I learnt this week, after many hundreds of hours of my life spent in pubs, that the decoration on the walls that I have always thought were beer mats are in fact pump clips. To the annoyance of Joanna, my drinking companion in the Three Tuns in Hotwells, I spent a bit too long tapping all of the numerous pump clips on their walls, just to confirm that they were metallic rather than cardboard.

Satisfied that they were indeed made of metal, it was time to peruse them, mentally ticking off the beers drank and chuckling at some of the names of the lesser known beverages. Yogi Beer, take a bow.

Dozens of pump clips on the walls are a definite sign of a pub with a firm emphasis on real ale. And so it is that the Three Tuns on St George’s Road, a short meander past Bristol Cathedral and the Central Library, is a superb pub for beer conoissueurs.

Being an Arbor Ales pub, the Three Tuns always has a generous selection of the Kingswood brewery’s wares. When Jo and I visited last Monday after work, Arbor Ales on tap were Brigstow Bitter, Artisan and Fuggles. As if that wasn’t enough, there was also Bristol Stout from the Bristol Beer Factory, Crouch Vale Essex Boys Bitter, Art Brewery Apex Hip Hop Centennial and Plain Ales Inspiration. Many more pump clips can soon go on the walls from that fine selection.

Meanwhile, it is greatly hoped that the current two Arbor Ales pubs in Bristol (the other is the Old Stillage in Redfield) will grow to more soon,  from a brewery only founded in 2007 which is already producing award-winning ales and if the beer selection in the Three Tuns is anything to go by, obviously keen to showcase other small breweries.

The Three Tuns landlord is Ned Clarke, formally at the Portcullis in Clifton with his sadly now departed Jack Russell Daisy, and before that at the Hillgrove in Kingsdown and Miner’s Arms in St Werburgh’s.

He has certainly smartened this pub up since he helped Arbor Ales take it over late last year, with an improved covered outside seating area, large mirrors and comfy red leather sofas giving an elegant feel among the pump clips, definitely pump clips, in one of the best real ale pubs in Bristol.

The Three Tuns, 78 St George’s Road, Hotwells, Bristol. 0117 939 4079.

www.arborales.co.uk