Prior's partnership with Aardman and Upfest

Prior are thrilled to announce their collaborative half-term project with Aardman, Upfest and Cabot Circus. 

The Prior team have been tasked with creating a series of activities that bring the community of Bristol's local artists to be part of the fun. Their workshops are suitable for those who are age six and above and are in honour of Bristol, as well as Bristol independents. 

Whether you choose to join an expert model maker from Aardman for a fun and hands on model-making workshop, painting a Bristol based mural that will be located in Cabot Circus, or learning how to draw Gromit with an Aardman designer, this project is filled with fun activities for all.  

21 – 24 October | 23 Philadelphia St, Broadmead, Bristol BS1 3BZ | Tickets: £5 
Visit priorshop.uk to find out more

ENJOY OUR OCTOBER ISSUE – OUT NOW

You'll love our fabulous October magazine which features a collection of great reading by our team of wonderful writers as well as beautifully presented advertising by Bath's best businesses. We really hope you'll enjoy the read!

15,000 copies are delivered door to door, and you can pick up a copy at many places around town – including our stands at Waitrose, John Lewis, House of Fraser and Harvey Nichols.

Read the digital version of our current issue here!

And if you would like to have a copy sent in the post every month, then we offer a postal subscription for just £33 for 12 issues, £18 for six issues or buy a copy for just £4.25. UK mainland prices. For Euro and World zone subscription prices – see our website. 

Words by Melissa Blease

Classic Chicken Pie

If you're in the mood for reacquainting yourself with a British comfort food classic, this luxurious chicken pie ticks all the cosy supper boxes. 

Ready made, all-butter shortcrust pastry is your hassle-free best friend here. But don't be tempted to use a ready-roasted chicken; silky, flavoursome fresh chicken stock is the key to this recipe's success, and the main preparation can be done the day before you assemble your pie.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1 whole, free-range chicken (1.2k-1.5k approx.)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
200ml whole milk
50ml single cream
55g butter
55g plain flour
1-2 tsp dried tarragon
1 x 500g block of ready made, all-butter shortcrust pastry

Method

Put the chicken into a large pan along with the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves and peppercorns. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil before reducing the heat and simmering until the chicken is cooked (probably around 1 ½ hours, depending on the size of the chicken).

Remove the cooked chicken from the stock, set to one side and allow to cool. Continue simmering the stock for around 30 minutes before straining the reduced liquid into a jug and leaving to cool completely. You can, if you wish, refrigerate both the cooked chicken and the stock for up to 24 hours from this point.

When you're ready to make the pie, strip the chicken flesh from the carcass (discarding skin and bones) and cut into bite-sized chunks. Skim off any fat that has formed on the surface of the stock and discard it.

Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour, allowing it to 'cook' for a minute or so to remove any trace of floury texture. Gradually add 250ml of the reserved chicken stock (use any remaining stock to make gravy, perhaps?) and the milk and bring to a gentle boil, stirring continuously. Add the cream, reduce the heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes until you've created a smooth, slightly thick sauce. Add the dried tarragon, season to taste, and fold the chicken into the sauce. Set the mixture aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry and use it to line a 20-25cm pie dish. Fill the pastry case with the cooled chicken mixture and brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg. Roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid and pinch the edges together to form a seal. If you're feeling creative, make leaves or cute little pastry decorations with any leftover pastry and use them to decorate the top of the pie.

Brush the top of the pie with more beaten egg and make a hole in the centre to allow the steam to escape before baking for about 35-45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Allow the pie to settle for 5 minutes before slicing and serving immediately accompanied by oodles of buttery mashed potato, steamed greens and gravy.

Italian Reds

As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, cosy up and treat yourself with a bottle of the finest Italian red wine. 

