Melissa

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 theContinue reading “The Ring O’Bells, Widcombe, Bath”

Raya’s Thai Thali

The roads are dark, a storm rages, and Brad and Janet are caught out by a flat tyre on their road trip to Dr Frank-N-Furter’s castle. However! “In the velvet darkness of the blackest night, burning bright: there’s a guiding star…” Okay, so Mike and I are more Magenta and Riff Raff than Brad andContinue reading “Raya’s Thai Thali”

Clayton’s Kitchen, George Street, Bath

Chef Rob Clayton has been doing his cheffy thing at his beautiful little brasserie that lights up George Street with radiant, fairy-lit fusion for 12 years. 12 years! In restaurant world — particularly in the current climate — that’s a massive landmark indeed. Today, this cornerstone of Bath’s independent restaurant scene is wholly deserving ofContinue reading “Clayton’s Kitchen, George Street, Bath”

Colonnade, Bristol

For him, it was Hawkwind in 1988. For me, the Chippendales, 1993. But by 2006, we (and our eclectic tastes) combined to create perfect harmony: Sparks, September 2006. The memories came flooding back as we took to a table adjacent to the very same historic, sandstone steps that we once stood on while queuing forContinue reading “Colonnade, Bristol”

Sunday Roast at Ludo, Bath

I’m not a fan of the Sunday Roast; why, in this day in age, would I get excited about a plate of dull meat served with sloppy, often unidentifiable veg, soggy spuds, a jug of dark brown gloop and an undercooked pancake batter iceberg? Oh okay, I know that I’m supposed to get all misty-eyedContinue reading “Sunday Roast at Ludo, Bath”

Café 84, Lower Bristol Road, Bath

A snapshot of Lower Bristol Road, Bath, at 7.21pm on Thursday 20 November 2025: haphazard buses and hefty trucks. Foolhardy Deliveroo drivers and kamikaze cyclists. A group of exhausted tourists struggling with a broken wheelie bin (sorry, suitcase) en route to the Holiday Inn, a group of jubilant students en route to their next round ofContinue reading “Café 84, Lower Bristol Road, Bath”

Mai Thai, Chelsea Road, Bath

The hippocampus (there’s one in each hemisphere of everybody’s brain) has a lot to answer for. It’s responsible, see, for helping us to form long-term, declarative memories – the ones that contribute to the personal autobiographies that we all carry around in our heads. The hippocampus is particularly good at helping us link emotion withContinue reading “Mai Thai, Chelsea Road, Bath”

Goldstone Food at The Curfew, Bath

It’s 7.30pm on a gloomy Thursday evening and the long-established pub on the London Road/Bathwick Street junction is buzzing in the way that proper pubs used to buzz before the high street casual dining emporiums started filling sprawling, vacant spaces with fake stag head wall mounts, mass-produced velvet wing chairs, phoney vintage beer ads andContinue reading “Goldstone Food at The Curfew, Bath”

The George, George Street, Bath

George Street, Bath: I’ve only very recently waxed very lyrically about it, when reviewing a restaurant further down one of Bath’s liveliest thoroughfares that’s known locally as ‘the strip’. Summary of that waxing for the TLDR brigade: an overheard comment made by a passing tourist along the lines of “it looks like one of thoseContinue reading “The George, George Street, Bath”

Charm Thai, George Street, Bath

Blackpool has just turned its legendary lights on for the 2025 season. But as dusk starts to set on a warm, damp September evening in Bath, George Street’s own glow-up comes into its own. Turn left from the top of Milsom Street and both Robun and The George, on the other side of the road,Continue reading “Charm Thai, George Street, Bath”