Down a sloping cobbled side road between Grey and Pilgrim Street you’ll find this traditional pub with a modern design.

The Venue
It has a dark grey painted exterior, and you enter through big swing doors to find a spacious bar dominated by the big square central bar. Off to the left there’s a separate room with a Burberryesque, dog blanket-style Tartan beige carpet (which divides opinion to say the least) and squat armchairs. Otherwise, Bacchus is open plan with khaki green and maroon walls and a raised carpeted area at the back.

There are high-backed, red velvet armchairs to sink into and it all has something of the air of a sedate old hotel bar. There’s an art deco-style skylight as well as spotlights in the cream wooden ceiling and 60’s jazz is playing sweetly in the background. It’s been designed with a grand ocean liner theme, although that may well totally pass you by.

The People
Despite its slightly off-the-beaten-track location, Bacchus gets filled up with a rum assortment of office workers at lunchtime and after five o’clock, and with real-ale buffs and generally an older crowd at other times. It also feeds and waters some theatre-goers.

The Food and Drink
Bacchus provides boozers with a dizzying and mouth-watering array of brews — on tap you’ve got Budweiser, John Smith’s, St Peter’s Organic, Carling, Piper’s Gold from Argyll, Stella, Foster’s, Scapa Special from the Highland Brewing Company and the award-winning Jarrow Brewery’s Rivet Catcher. Be careful of Abbeydale Black Mass at 6.66 per cent. And the guest ales include March Haigh, Hook Norton and Oakham Ales’ No Bully Dozer.

In bottles there’s Peroni, Corona, Leffe, Duvel and Becks, among others. There are no cocktails, but the wine list has been beefed up as a result (it is called Bacchus after all), so there are seven whites, seven reds and three roses: all for around £13.50 a bottle or £4.75 a large glass.

There’s a specials menu which changes every week, and in a neat twist the dishes are matched up with a recommended beer (Leffe Brune with a rump steak for example).

On the main menu are dishes like Cumberland sausage and mash and real ale gravy £5.95 and fish pie with parmesan and spring onion mash for £5.95, as well as panini and snacks, like peppered goat's cheese and Mediterranean vegetables in a pizzaiola dressing (£4.25).

The Last Word
Bacchus is a smartly done out old-fashioned pub which is a comfortable spot for a slightly more mature crowd.

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