A pub that has been a favourite pre-match haunt of Bristol City fans for more than a century has closed its doors.
The Rising Sun on Ashton Road is the closest pub to Ashton Gate Stadium, but it has remained shut since lockdown despite Bristol City matches returning to the stadium.
In recent weeks its windows and doors have been boarded up and the building has been stripped out. The pub is also listed as 'permanently closed' on Google.
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The Victorian-built pub, located opposite Greville Smyth Park, pre-dates Bristol City’s first matches at Ashton Gate although it is thought the distinctive frontage dates from around the same time, circa 1904.
Once part of the nearby Ashton Gate Brewery, The Rising Sun is now owned by West Midlands pub company Stonegate Pub Partners.
Stonegate is currently advertising the empty property on its website, marketing it as a pub that has ‘earned itself a loyal following of football supporters’. The large pub has three separate bars, skittle alley, lounge area and rear garden. It also has a three-three-bedroom flat above.
The Stonegate website says the introductory rent is £16,000 per annum, payable weekly in advance, but goes on to say that the company’s ‘vision for this pub is a business capable of sustaining a rent of £26,000 per annum’.
But with ‘potential’ turnover of £367,000 per annum, according to the owners, the prospect of running the biggest pub close to Ashton Gate may attract interest from a few entrepreneurial City fans.
Not that Bristol City fans will go thirsty in the meantime, with The Three Lions, The Robins, The Coopers Arms, The Luckwell and the Hen & Chicken all open for business for pints before and after Robins’ home games.
Bristol Live has contacted Stonegate for comment and is awaiting a response.
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