Southampton Pub Crawl

Cast your mind back to November 2018: counting-down to Christmas, the Daily Express predicting terrible winter weather, and supping ales at the Oxford Beer Festival.

Volunteering for this probably provided me with the most exercise I got all year - those bar units don't get up to the first floor of the Town Hall by themselves y'know!
But volunteering was also great fun and now in March 2019 we were heading southbound on the A34 to visit Southampton on the Beer Festival Helpers Trip.

Arriving at midday we opted to make our way to Southampton's oldest area by the quayside with our eye on a brewpub as the first point of call.
Dancing Man (Town Quay, SO14 2AR - web)
Located close to the River Test, this building would once have sat right at the waters edge  prior to the land in front of it being reclaimed.  It has been a wool store, a jail for French prisoners-of-war and a maritime museum over the years.  

Dancing Man Brewery - Southampton

And what a great place to start our day.  Now housing the Dancing Man microbrewery, this is a characterful bar with a fantastic range of beers on offer - from best bitter to grapefruit IPA to milk stout and most points inbetween
Too early in the day for a 9% 'Super Liquid' double IPA? Yep, probably.
With lots of quirky decorations throughout the two floors it's a comfortable and popular place and somewhere I'll certainly make it back to when next in the city.

Upstairs bar and dining at the Dancing Man.

Next up we called into the Heritage Pub-listed Red Lion on the High Street - which I've covered here on a separate post.

It's a magnificent old building with historical tales attached to it, although not the best venue of the day that we encountered for beer choice. 

From one of the cities oldest pubs to one of it's newest: two doors along the High Street we visited

Crammed Inn (48 High Street, SO14 2NS)
This small bar opened in October 2018 and is located in what was once Oceans Gift Shop.
Leather sofas take up the front section, with high stools and tables to the rear, with an interesting selection of art and maps adorning the walls.

The 'Loxhill Biscuit' brewed by The Crafty Brewing Company of Dunsford, Surrey, was a lovely beer, with Belgian Biscuit malt giving it a toasty, nutty flavour.
Also on offer was a second Crafty Brewing ale, plus a bitter by Flowerpots Brewery.

A short walk back down to the quay took us to the
Platform Tavern (Town Quay, SO14 2NY - web)
This was built in 1873 with the name being derived from a quay opposite the pub which was known as the Platform.

The Platform Tavern, Southampton.  Lilac.

It has a Titanic connection with a plaque at the door stating that Mr James McGrady, whose body was the last to be pulled from the wreck, lodged here, with the pub being his last address.  Back in 1912 you would have been able peer out the window and see the ill-fated vessel when it docked nearby at Dock Berth 44.

This afternoon the pub is much quieter than I guess it would have been back in the shipping heydays.  Dancing man logo's appear throughout, left over from it's time as the original site of the brewpub, prior to them relocating a short distance to the wool store.
On this visit we had a choice of 6 beers, the pick of which were a Steam Town 4.2% session ale called 'Reefer' and Dark Revolution's  'Velveteen Stout'. 
We settled down at the Platform Tavern to grab a plate of food, with a tasty chilli providing some sustenance for the rest of the day ahead.
 
Next up, we backtracked on ourselves to visit another historical pub, in this case dating back to the 15th century.
Duke of Wellington (36 Bugle Street, SO14 2AH)
This is a stand-out building, with a timbered frontage.  It's been a pub since 1494 when the building was purchased by brewer Rowland Johnson.  It's also been called the Shipwrights Arms, prior to becoming the Duke of Wellington in 1815 in celebration of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Waterloo.

The pub was busy this afternoon, mostly with diners sipping G&T's and complementing the fish and chips.  The beers here come from Wadworth of Devizes, with six hand pumps in operation, covering their core range.  It's a characterful, historical pub, but I wanted more unusual local ales that I couldn't easily get back in Oxford. 
For that, we walked a little way eastwards into what our tourist map told us was the Maritime Quarter.

Caskaway (47 Oxford Street, SO14 3DP - web)
These 'tasting rooms' are at the hipster end of the mirco-pub spectrum. A large beer-board advertised 14 'craft' keg offerings covering Milkshake IPAs, 8% Saison's and Breakfast Stouts, and plenty more besides.  Alongside the craft there were three ales served on gravity, as well as a good range of ciders.  We stayed here, amongst the nautical decorations, for a couple of beers from the extensive range.

So, six stops completed around the old town and we were hot-footing it a mile-and-a-half northwards to make it to another drinking area: the Bevios Valley.

Disappointing lack of forest from Forest View. 

Time starts to go a bit haywire at this point in the day.
At the first couple of pubs I look at the clock and seem to have all the time in the world...no problem to make it everywhere I want to get to.  Then, somewhere around 3:30pm time seems to suddenly speed up. A conscious countdown to the coach pick-up begins and we're re-evaluating our route and trying to decide how many more of the pubs we can make it to in the day.
The first we were determined to visit is a respected Good Beer Guide regular...