From the Dolomites to the bays of Sicily, Italy's topographic makeup lends itself perfectly to wine production, boasting a myriad of different soils and climates. Add to this the many indigenous grape varieties, each harvest yields an abundance of diverse and fascinating wine styles. Italy is further blessed with many dedicated and passionate winemakers and vine growers. Here's a selection of our favourite Italian reds:

Brunello di Montalcino – Il Poggione
Sumptuous black cherry fruit character on the nose, followed by dried cranberry, dried cherry and kirsch. In the mouth, it has fabulous, velvety texture, and crisp acidity providing freshness and balance | £46

Brunito Rosso Toscana IGT – Cantine Leonardo Da Vinci
Cherries lead the charge in this dense yet juicy 'mini super-Tuscan' wine. Full bodied and a little sweet; hints of spice dance amid a dense core of juicy fruit | £12.75

Etna Rosso DOC –Planeta
This wine comes from Nerello Mascalese grapes and perfectly reflects the unique and splendid terroir of Etna. A soft red wine with flesh and structure. Very typical of the area with notes of plums, raspberries and green tomato leaves | £27.50

Brunello di Montalcino – Fattoria dei Barbi
Deep, rich, savoury aroma of wild cherries over a complex medley of dried Provencale herbs, peppery spice, frankincense, cocoa and dried fruits. Succulent and velvet-textured, it is beautifully-balanced with fruit and herby-spicy complexity | £59.50

Discover these and more Italian wines at greatwine.co.uk

Photo credit: Marc le Galle

The inaugural celebration of South West spirits

Spirited, Bristol’s best spirits shop, has teamed up with education and events provider Cut Point Co to launch Spirit of the South West, the first ever festival dedicated exclusively to spirits producers from the region.

Taking place at Spirited’s North Street shop, Spirit of the South West will see top producers from Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall come together for a celebration of the quality, craftsmanship and innovation that has risen up in recent years to make the West Country one of the most notable spirits producing regions in the UK.

The festival will run over two sessions for attendees to meet the faces behind their favourite drinks and discover some new delights in the process. Running from 2pm until 8pm, there will be sampling, stories, cocktails and some special surprises to keep even the most discerning spirits-lover happy. Food and beer will also be provided.

Tickets for the festival are priced at £15 and include a discount on any bottles purchased alongside the opportunity to sample spirits from all the producers in attendance. 

Taking place on 4 November
196 North Street, Bristol, BS3 1JF
For tickets for session 1, 2-4pm, click here, and for tickets for session 2, 6-8pm, click here.

Anton Grain Architectural Art

Anton Grain originally trained as an architect, but after many years as an industrial designer he turned his work to what he loves doing most: drawing beautiful buildings.

His illustrations in watercolour and ink of the UNESCO heritage city of Bath capture his love of the classical Georgian architecture. 

Shop the artwork on his website at antongrain.com

Heaven's Garden Eco-Friendly Umbrella | £36

Meet The Original Duck Umbrella, sustainably handmade and built to last.

Each canopy is made of 100% recycled plastic bottles. This compact umbrella fits into any backpack or tote bag, making it a convenient travel companion. You can rely on its sturdy build to keep you dry during any downpour.

British artist Willemien Bardawil has created three exclusive designs for Original Duckhead, each a celebration of Summer, new beginnings and abundance of life. Her energetic style draws on the figures of classical art – a celebration of the Divine Feminine at its most blissful, translated to a modern context through expressive lines and a playful way with colour.

Shop now at originalduckhead.com

Brora X Joanna Lumley

Brora use organic cotton as it is grown in a way that uses methods and materials that lessen the impact on our environment.

Designed as part of an extra special collaboration with the charming and brilliantly humorous British icon Dame Joanna Lumley, this five-piece collection takes inspiration from her love of Parisian fashion and her travels between city and country.

Evoking a little 'star quality', this beautifully feminine, butter-soft organic cotton shirt features an all-over textural dobby spot with delicate embroidery on the shaped collar, placket and cuffs, perfect for pairing with their Moss Stitch Tanks.

10% of each sale will go directly to The Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Shop now at broraonline.com

Bleu de Chanel Shaving Brush | £82

The new Bleu De Chanel Shaving Brush is the must have accessory to complete your grooming routine with sophistication and style.

Composed of synthetic hair with a magnetic holder, this Shaving Brush is made to use at home or when you are on the go.

Shop now at chanel.com

Georg Jensen Cobra Candleholders (set of three)

The Cobra candle holder's sensual, fluid shape is undoubtedly one of Georg Jensen’s most recognisable and iconic designs. Seemingly defying gravity, the lightness of the candleholders has a magical effect – one that is doubled when the flickering candlelight is reflected in the surface.

A set of three candlesticks – small (160mm), medium (200mm) and large (240mm) – form a beautiful natural group that, like a cobra, seems to sway this way and that. The designer, German-born Constantin Wortmann says that his work shouldn’t be taken too seriously and should evoke an emotional response.

