ciders. But the pub is best known for one of the best Sunday roasts in the city.
Not that we would know anything about that because getting a table at The Bank Tavern is notoriously difficult, at least on Sundays. Earlier this year, The Bank Tavern was all over the news for its four-year waiting list for a Sunday roast. It featured everywhere from the Daily Mail to ITV, LADBible and the Guardian.
Back in March 2022, the pub had to stop taking bookings to help clear the ever-growing list – which is when the ‘four-year waiting list’ story originated. But only in 2020 was the waiting list three years long. Of course, COVID probably didn’t help, but even in 2019, Bristol Post made reference to its “19-month waiting list”.
A lot of this probably has to do with the fact that the pub was crowned the home of Bristol’s best Sunday Lunch at the Observer Food Monthly Awards in 2019 and the Bristol Good Food Awards in 2018. (As well as the fact that The Bank Tavern can only seat 28 people at a time.) Those of us who are desperate to get a table might not have to wait too much longer…
Speaking recently with Bristol24/7, The Bank Tavern’s landlord, Sam Gregory, said: “We are ridiculously difficult to get into but we don’t have a four-year waiting list! We had a four-year waiting list but we are coming to the end of that four-year waiting list and we are looking forward to opening the diary in the new year.”
Obviously, no clear date is given as to when, but it’s some small hope we’ll be tucking into the world-famous Sunday roast soon. Keep an eye out for updates, however, because you can pretty much guarantee the demand will be just as huge, if not bigger, after all the media hype.
What can you expect from The Bank Tavern’s Sunday roast?
A three-course Sunday roast at The Bank Tavern will set you back £27.95, with two courses costing £24.95. For your main Sunday lunch, you have a choice between 30-day dry-aged rare topside of beef, braised free range pork belly and a vegetable & lentil loaf; all roasts come served with a Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, parsnip puree, creamy leeks, cider & balsamic braised shallot and seasonal vegetables and a jug of gravy.
To learn more about The Bank Tavern head here.