Pump House, Bristol

Building in Bristol, England

51°26′54″N 2°37′04″W / 51.448344°N 2.617741°W / 51.448344; -2.617741Completedc1870

The Pump House is an historic pub in Hotwells on Bristol Harbour, Bristol, England. It is a grade II listed building.

Building

Originally known as the Cumberland Basin Hydraulic Engine House,^[1] the Pump House was constructed around 1870 by Thomas Howard to house a hydraulic pump that powered bridges and lock gates around the harbour.^[2] It was replaced by the current Hydraulic engine house at Underfall Yard in 1888.^[3]^[4] and is now a public house and restaurant.^[1]

It is built of Pennant rubble bricks, with limestone dressings and a roof made from pantiles. The main building is one storey high, 4 windows across. In addition, there is a two-story accumulator tower to the left hand side of the building. The dressings include pronounced quoins, jambs and voussoirs. The entrance is a wide elliptical-arch, which would have been large enough for carriages, and there is a large semicircular-arched window to the left of the entrance. The right-hand section of the building is set back slightly and has a small semicircular-arched doorway with a narrow window above. The accumulator tower has its own semicircular-arched doorway, and narrow window above. At the top of the tower, there is a wrought-iron weather vane, and on the left side there is a large arrowslit. The building was designated a grade II listed building on 18 February 1972.^[1]

Restaurant

The building was converted into a pub, and was taken over by the current chef, Toby Gritten, on 11 July 2007.^[5]^[6] Around this time, the building had an extensive refurbishment, including an internal mezzanine, where the restaurant is located, a bar on the ground floor and a terrace outside.^[5] Gritten won the Best Chef award at the Bristol Good Food Awards in 2013.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "The Pump House Public House". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^ Fells, Maurice (2015). The Little Book of Bristol. The History Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-750-96543-9.
^ "Cumberland Basin". Bristol City Docks. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
^ "Along the Harbour". Bristol Floating Harbour (official website). 4 November 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Pump House, Bristol". The Caterer. 30 August 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
^ Taylor, Mark (3 October 2014). "The Pump House, Merchants Road, Hotwells, Bristol". Bristol Post. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
^ "Winners 2013". Bristol Good Food Awards. Retrieved 1 November 2015.