With a with a mirror-polished finish, the set of three candlesticks are durable, weighty and stable. Stainless steel set £194, or stainless steel and 24ct gold plated set £295. Buy both and mix for a super decadent display.

To explore these and more from the Georg Jensen home collection at Mallory Jewellers, click here

Curated by Daniel McCabe

More Or Less is a sustainable fashion magazine urging us to put a lot more thought into buying our clothes, most importantly factoring in the realities of garment cost and consumption so that we might want to ask ourselves ‘Do I need this? Do I even want this?’ The publisher (creative director Jaime Perlman) argues that we can be style conscious without sacrificing the transportive magic and fantasy of fashion. More or Less is only seven issues old, but it already many of the industry's leading names have accepted its challenge to create fashion stories which are eco-conscious, innovative, fun and with a more accessible price-point | £24

magalleria.co.uk

Review by Daisy Game

Choir Boy, The Bristol Old Vic

Nancy Medina’s debut as Artistic Director at the Bristol Old Vic heralds a glittering new era for the city’s oldest theatre.

Choir Boy, written by Academy Award-winning Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight) follows a group of young, Black students at the Charles R. Drew Prep School. To find respite from grade worries, parental expectations and General Teenage Angst, the boys turn to their extracurriculars. Musical ones, more specifically.  

We’re swiftly introduced to the ‘choir boy’ in question: Pharus (Terique Jarrett) is a talented vocalist gunning to sing the school song at graduation. But he has plenty of demons to face before getting there. As a queer young man, Pharus is the constant, but uncomplaining, victim of homophobic slander from his peers; the show opens with our rising star being publicly taunted by his classmate, Bobby (Alastair Nwachukwu) – a cruel but confused student determined to remove Pharus from a place that he, in Bobby’s opinion, “doesn’t belong”. 

Choir Boy certainly earns its musical keep. The a capella gospel hymns and spiritual numbers are very special indeed, and it’s a joy to be reminded of the spare-but-striking beauty of voices lifted in song. But perhaps more impressive is the way that the show’s script facilitates ensemble work – the cast members gleefully riffing with one another – whilst simultaneously leaving space for individual character development. McCraney doesn’t throw any of his characters to the dogs. These are young men, making mistake after mistake – but trying to find their way back to the kinder path.

Choir Boy is a coming-of-age story about love, hate, and the space in between. Ms Medina, it seems, has made her entrance.

Choir Boy is playing at Bristol Old Vic until November 11. Tickets available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk.

Chocolate Smash! Edible Histories with Bristol's Luke Jerram

Edible Histories is a new arts project by Luke Jerram as part of the Bristol 650 celebrations.

Throughout 2023 five objects that tell the story of Bristol were selected from the following five local venues: Aerospace Bristol, Bristol Zoo Project, National Trust Tyntesfield, Glenside Hospital Museum and M-Shed.

For this event, on 21 October at St. George's Bristol, the five chocolate objects will be brought together for the first time. You will get the opportunity to see all the objects and witness them being broken up by selected members of the public, with special live musical accompaniment!

Luke and his team are also working with The Trussell Trust to distribute much of the chocolate to foodbanks across the city.

Everyone who attends will get to take part of the chocolate sculptures home with them to eat and enjoy!

21 October | 11am | St George's, Great George Street, Bristol BS1 5RR
Book tickets now at eventbrite.co.uk

Elias Sime: ‘Eregata እርጋታ’ at The Arnolfini, opening this Saturday

Elias Sime's first major solo European museum exhibition is arriving at the Arnolfini on 21 October.

Eregata እርጋታ will primarily focus on work from the past six years, including Sime’s monumental Venice Biennale commission Veiled Whispers (2022), alongside intricately woven abstract topographies from the landmark series Tightrope (2013 to present), key works from his early stitch, yarn and button series and the tactile fragility of Bareness, a large-scale ceramic installation from 2014.

21 October – 18 February | 11am – 6pm
16 Narrow Quay, Bristol BS1 4QA
For more info visit arnolfini.org.uk

The Hippodrome hosts two hit shows this weekend on the 22 October

Join Judi Dench in conversation with Brendan O'Hea or come and join Dick and Angel as they celebrate their new book launch this weekend at the Hippodrome. 

