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A Christmas Day Feast from 1789
The Bush Tavern, Bristol, Bill of Fare
The Bush Tavern was a well-known Bristol establishment, located on Corn Street in the heart of the city. The street had been at the centre of the city’s trading locations since at least the 13th century. It was one of four cross streets that met at Bristol High Cross, in the heart of the old medieval walled city.¹
Almost certainly once the location of the city’s original corn exchange, by the 18th century Corn Street was at the heart of the banking industry in the town.
The Bush Tavern was a coaching inn, the most notable in the city. It was opened around 1775 — in that year, the landlord was John Weeks. He remained the proprietor until 1801.² The Bush Tavern closed in 1854 and the building was demolished and replaced by the West of England and South Wales District Bank.³ In Dickens’ Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (aka the Pickwick Papers), published in 1836, the hero stayed at the Bush during his time in Bristol.⁴
The close of the 18th century was a glorious time for taverns in England. Coaching inns were at the heart of public life, and often supported vast dining halls that could accommodate hundreds of people at once.
John Weeks was a lavish and generous proprietor. His published Christmas Bill of Fares give an…
