Yes, this is our twenty-fifth Bristol Splunch, a 'silver jubilee' if you like, and we have invited Messmaster and Messmistress to join us; swapping their usual Las Vegas holiday for a trip to the UK, and to join us at our meet.
The twenty-fifth Bristol Splunch will take place on Saturday, 17th May 2025 from 2:00pm - 7:00pm in Horts Bar, 49 Broad Street, Bristol, BS1 2EP, and for those who are still peckish/thirsty later at some eatery/watering hole elsewhere in or near the city.
This is a vanilla meet; all over 18 from anywhere are welcome, and entry is free. I might even buy your first drink.
What is it?
It's a 'vanilla' pub social meet - drink, chat, meet'n'greet, listen, learn, advise, offer opinions, discuss substances, etc, make friends, maybe arrange a session. This is usually followed by a meal in the evening, and an outdoor mud session the following day; always subject to the bl%%dy weather.
If I can answer any more questions, I'll be delighted to help; and in any event to welcome you to the Splunch.
How do I get there?
Broad Street is about twenty minutes walk from Bristol Temple Meads railway station, easily accessible from almost anywhere in the country, and there are several car parks nearby.
From the railway station exit, turn right along Temple Gate to the roundabout, cross over onto Victoria Street, continue over the river bridge into High Street, and bear gently left into Broad Street as High Street turns to the right into Wine Street. Horts Bar is about one hundred yards down on the right.
From the bus/coach station, exit onto Whitson Street, left into Lower Maudlin Street, cross Lewins Mead to Rupert Street and turn right. After about two hundred yards, turn left into Christmas Street, cross Quay Street and through the stone archway into Broad Street. Horts Bar is about fifty yards up on the left.
For those driving, at the bottom of the M32/Newfoundland Street, turn right onto Bond Street, take the first exit at the roundabout into The Haymarket, turn left into Bridewell Street, left into Nelson Street, right into Halifax Street and into the multi-storey on All Saints' Street - only £5 for the whole day, and closer than any other one. Please note that many roads in Bristol are subject to a 20mph speed limit; the previous mayor, who introduced the limit, was caught speeding.
To get to the bar, from All Saints' Street, turn right into Pithay, right into Tower Lane, left into Newmarket Avenue, and right onto Broad Street - the bar is a few yards down on the right. (Politically correct notice other car parks are available in Bristol.)
For those flush enough (or subsidised) flying into Bristol (Lulsgate) Airport, take the Airport Flyer bus service to the bus/coach station and proceed as above from there.
Hotels - the usual chains are readily available. For those hotels that are not available for Saturday only, rooms seem to be readily available for two-night stays, either Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday nights at very reasonable rates. Other hotels are available; check http://laterooms.com or trivago or similar sites, or check the out-of-town hotels from the above chains.
Dinner - please let me know if you'd like to stay for dinner on Saturday evening; it's likely to be Chinese or Italian unless there's an overwhelming vote for something else.
I'll be hoping to do an outdoor mud shoot on the Sunday (always subject to mud and the bl%%dy weather and availability of models and sober drivers).
If you have any further questions, post them here or pm me.

Mike.

Actually free that day, could take the bike out for a spin too! 3hours and 4 mins? Challenge accepted.

Will definitely be there and looking forward to this.

Can't wait to see MM & Ms MM again as it's been a while.

Eh yo, MM and mm are goin to England!? That's awesome!

I keep saying I'll get over there one day, and life keeps finding a way to kick me in the wallet.

A teetotal driver here if you need one. I'll also just add for anyone driving a roughly 10 year old diesel or complete banger petrol car that most of the car parks within Bristol are now within a low emission zone - it's £9 for a car so not bank breaking but if you don't realise you have to pay it you'll be whacked for £120. Though unlike London you get up to 6 days to pay the normal rate.


Also I don't know whether a plan B in case of bad weather would help but I do have a gunge tank that can be assembled and disassembled in about 30 minutes that can when disassembled fit in the boot of a car. Though such plan B would hinge on an appropriate indoor venue. It doesn't necessarily require a shower as I could potentially bring a second portable gunge tank the first for the actual gungings (that can catch the gunge at the bottom so we can reuse some for multiple people and have less to dispose of at the end) and the second for people to step into to be showered off with water. But drainage for the gunge and water afterwards would be a necessary requirement as would a venue large enough to accommodate those attending. I realise this might be a complete pain the arse organisationally but thought I'd float a possible plan B.


I will say that whilst I would probably rate Bristol within the top 3 cities in the UK... I'm not sure I would pay the extra flight costs to ditch Las Vegas for Bristol at that time of year myself if I lived in the US. I know we Brits complain a lot more than we should about the rain (London itself gets less annual rainfall than either Rome or Sydney but still Londoners like to bitch - assuming they talk at all, people would prefer to take part in the No Trousers (pants for US readers) Tube Ride than talk to anyone on the tube - and quite why they want to hold a trouserless event in winter rather than the summer when the Central line gets hot enough to breach animal welfare standards I don't now but anyway going off on a tangent, blame the ADHD) but in the West of UK in spring then moaning about rain is likely justified.

Hmm, I could actually come to this, weekend after my marathon so sitting eating is perfectly fine. Transport pretty straightforward from here, although unless there are some bargain Advance tickets I bet the railway will be more than 'leccy and parking.
I have cycled all the way to Bristol, but over three days.

I'll be there

A little update. After only a fortnight, and with a long time still to go, quite a few have expressed interest already: -

Coming.

CustardFlanman
Falkor
Garywam
Gloopsuit
Hannible
Messymess34
OllyQueen
Silver Sea
Sploshman
Wannabewammin

Interested.

Enbyexploring
Littlemissyy
Marcel112
Mysteryspin

and of course, me.

Plenty of time to sign up, or pm me any questions.
I look forward to seeing you all.

Mike.

Hello All

Will definitely be coming to this and staying for dinner too.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Wamadeus

I wish Messmistress and I could make it this year, as Mike is always inviting us to come across the pond to visit. Every year it just turns out to be a bad time for us But I hope this year's is the most successful gathering yet. We will try our hardest to be there next year.

We need teleportation technology.

Hoping to make this, finances and weather permitting - though in my case more likely to make it to Bristol if the weather is cold and wet, as if it's fine and warm, and any of our people are available, we'll probably be out on the mudbanks down at Marsh House shooting our own scenes.

But the general pattern for recent years is that Mud Season doesn't open till the end of May so chances are I'll be there.