At 2pm Judi Dench will walk you through her new book - a witty, insightful journey through the plays and tales of our beloved Shakespeare.

With never-before-heard stories, the triumphs, disasters, backstage shenanigans and moments from Shakespeare’s greatest works, this unique occasion will be one you won’t want to miss. Click here for tickets.

Or join Dick and Angel at 7.30pm for a good old-fashioned book launch about their new book, The Chateau: Forever Home. The pair will bring their irresistible warmth, humour and candour to the stage in Bristol. Click here for tickets.

22 October | Live at the Hippodrome Theatre
St Augustine's Parade, Bristol BS1 4UZ

Noah’s makes it into the Top 10 Fish & Chip Restaurants of the Year 2024!

A Bristol fish & chip restaurant was named in the Top 10 Restaurants of the Year in the National Fish and Chip Awards 2024 on Tuesday.

Noah’s, a new family-run restaurant tucked under the flyover at Cumberland Basin, has been shortlisted, putting it in with a chance of getting through to the next stage of the prestigious competition.

The 10 finalists were selected following a panel of judges reviewing each business for their environmental standards, sustainability best practice methods, customer service and knowledge of the fish and chip industry.

Dan Rosser, who opened Noah’s in May this year with his wife, Joie, said: “When Joie and I set out on opening Noah’s, we dreamt of creating an informal restaurant where everyone is welcome to come and enjoy the best fish & chips and freshest British seafood with a waterside view. 

“It hasn’t all been plain sailing in the current climate, but to make it to the Top 10 Fish & Chip Restaurants when we’ve been open less than six months is a massive achievement for us."

Open Tuesday – Sunday for lunch, and Tuesday – Saturday for dinner.
1 Brunel Lock Road, Bristol BS1 6XS
For more info visit: noahsbristol.co.uk

Original neon artwork for cool homes and businesses.

Hope Neon artworks are designed and handmade in Bristol. After discussing your preferences, artist and founder Wendy will create a unique neon sculpture to bring a wow factor to your hallway, staircase, office building or restaurant interior. Wendy uses glass sourced from Murano and genuine neon – not inferior LEDs or acrylic. The neon does not get hot, uses very little energy and is safe.

Your HopeNeon artwork will be original, valuable and a good investment, as well as being a stunning piece of art that is much admired. Request a brochure to see current artworks for sale or make an appointment to visit Wendy’s gallery at Abbots Leigh and see the fabulous lights!

Visit hopeneon.com to find out more

Roxburgh Cottage, Clifton, Bristol, BS8

Offered for sale by Bristol estate agents, Rupert Oliver

Accessed via private road from Clifton Down ideally positioned directly opposite Clifton Downs, this three bedroom, two-storey coach house, built circa 1860, has been comprehensively refurbished and thoughtfully redesigned to create a contemporary and characterful space with a high-specification finish throughout.

The ground floor consists largely of open-plan living with a designated dining area, sitting room, cloakroom W.C and a newly installed bespoke kitchen. The kitchen itself offers an array of wall-mounted cupboard and drawer storage options as well as a sizeable island, complete with white marble worktops and a breakfast bar with space for stools. This space is well-equipped with a selection of integrated appliances which include induction hobs, an oven, a fridge, a freezer and a dishwasher.

Adjacent to the kitchen is the sitting room which features wall-to-wall windows on one side and floor-to-ceiling bi-folding doors on the other. Of additional note is an electric fire, space for a TV (with chased media services) and recessed shelving on either side of the chimney.

Ascending to the first-floor landing, immediately to the left is a double bedroom with a storage bench. Next to this is a further bedroom which would work perfectly as a home office or nursery. These two bedrooms share the use of a family bathroom with a freestanding bath, an oversized walk-in shower cubical with a ‘Crittall' shower screen, a heated towel rail, a sink and W.C. 

At the end of the hallway is a generous master bedroom which enjoys direct access into a fully tiled en-suite shower room, complete with a walk-in shower cubical heated towel rail, W.C. and a sink. 

The property has sole use of a private enclosed rear courtyard garden spanning the full width of the property. 

There is room to park a vehicle by arrangement with neighbouring residents as well as entitlement to permit parking via the local authority | Guide Price, £900,000

For more images and details click here to see the property on the Rupert Oliver website.