Places to avoid on Valentine’s Day in Bristol

Valentine’s Day has rolled around once again with its annual reminder that you are alone and deeply uninterested in watching couples publicly parade their love. The day always seems to be a bland celebration where couples feel socially compelled to prove their relationship through romantic dinner reservations, bouquets of roses and cringeworthy Instagram Stories.

Unfortunately, Bristol is a city full of aesthetic cafes, dimly lit pubs and picturesque walking spots, making Valentine’s Day even more unbearable. The city becomes rife with couples’ handholding and maintaining intense eye contact. To protect your peace this 14^th of February, here are the places you should avoid at all costs, unless you enjoy watching love being aggressively rubbed in your face.

Highbury Vaults

Any pub that’s atmosphere can be described as “cosy” or “charming” is an immediate no-go. Highbury Vaults is the perfect example, the pub will be filled with couples who are sharing a bench, a pint, and a personality. Think horrifically artsy couples who are absolutely there for the photo opportunity (and also to ensure you feel even more alone). If intense PDA makes you uncomfortable make sure to only go to pubs that have got sticky floors and a rowdy atmosphere. The WG grace or Berkely are probably the safest bets due to their loud and blissfully unromantic atmosphere. Let’s face it, if you run into a couple there, they’re doomed anyhow.

Tapps Wine Bar

Most Read

It’s everywhere, so here’s how to do that viral AI caricature trend with ChatGPT

This is what Lucy Letby’s tense life is really like now, according to a prison governor

This is exactly who is smoking or vaping in the Love Island All Stars 2026 villa

Wine bars are a definite danger zone for couples soft launching their new relationships. Think dim lighting, natural wine and high tables. They are the perfect setting for couples to be clinking glasses and drinking to celebrate their unwavering commitment. Dimly lit, intimate places are a hard no for your Valentine’s plans, the other singles will be in the blinding fluorescents of Taco Bell, or the mind-numbing strobes of literally any club.

Bravas

Bravas on Valentine’s Day is essentially for couples only. Here everything is for sharing, how disgustingly romantic, all small plates restaurants should be avoided like the plague! Bravas is designed for smitten couples with its curated fairy-lights and the expectation that you’ll order a jug of sangria and split it with your significant other across the table.

On February 14th, the entire restaurant will be filled with couples feeding each other bites and insisting “you have to try this”. Your appetite will disappear within minutes. This is also especially true of nice Italian restaurants where you are fated to run into couples leaning over candlelit tables and enjoying their carbonara ‘Lady and the Tramp’ style.

The Harbourside

For whatever reason, this arctic, arguably smelly harbour is seen as an adorable place to be. I’m sure a picnic and a bottle of wine in the middle of winter is the epitome of romance, but if you are single please make sure to avoid the Harbourside to save yourself the distress of witnessing a disgustingly determined effort from couples to remain sweet and (not-at-all) niche on this horrendous holiday.

Clifton (ALL OF IT)

Clifton on February 14th is extremely romantic territory. It is the ideal spot for brunch, long walks and PDA. The neighbourhoods notoriously cute and overpriced cafes like Mercy Mercy Mercy and Primrose Café will be full of couples sharing sweet treats and then heading for a charming stroll to the suspension bridge.

The Everyman

On a typical day cinemas are already bad enough but Valentine’s Day takes it to a whole new level. Especially, the Everyman, its sofas are designed for couples to take part in excessive cuddling and whispering. Make sure to steer clear of all film screenings, in particular theatres showing the new Wuthering Heights starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie. This film is absolutely guaranteed to be an inherently creepy aphrodisiac for long-term relationships and you don’t need to be anywhere near that.

Mini golf

Any activity  spots to be precise, unless you want to run into strange couples that enjoy activity-based dates. (If this is your Valentine’s plan, I’m sorry). Do not even think about stepping foot near a mini golf course or a bowling alley, as it will definitely be even worse than you think. Imagine watching couples attempt to teach each other how to use a golf and giggling together incessantly. Everyone knows how to swing a golf club, it might be the opposite of rocket science, avoid at all costs.

You might be wondering where it is safe to be on Valentine’s, and the answer is the club. Head to the Triangle this Valentine’s to fulfil your fantasies of real-life Hinge! Bristol’s nightlife is pretty much guaranteed to be housing zero couples and 100 per cent lone singles like yourself. It might actually be a sign that Valentine’s falls on a Saturday this year. A sign that, in order to avoid the horrifically inappropriate PDA and lovesickness that plagues this holiday, you might just have to get so drunk you can’t see anything at all.