Bristol Pubs

The Llandoger Trow is a historic public house situated on King Street in Bristol.

Dating from 1664, it is in King Street, between Welsh Back and Queen Charlotte Street, near the old city centre docks. A trow was a flat-bottomed barge, and Llandogo is a village some 20 miles north of Bristol, over the Bristol Channel and upstream on the River Wye in South Wales, where trows were once built.

It was partially destroyed by a bomb in World War II but three of the original five projecting gables remain. It is a grade II* listed building.

Tradition has it that Daniel Defoe met Alexander Selkirk (Robinson Crusoe) here, and it was Robert Louis Stevenson’s inspiration for the Admiral Benbow in Treasure Island. In Victorian times the pub was associated with the Theatre Royal, which is across the road, and was visited by many performers and musicians including Henry Irving.

There are reputed to be underground passages for the use of smugglers.

In 1962 it became a Berni Inn, but now belongs to Whitbread and trades as a Brewers Fayre. Another famous Bristol pub, The Old Duke, is situated opposite the Llandoger Trow.

There are claims that the top floor is haunted by the ghost of a young child who wore leg braces while alive. Apparently his loud footsteps can be heard in the attic.