My husband and I fancied supper out with the kids recently.  We opted for the Beehive Bar and Restaurant, situated on Wellington Hill West, Horfield.

I grew up in north-west Bristol and remember spending Summer evenings in the Beehive pub gardens.  At that point it was well known as a good family pub and the gardens were renowned for being excellent for children to play in.  But at times over the years the Beehive has had a poor reputation. 

I am glad we gave the Beehive a chance.  It has recently been taken over by new management. It looks very different inside than how it used to when I was young.  As you can see from my photo, the Beehive is now clean, smart and stylish; a far cry from the scruffy, traditional local that it used to be.

The description of dishes on the menu sounded impressive.  Encouraged I decided to treat myself to a starter and opted for Poached Salmon Rillettes for £5.55.

For my main dish I ordered the Homemade Ravioli for £8.95.  

We ordered Chicken Strips for the children to share from the Beehive’s kids menu for £4.95.

While we waited for our food after ordering, the waitress brought each of us complimentary cream of mushroom soup with toasted bread which I thought was a lovely touch!  Here is my son enjoying his soup next to the view of the bluebells from the window…

You can see from the names of the dishes and the photos, the Beehive’s food is not your average ‘pub grub’.  Rather it was ‘top nosh’!  The Beehive definitely goes that extra mile in the standard of food it offers.  The food tasted as good as it looked, too!

The Beehive garden is fantastic; green and vast.  However, we did have to keep our son away from the stone steps and steep walled flower beds around the courtyard area.  We also had to keep an eye on him when he was near the garden gate as it was open and opens straight out onto the main road.

But the top part of the garden is fully enclosed and safe for young children.  There are good climbing trees and plenty of green grass that children can safely run free.   My son loved hiding in the bushes and trying to climb the trees.  Apart from when he was eating, he wasn’t still for a moment and suitably tired himself out which made bedtime easy later on!

I was really impressed with the Beehive.  Despite the very reasonable prices, food was of a really high standard.  The garden is fantastic and the service was good.  I feel that we got something extra at the Beehive which we wouldn’t have in some other pubs.  I would definitely recommend taking your children there for a meal out.

Have you ever visited The Beehive Bar and Restaurant?  I would love to know your thoughts!