This is Tristan’s first review for the Sauce and boy is he coming in hot. I had no idea that The Miles Arms serves Polish food, much less Polish food that’s worth a trip to Avonmouth. What a find! I hope you enjoy Tristan’s debut as much as I did. If you might not have come across The Miles Arms otherwise, please consider supporting the unearthing of great restaurants across Bristol by becoming a paying Saucer.
Speak to anyone in the know, and they’ll tell you that Britain’s pub industry is on life support. Patrons, proprietors and well-wishers gather around its bedside to pick over the bones. Some argue that soaring costs are responsible, whilst others maintain that increasing isolation and loneliness is to blame. Stephen Williams, the former Lib Dem MP for Bristol West, is in the corner, incoherently ranting to himself about how, somehow, Sharia law is at fault.
Whatever the reason for the decline of Britain’s boozers (spoiler: it’s definitely not that last one), Bristol is no stranger to this crisis. Some of these beloved locals go quietly, others with spirited, yet unsuccessful community fundraising initiatives. Ultimately, a future as nondescript student accommodation beckons. In 2024, The Miles Arms threatened to become another historic watering hole lost to post-pandemic Britain. No grand closing, no fanfare, just a smattering of concerned questions on local Facebook pages, as over a century of history slipped away to the big HMO in the sky.
Thankfully, rumours of The Miles Arms’ demise were greatly exaggerated, as in March of 2025, it reopened under the stewardship of landlord Czeslaw Checko. The pub has since partnered with Pat’s Kitchen, formerly of the Star Inn across the estuary in Pill, and it was the promise of classic Polish dishes on their menu that drew me in the direction of Avonmouth’s crumbling Victorian facades. For a city with such a large Polish community, Bristol diners in search of a pierogi and kiełbasa fix are starved for choice, with The Plough Inn in Filton being the region’s only other real sit-down option.
Despite recent renovations, The Miles Arms feels frozen in time. The sound of a potted pool ball occasionally breaks through the tightly wound grooves of Jamiroquai, whilst gold rimmed chairs with red upholstery, presumably shipped straight from the set of Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, sit atop an old-school patterned carpet. Long-serving punters sup pints of Fosters and cans of Carling, whilst the Arms’ next generation of pintsmen and women busy themselves in the newly erected children’s play area. The presence of a claw machine (£2 a pop) and the prospect of £1.50 Cornettos from behind the bar serve as a reminder of Avonmouth’s fruitless and long abandoned attempt to attract seaside day trippers.
The price of a drink is also reminiscent of a bygone era, even if that period was only around five years ago. A pint of Butcombe Original (£4) or Broad Oak cider (£3.50) represent value that’s hard to find elsewhere in the city. The intricacies of pouring the former seemed to cause the staff some consternation, as they both disappeared for a good few minutes to make sure they’d got it right. What knowledge the staff lacked in real ales, they more than made up for when it came to the menu. Their eyes lit up when asked for their Polish food recommendations, and we were eventually pointed in the direction of the vegetable dumplings, followed by the chicken medallion and the pork knuckle.
The dumplings (£7.95), which were really pierogi, were plated elegantly, and filled with a rich cottage cheese and potato mixture. We ordered them pan-fried rather than boiled, which was definitely the correct choice. The dough had a golden, crisp exterior and when topped with the accompanying sour cream, it was as good as any bite of pierogi that I’ve had in central Europe.
We’d been warned that the pork knuckle (£18.95) was going to be enormous, but even still, we hadn’t quite anticipated its Jurassic proportions. It was accompanied by a mound of mashed potato and a selection of acidic accoutrements, namely mustard, horseradish, pickles and sauerkraut. This quartet helped to cut through the fattiness of the pork, and stave off any risk of flavour fatigue. The meat itself was incredibly tender, and fell effortlessly away from the bone, whilst the skin was crisp and pleasantly salty. Unfortunately, the mashed potato was, typically of many pubs, subpar. The texture was lumpy and, although well seasoned, it had a stickiness reminiscent of cheap catering mash.
The chicken medallion (£16.95) continued the theme of generous portions. Often, dishes in the cutlet family make a trade off between the juiciness of the meat and the texture of the coating, with soggy schnitzels sometimes being the price we pay to avoid the sensation of eating a deep fried Birkenstock. Thankfully, the chicken was moist, and the coating maintained its crunch throughout. The medallion was served with cucumber and beetroot salads, alongside some coleslaw, which all added some nice variation in texture, and much-needed freshness to the dish. Given that the chicken had the same square footage as your average Clifton bedsit, we were relieved that they could provide takeaway boxes for our leftovers.
There will doubtless be many of you who’ve got this far and are thinking to yourselves: “Ok, that all sounds lovely, but if I spend too long to the west of the M5 I come out in hives”. Well, I can’t make any guarantees, but if you enjoy great comfort food, cheap pints and acid jazz as much as myself, then I’d say it’s worth the trip. Just make sure you avoid the beer garden in the week following any nearby industrial fires.
All words and photos by Tristan Rendell, edited by Sophie Scannell
The Miles Arms, 181 Avonmouth Road, BS11 9LW
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