Bath does many things well — Roman baths, Georgian crescents, and a formidable number of good pubs. The city's oldest, the Saracens Head on Broad Street, dates to 1713 and once hosted Charles Dickens, but the drinking scene here is far from stuck in the past. Alongside the low-beamed old favourites, a wave of taphouses, community buyouts and farm-to-table boozers has given Somerset's biggest city one of the livelier pub scenes in the West Country.

For many, the pull is cider. Just outside town, Dick Willows' cider farm in Claverton Down opens on summer Saturdays with live music, and the Iford Cider Taphouse, towards Bradford-on-Avon, pairs its pours with sourdough pizzas and a well-timed sunset.

In the city centre, The Raven on Queen Street is the archetypal noisy local — a Second World War pilots' haunt that now draws rugby crowds — with house ales like Raven Ale and a hazy IPA brewed by Bristol's Arbor, plus filling pies such as the venison, bacon and lentil 'deer stalker'. The Grapes on Westgate Street mixes a Jacobean plaster ceiling with jazz, folk sessions and sustainability meet-ups, pouring Iford cider and Bath Distillery gin. On bohemian Walcot Street, the 300-year-old Bell Inn was bought by more than 500 customers in 2013 — Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis among them — and still runs on live music, real ale and analogue sounds.

Food-focused options are strong too. The Marlborough Tavern, two minutes from the Royal Crescent, does small plates and a Sunday roast with a Bloody Mary chaser, plus a walled garden for sunny days. The Chequers on Rivers Street, between The Circus and the Royal Crescent, serves burrata, Somer Valley coppa and local rib of beef while keeping a properly lively bar. The Welly on Green Street, opened last year by the Somer Valley Farms team, is a zero-waste taproom sourcing gin, bread, cider and beef from within the region — the scotch egg is the one to order.

It's worth leaving town. The Hop Pole Inn at Limpley Stoke, rescued by villagers after closing in 2018, reopened in early 2025 with a menu from chef Charlie Rawlings using meat from his family farm a mile away — a natural stop for cyclists on the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath. The Talbot Inn at Mells, about 20 minutes away, sits beside the Mells River with candles, local ales and a proper ploughman's. And 15 minutes south, the 16th-century Wheatsheaf in Combe Hay rewards a steep walk with a beer garden, Brixham plaice and sticky toffee pudding.

For travellers, the appeal is obvious: Bath's sights are compact and easily covered in a day, leaving ample time to do what locals actually do — settle into a pub and let a swift half become an afternoon. Whether you want history, craft beer, live music or a countryside lunch, there's a barstool with your name on it.