(Published in PINTS WEST, Bristol’s award winning newsletter of the Bristol and District Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, No 70 Summer 2006)

A motley crew of Bristol CAMRA members, 'Shipmates' from Keynsham and supporters of the Matthew, met at the Kings Head, Victoria Street, for the inaugural Treasure Island Pub Crawl on Thursday evening, May 18th 2006. The idea of the event was to demonstrate the part Bristol's brewers, pubs, pirates and privateers played in Robert Louis Stevenson's decision to set Treasure Island here.

After leaving the Kings Head we went to the Seven Stars, the Llandoger Trow, the Famous Navy  Volunteer, the Hole-in-the-Wall, the Ostrich and finally the Golden Guinea. It all took just over two and a half hours, with a variety of brews and views on offer.

It was generally thought that more should be made of our surviving pubs, and that we could perhaps follow London's lead, where there is a 'Dick Whittington Real Ale Trail' (a series of six different trails under the Whittington umbrella covering different parts of London). A 'Long John Silver Real Ale and Cider Trail' was proposed for Bristol, possibly covering Whiteladies Road, Gloucester Road, Bedminster, St George etc. as well as the Floating Harbour.

Bearing in mind that Silver, with his fictional Bristol pub The Spy-Glass, is probably the most famous pub landlord ever, we thought he would be eminently suitable. What do Pints West readers think ?

If anyone else would like to come on an informative and hopefully entertaining evening around some of Bristol's remarkable survivors (pubs like the Seven Stars and Golden Guinea deserve more patronage) what about Thursday 6th July ? Numbers will be strictly limited, so please book your places by Emailing

If that date doesn’t suit (or has passed by the time you read this) please make contact to express your interest anyway.