Just two items this month, but both are good news:

PALACE HOTEL, WEST STREET, BRISTOL. Reopened. Mike Kackson of Brostol 
CAMRA reports:
‘I am pleased to tell you that the Palace Hotel in Bristol re-opened as 
a pub in December 2008. You will probably re-call the story but just to 
recap, having closed in the summer of 2005, it changed owners and went 
through a very uncertain time as planning applications were submitted to 
change it into offices and remove the bar. Bristol CAMRA Pubs 
Campaigning Group campaigned vigorously against the change of use 
application, not because it was a great real ale pub, which it wasn't, 
but because of its significant internal fittings which make it at least 
as good as any other Bristol pub.
  ‘We eventually persuaded the owner to market it as a pub and after a 
couple of false starts he attracted a tenant who has agreed to a 10-year 
tenancy. Because of the Palace's position in the red light and "gay 
village" area of Bristol, it is appropriate that the new tenant is 
running it as a gay-friendly bar. This is probably its best chance of 
survival. All of the fixtures and fittings have been retained and 
following a decoration, a clean up of the brass columns and the addition 
of grand curtain drapes and a chandelier it looks magnificent.
‘So pleased are we with the outcome we, the Bristol Pubs Campaigning 
Group, are holding our bi-monthly meeting at the Palace next week.’

DOLPHIN, MARE STREET, HACKNEY, LONDON E8. Now reopened. (I reported it 
closed in November following complaints about late-night noise).

Geoff