Only three in this series to go, and I really want to leave December free for posts on “The best pub Christmas decorations” (only available to Patronised readers), so let’s crack on.
Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and, to magnificently conclude, the Isle of Man, have some of the very best the GBG has to offer.
The one slight problem with N.I. is the lack of real ale in our premier real ale guide.
But I rate the Antrim and the Causeway essential visits,
and if Coleraine’s GBG entry didn’t have cask it certainly had craft.
So, after much thought, I’m sticking that one in as your closest pub to those weird old rocks.
Coleraine – Fairley’s
No cask, and the crafty keg was off as well, but they’d imported an artisanal stout from Dublin that was very nice, compared with Guinness in Cambridge, anyway.
We could have had a can from the offie and drank it for a small corkage fee, and I’ve seen more tenuous GBG ticking than that, let me tell you.
Your ultimate guide to Belfast is from Quinno via Newbury Tim, who enjoyed that life-affirming city as much as I did, and even found some (alleged) cask, as well as these murals.
Belfast – The Crown Liquor Saloon
You’ll always find real ale in the Crown (and the Spoons), but you’ll rarely find a seat. I queued for 45 minutes to get that booth for Mrs RM and Matt and Emma, as long as I’ve queued in total in my life, and it was sort of worth it. But they should bring back the Bass.
My favourite pub, and the best cask, is in the student quarter, just below the Botanic Gardens.
But Belfast always seems ashamed of its cask, the pump clip falling apart at the side, and in the Errigle literally confined to a back room that YOU WILL NOT FIND.
Which is a shame, as I reckon this one of the most beautiful pub rooms, anywhere, and the Whitewater an absolute joy.
In my experience real ale in this chapter (not a Freemasonry reference) is either NBSS 4 or NBSS 1.5 or non-existent.
Killinchy – Daft Eddie’s
In Killinchy, on the banks of Strangford Lough, the Whitewater at Daft Eddy’s (named after a fellow GBG ticker) was close to a 5, the food even better. Sadly, this was in 1998, before blogs and WiFi and photography, so I’ve nicked these pics off their website.
Pub food round here is as good as it gets, anywhere, particularly the fish.
Of course, the beer may have gone to pot over the last 26 years and it would still be in the Guide, but it’s worth finding out yourself.
(Newton)Ards – Spirit Merchant
I’ve had some terrible beer in Antrim Spoons; famously the Ballymena one (don’t RIP) saw a young barman tell me “It’s real ale, it’s supposed to be warm pondwater“.
But, though Tim has closed a few now, Spoons need to be on this list, if only to get you to go to Ards, a difficult place to love, a bit like Chatteris.
Great street art, a barman with a tie, Old Boys drinking “Speckly Hen”,
though if you choose to stick with Guinness for £3.15 I shan’t condemn you.
Over to you for a sixth.
Of course, the most attractive exterior belongs to a pub that sadly doesn’t make my list.
But it might make yours.
retiredmartin 