Chris_OGrady

A shedload of Guinness over the weekend in Dublin. We did a few of the famous/recommended pubs- Mulligans, Bowe's, Doheny & Nesbit, Bleeding Horse. None of them blew me away but they were all enjoyable. Unfortunately the beer selection is pretty limited in Dublin, with near identical selections everywhere you go and hardly any craft beer/independent brewery offerings. I just mainly stuck to the Guinness which went down very nicely. As expected, the Temple Bar area was very gimmicky and touristy. However, like most places, once you push out from the city centre and away from the touristy areas it gets much better. Drury Street was excellent- everybody out drinking on the street in the sun (none of the plastic cup bollocks). Baggot Street lower and Camden Street were great for boozing and general vibe. We ended up spending the night out at Devitts which was absolutely bouncing. The area around the university is incredibly nice, a bit like the Georgian Quarter in Liverpool but bigger and better. Overall I'd say it exceeded my expectations and I'd definitely go back. Just a great general vibe and the people were sound as ****.

They have it on at the Real Ale Classroom

Toilet situation there is a bit of a shame

I don't mind Guinness but I would only order it if I fancied a more Cask type of pint in a place that didn't do Cask. It is indeed very, very popular atm. Their marketing team has nailed it. You even see girls drinking it! Talking of Guinness I'm in Dublin this weekend. Any recommendations for pubs?

Ignore this, forgot it’s an early kick off!

The Taj Bar and Grill opens at 5 and is quite close to the ground. It’s pretty good there

I went to Indian Queen last night on Belgrave Road. It's not the smartest inside but has character. The lamb chops there are the best I've ever had at an Indian. Worth going for that alone!

Yeh I will give it a try if I'm down there! It sounds like it's somewhere I'd be able to take my Mrs to which is a bonus, as it's a nightmare getting her into the pubs I like

I've got a bit of a cynical outlook on the Devonshire (without having been). It's always being pushed by that insufferable Topjaw bloke and also prides itself on it's "Guinness" which is playing to the gallery atm. I'm guessing the prices are high too? Feel like it's been created for the social media/ influencer crowd.

I try and avoid booze in the week, skip breakfast and have first food at 12am, stay off crisps and chocolate as much as possible, and avoid takeaways and ready meals.

Do it - sounds like you'd be half decent unlike myself. My play cricket average is 0 from my one appearance a few year's ago for Quorn 3rds It's a very welcoming sport and good for social. Much better vibe than playing local football from my experience

Yeh I've started using Untappd. What's your username? Need to get some friends on there

I had a load of Harvey's bitter in the Market Porter - thanks @grobyfox1990. Should have stayed there instead of going to the game!

Yeh I didn't really have much intention hanging around there 2 hours before kick off . Interestingly though, there's a few taprooms nearby which would be open for Sat 3pm kick off.

No Sorry, I meant around South Bermondsey. If the last train from London Bridge gets you into South Bermondsey at 5.30pm, you would have around 2 hours to kill around there before the match

Is there much to do round there for 2 hours before the game? Guessing a lot of the pubs will be home fans only

This is looking like a right faf now. I'm booked onto the 10.35pm back from St Pancras. Looks like I might have to do a King Power Stadium special... I suppose there's no point pre boozing round London Bridge anymore either

Yeh same! I'm even going to Belfast in August because of this thread I lived in London for 5 years and looks like I missed out on so many of the good pubs. I'll be putting that right though the next few times I go down! One city that I felt the thread was a bit light on was Liverpool (I went Uni there). Recommendations seemed to be limited to Ship and Mitre and Rigby's on Dale Street, when in reality you want to be over the side of town in the Georgian Quarter. Loads of good pubs within walking distance of each other and each with distinctive character.

Some decent pints over the bank holiday weekend: Thursday: Swan in the Rushes Loughborough - Charnwood Brewery Moon Door - very nice! Friday: Colmore Birmingham - Jaipur - decent Friday: Real Ale Classroom Leicester - London Black and one of the specials on Cask - okay Saturday: Malt Shovel Shardlow - one of their own beers on cask - decent I'm sure some of you already know this, but if you type a place name in speech marks into the search box of this thread (eg "Birmingham") it brings up all previous mentions of the place. I got bored one afternoon at work and searched all the major cities in the UK and saved down all the best pubs on my google maps . For example I had the Colmore (even though the reviews were mixed) saved down from this thread. The recommendations on this thread are absolutely bang on and much better than any internet site (European Bar Guide is also very good though). Up the Foxestalk!

Sorrel is very good now isn’t it. I love walking down the canal in summer from Barrow and stopping off at the Navigation and Swan. What’s the deal with Pinsent? Haven’t been there yet. Don’t really get it

I still thought it was decent, but I prefer the Gujarati/East African ones we have in Leicester. Also preferred Hen & Chickens in Birmingham to Soho Tavern.

Just been to Soho Tavern in Birmingham. It was decent but nothing special. The mixed grills look good for Instagram but there’s not much else. Leicester’s the place!

I went in the TTL last Tuesday and there was a few in there tbf. Was expecting it to be completely dead

I hear Adnams have been struggling recently so make sure you drink plenty of their beer when you are there! Sole Bay Inn is a great little pub

I agree with your point though about most people staying in the villages rather than venturing out to Leicester because of perception. For a lot of people the food is secondary and it's all about the surroundings and vibe. Hence why a lot of people enjoy overpriced boring shite I don't know any pure East African places, but there's Afrikana on Charles street (no idea which part of Africa it specialises in). Also went to the Frame last night which was pretty good. Town was also reasonably busy for a Tuesday night.