The Pelly

Off out for a pub meal this evening and decided upon the Pelican in Chew Magna on the outskirts of Bristol.

Not more than a 15 minute drive, Chew Magna is a small up market village, its high street is a bit of a car rat run from Bristol to the airport. Two pubs are in the high street, the Bear and Swan and the Pelican.

The pub itself is fairly bright, definitely not the dark and dingy type, with light coloured polished floor boards and modern impressionist sketches of vegetables? It has a reasonable stable of cask and tap beers, ciders, and a very large selection of wines – probably more for the well to do. Would recommend a visit, the food is also good.

I had a couple of pints of Butcombe bitter, which were much lighter than Brunel sampled earlier in the day. This local beer is very popular in many of the pubs in the West Country and does not quite have the bite of the Brunel IPA, is definitely smoother and slightly darker. At about 4% is also not to strong.

A little bit of history around the Pelly – named after the HMS Pelican, the ship that Sir Francis Drake used in 1577 to sail from Plymouth to circumnavigate the world. The ship was a light sturdy 100 tonnes and was renamed the Golden Hind during the trip. Bristol has a strong sea faring tradition (pirates, slaves and transportation) and was the major port in England for ships travelling to the new world in a bygone era.