The last remaining 17th century kiln in Bristol has been given a renewed lease of life as a restaurant within a new hotel.
The bottom section of the stone cone, which originally forged glassware, now forms part of the recently opened DoubleTree by Hilton, a hotel which was previously the Ramada before its owners went into administration.
Although the kiln has been a restaurant since the 1970s, the hotel’s new owners have evidently spent lots of money on its latest refurbishment.
Here is the new Kiln Restaurant from the outside, just opposite the empty Bell pub on Prewett Street:
And here is the restaurant from the inside:
Less than a century ago, Bristol’s skyline was peppered with similar kilns.
Glass Wharf around the back of Temple Meads was named after the industry, and as the photograph below from the 1890s shows is unrecognisable from today.
Behind the busy railway scene on what was then known as Avonside Wharf can be seen the cones of the Avon Street glass works, Bristol’s last, that remained in operation until 1923.
Those of us with elephantine memories will recall that the kiln was a restaurant throughout the 1980s, when the hotel was called the Dragonara!
When I lived on Redcliffe Parade (the colourful houses overlooking the docks / Thekla) a few years ago there was a servants quarters building at the bottom of my garden, inside it was an old antiquated bread oven next to the fireplace in a small stone built building, that presumably used to house the servants when the house was a little grander than it is today. It was generally the first thing I showed any visitor, but my old bread oven didn’t look quite as grand as that.