Painting Church Road Red

The Red Church, a new drinking and dining venue is set to open on Church Road this spring.

The team behind international music, art and fashion magazine, Crack announce the launch of a brand-new drinking and dining venue in collaboration with the team behind some of Bristol’s favourite spots – The Christmas Steps and The Spotted Cow.

This spring, The Red Church will see a full reimagining of the old Lloyds Bank building with a firm focus on quality. The culmination of this large-scale renovation process, will see the maximisation of the space, with a large open plan area for dining and drinking flanked by a seated mezzanine area.

With a dining capacity of over 100 and a kitchen headed up by Simon Miller, ex-head chef of the much-loved Ethicurian in Wrington, diners at The Red Church can expect a locally sourced menu that will no doubt see it become a destination spot for discerning Bristolian diners.

Many Bristol breweries will feature, with guest ales on rotation, pouring from both cask and keg and the team at Crack Magazine will be brewing and serving an in-house special from their Crack Ales range. An extensive wine-list will also feature organic and vegan wine options to complement their selections.

With a vinyl-only music policy and a superior sound system coming from Pinewood Studios, people can look forward to listening bar quality sound and Bristol’s finest selectors complimenting the high quality set up.

Tom Frost, co-founder of The Red Church and Crack Magazine said: “We can’t wait to open the doors of the Red Church and look forward to welcoming all members of the local community and beyond into what will be a unique offer in the area. The vision for The Red Church has long been in the pipeline and we’re excited to show people the reimagining and renovation of this old bank building into a modern drinking and dining venue.”

The trio behind this new venture is Tom Frost and Jake Applebee from Crack, and Dave Smeaton, owner and operator of The Spotted Cow who will once again come together to open a new venue in Bristol.

The three partners’ first venture together was The Christmas Steps pub. Located in the centre of Bristol at the bottom of the historic street from which the pub takes its name, the venue has had great success since opening in May 2014. The team restored this fine historic building, which dates back to 1600, with a re-fit that highlighted the many period features.

The pub was stripped back to give a more contemporary feel and created a warm space which put it back on the map as one of Bristol’s most characterful hostelries. It continues to be one of Bristol’s most popular pub venues and has also become known for the occasional summer courtyard party which has attracted some of Bristol’s finest DJs for a series of one-off events for the likes of Bristol Pride and Noods Radio.

The Red Church will be open from 10am – midnight on weekdays, 10am – 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and midday – midnight on Sundays.