North Street is the high street of Southville and one of the most lovely, community-spirited collections of independent shops, cafes, restaurants, bars and arts in Bristol. I have lived here for around 5 years, tried it all, and write these posts with the greatest love for this area and its people.
We also have a post on the best restaurants of North street which you might enjoy too.
The 5 best cafes on North street are:
- Albatross cafe
- Farahway arts and crafts cafe
- Sweven Coffee
- Tin can Coffee
- Five Acre Farm cafe
Albatross cafe
The best cafe in Bristol is the albatross cafe. It’s a lovely, bright room with mismatched old-school dining furniture, plants all over and lovely crockery- but a very laid back and un-pretentiously hipster vibe! They do great coffee and have a great selection of cakes. In the winter, the window fogs up, leaving a warm glow from the incandescent lights radiating out.
Farahway arts and crafts cafe
Farahway arts and crafts cafe is the second best cafe on North street. It’s colourful and stylish with craft kits for sale and workshops where you can come and craft while you drink your coffee. They have a lovely garden outback that catches the sun, yummy toasties, a small selection of cakes, and also cocktails and mocktails!
Sweven Coffee
Sweven coffee is a speciality swedish coffee shop. Its shilw, and bright and clean, and this places main attraction is the coffee although they have a nice seating space too. Come for their guest roations and friendly hipster coffee staff.
Tin Can Coffee
Tin can coffee has amazing cakes and really nice seating areas including outdoor tables on the balcony and some booth seating at the back. They offer speciality coffee and welcome respectful laptop workers during the day at their shared table at the back. The coffee should sell it more than the food- but they have nice offerings during the brunch and lunch period when their kitchen is open.
Five acre farm cafe
Five acre farm cafe is a strong summer recommendation for the lovely outdoor seating space. On the weekend the courtyard a the back of the farm shop cafe and tabacco factory bar is bustling with the tabacco factory sunday market but on weekdays its open and a lovely space to sit with plants and graffiti style colour full wall art. If it’s drizzly but you still fancy the fresh air, they have a big tent area so you can sit confidently whatever the weather. They have nice coffee, healthy vegan cakes/ snacks and also a kitchen that offer lunch.
Best coffee shops on North street Bristol
There are 3 great speciality coffee shops on North street:
- Sweven coffee
- Albatross cafe
- Tin can coffee
For the coffee lovers, these three are your best spots! On Sundays, you can also get speciality coffee at the tabacco factory market- usually from Rolling Italy, a coffee cart run by fantastically friendly James. Be prepared for a queue- he’s popular!
The best 3 day bars in Bristol are
North Street is a real place to hang out from breakfasts to evening drinks, there are people out, socialising, spending time together and immersing themselves in this lovely community. As well as cafes, there are some fantastic day-bars that can absolutely be made the most of.
The best day-bars on North Street Bristol are:
- The tobacco factory
- The old bookshop
- Lounges cafe-bar
- Bristol beer factory
Tabacco factory
The tobacco factory is a great industrial-chic venue with drinks, a farm kitchen and coffees. It’s large and spacious, airy, and lively. Great alone or with a group, and kid-friendly too- a lovely place to hang out or enjoy a brunch. The tobacco factory is actually also a theatre and host to a Sunday market. It’s a bit of a community hub so a nice place to browse their noticeboard for events and offerings
The Old Bookshop
The Old Bookshop is my favourite bar on North Street. Post pandemic they’ve retained their street seating and with the large doors and windows, the day atmosphere is relaxed but still cool and quirky with their vibrant illustrations and fun selection of vegan European beers and exotic guest kitchen rotations.
The Lounges Cafe Bar
The lounges cafe bar, despite being a chain, are a lovely day hang out on North street. THey do brunch, coffee, lunch, pancakes and all sorts of day food. Spread over 3 rooms, it feels intimate and colourful while still being large enough to pretty much always have space. Come here for their selection of games, or, in summer a breezy outdoor feeling when the double fronted windows are left wide open.
Bristol Beer Factory
The Bristol beer factory is the tap room of the famous craft beer brewery. They are open all day, with some outdoor seating and nice intimate, industrial-chic seating- it’s laid-back and extremely un-pretentious for a tap room- and delicious beers (lots of gluten-free beer and ale options!)
Bristol North Street Lifestyle
North street has a fantastic atmosphere. It’s great for shopping and cafe browsing. There are a few local schools, so cafes will fill up around school pick-up time and after morning drop-off. There are four good charity shops in a row, these are often busy. During lunch, particularly on weekends, the restaurants and outdoor spaces are packed with cheery customers, giving the street a flare of energy.
North street ends at Ashton Gate stadium so on match days it is super lively as game watchers mill about and drink in the bars before and after kick-off.
Ashton Gate is also home to big concerts- including Elton John and The Killers in 2022- so sometimes you catch wafts of music from up the street. We have a post about live music in Bristol here.
Greyville smith at the bottom of the park is home to the annual Up-fest- a globally famous street art festival. It hosts many other events throughout the year. Nearby is also Ashton Court which also hosts a lot of festivals and during festival season North street really lights up with colour, people and a festival atmosphere!
We hope you have enjoyed this post. We have a number of other great posts about life and food and drink in Bristol, including our guide to great Bristol wine bars, great Bristol gin bars or great classic cocktail bars. We also have posts about great pasta in bristol, the greatest pizzas in bristol, great Bristol Japanese restaurants and best tapas in bristol.