The Ring O’Bells, Widcombe, Bath

It’s 7.30pm on a drizzly Friday night in January. The restaurants, bars and pubs in Bath city centre are so quiet that  even a tumbleweed invasion would liven things up; the lights are on, but everybody’s at home.

Widcombe Parade, however – a 5-minute trot south-east of the bright lights, behind (and just over the river from) Bath Spa Station — tells a different story. Small plate/fab wine/cocktail hotspot The Halfpenny has got its chillaxed, date night hat on, The Ram is packed with end-of-working-week/pre-rugby revellers, Bikano’s is a bright beacon of proper curry house cosiness, the various takeaways are doing a roaring trade… and, thriving at the heart of it all, the Ring O’Bells is more of a hubbub of arrivals and departures than the nearby station. We, however, are checking in for a linger-long duration — and we couldn’t have found a better destination. 

Proprietors Sarah and Paul are fairly new to the Ring’O — they only took over curatorship of one of BA2’s longest-standing watering holes in autumn of last year. But in the same way that Paul has already worked his magic (in more ways than one) at The Ale House on York Street, the couple have already re-established this popular hostelry as the proper neighbourhood pub it should be.

Warm, inviting and friendly from the get-go, the gentle buzz of live rugby on a couple of screens adds to rather than detracts from the chilled-out vibe — heck, even the large, friendly dogs dotted hither and thither underneath various tables aren’t in the slightest bit perturbed by the rise and fall of rucks, scrums and conversions so I’m definitely not going to be out of place sipping my thoroughly decent rosé in a corner, Maggie Smith style. I will eventually, however, need food if I’m to keep my Violet Crawley wits about me — and if you too need proper, hearty, really good grub to maintain your wit, look no further. 

Chubby, pleasantly smoky Pigs in Blankets (they’re definitely not just for Christmas) and a massive pulled pork croquette in a pool of jus that I could easily have drank more of, through a straw. Elegantly hearty Chicken Supreme served with perfect mash. Malabar Fish Curry: a generous, pearlescent slab of hake nestled in a super-fresh, enticingly harmonious sweet/sour/punchy sauce and topped with a mahoosive chargrilled king prawn, resplendent in its shell-on glory. An intensely saucy Sticky Toffee Pudding and a decadent Chocolate Fondant, both of which defined the very definition of almost salaciously satisfying desserts. Oh, this was a Friday night dinner indeed – and one that would serve you well on any night of the week (okay, perhaps skip the puds on a school night?) 

Throughout it all, I felt like I was properly out-out but without the kind of stress, pressure and high prices that being properly out-out can bring about; home-from-home with a buzz, cosy but convivial, lively but relaxing.

Whether you visit the Ring O’Bells for the food and stay for the vibe, go for the vibe and stay for the food, or simply drop by for a pint and stay for another one… chime in.