Thank goodness for the Vittoria. Among the vertical drinking establishments on the Whiteladies Road ‘strip’, one traditional watering hole remains, steadfast in its determination to be an old-fashioned pub as when the sun sets, all around it becomes a Bristol version of a layer of hell in Dante’s Inferno.

Not the Vittoria, however, a one-room pub that prides itself on its real pub ethic, serving cask ales (including Doom Bar, Bombardier and John Horn 1849 on the Saturday afternoon I visited) and wholesome pub grub at sensible prices (both my friend Rupert and I went for Pieminister pies, him Heidi, me Chicken of Aragon, served with mash, mushy peas and gravy for £5.75).

We were both ravenous after a long cycle ride from his flat in Cotham, over the Suspension Bridge, through Long Ashton, up to Dundry, on to the Chew Valley Lake, and then back via Chew Magna, Failand and Abbots Leigh. We certainly worked up an appetite, and wolfed down the pies before Rupert’s wife Charlotte joined us as we polished off our 1849s, a great ale from the John Horn brewery in Manchester.

The owners hope to introduce about 12 guest ales a month, and to further entice people through the door, during the week every evening offers something different. On Mondays, it is sausage and mash night, with sausages from the Bristol Sausage Shop in St Nic’s Market; on Tuesdays, cask ale night; on Wednesdays, steak and ale night; and on Thursday, quiz and curry night, £1 per person to enter and, whether you win or not, free curry and rice at half-time.

There should always be a place for a pub like the Vittoria, and it has got to be beneficial to this part of Whiteladies Road that it steadfastly refuses to budge.

The Vittoria, 57 Whiteladies Road, Clifton. 0117 330 9414.