The Guide Dog (38 Earls Road, SO14 6SF)
This is a superb backstreet boozer, situated along quiet terraced streets.  This afternoon it's attracted a number other folk from the Helpers Trip who've found their way here through various different routes.  For me, that's one of the joys of the trip - continually bumping into folks you know in the recommended pubs.
"Oh no, not you again", they say. 
In a jovial way, not really meaning it.
Probably.

Back-street classic - The Guide Dog, Southampton

The Guide Dog has a sizable range of cask ales on offer, with several choices from Flowerpots and other local breweries to choose from.  I selected a 3.8% pale ale, 'Stoke' brewed by Steam Town Brew Co, and we sat in the relaxed ambience of the pub admiring the Southampton FC memorabilia on the walls.

Just up the hill, 5-minutes on, we next found ourselves in the
Bookshop Alehouse (21 Postwood Road, SO17 2ES)
You'll probably be able to guess what this used to be prior to becoming a micro-pub... 

Indeed, they even have a run of bookshelves along one wall with books for sale.  It gives Mrs PropUptheBar the chance to immerse herself in 'Roundabouts of Great Britain'.  
A welcome break from having to listen to me all day long, no doubt.
There was a warm welcome to be had in the Bookshop Alehouse, with an enthusiastic barman talking us through the beers available.  Lots of good options here with Red Cat, Eight Arch and Wild Weather ales but I plumped for Dark Revolution's 'Orbital', a 3.2% ABV pale ale hopped with citra, mosaic and equinox.  For such a sensible strength beer it was packed full of flavour and thoroughly enjoyable.

Books and Beer

The clock is ticking fast, the halves are being downed quicker and the pub visits getting shorter... How many more can we get to, we ponder, as we race down the hill to
The Rockstone (63 Onslow Road, SO14 0JL)
Speedy visits (and beer, allegedly) reduce my memory of places and my recollections of the Rockstone are a little vague...
A u-shaped pub room around a brick-fronted bar; 
lots of 'reserved' tables; a fine choice of ales; 
Tony Goulding making a noisy entrance... 

The Rockstone, looking splendid in the early evening. 

Time eventually got the better of us and we had to skip the London Brew House.  We poked our head in and received a report on the beers (too cold, apparently), but didn't have the time to try these ourselves.  A little further on was
Belgian & Blues (184 Above Bar Street, SO14 7DW - web)
This being the closest bar on our map to where the bus was picking up it was a logical last stop and no surprise to find a number of familiar faces in here.
This was a cool basement beer bar, with lots of little nooks and crannies and a superb selection of beer on offer: local brews, craft delights and, as the name suggests, Belgian beers.
I offset the sensibility of the earlier 3.2% ale by picking 'After the Storm', an 8.3% stout by Left Handed Giant.  Well, it was the last one of the day.

This had been a great day out.  Southampton had proved to be an interesting destination where we'd been to a variety of venues from traditional pubs to modern bars, micro's and a brewpub.
It just remains for me to say a big THANK YOU again to the folks who put the time and effort into arranging this trip as a treat for the beer fest volunteers.
Cheers!

The Red Lion, Southampton

The Red Lion (55 High Street, SO14 2NS - web).
This intriguing pub in Southampton's historic quarter appears on the CAMRA National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and was somewhere I'd been keen to visit.
According to an article in the Daily Echo it is the "second oldest pub in England".
I've recently visited a couple of pubs that lay some sort of claim to be the oldest in the land.  I'd planned to get around more of these with a view to writing my masterpiece in pub-blogging on the subject.
Hmmm...The Red Lion hadn't appeared previously in any of my 'oldest pub' searches, so I'm not so sure about that Daily Echo claim. There's some stiff competition out there and a lot of reinterpreting the rules when it comes to putting an age on your Olde Worlde Inn.
The cellars of the Red Lion are said to date back to 1148, whilst it was established as a pub in 1552 - the date when it's first licence was granted.

The Red Lion, Southampton 

Approaching down the High Street the Red Lions' facade stands out proudly - three storeys high with the upper two being 1920's Brewers Tudor.

Behind this frontage is a medieval hall house.
The bar lies immediately to the right as you walk into the pub.  Apparently this has a heated foot-rest - not something I'd deem strictly necessary.  Sadly I didn't investigate this further - no easy way to check foot-rests as I squeezed past the old boys nursing their pints of Fosters to get to the bar.
The ale choice on offer was 'Doom Bar' or Greene King 'Yardbird'.  We plumped for halves of the 'Yardbird', a 4% pale ale, which was absolutely fine in an average Greene King kinda way.

But the appeal of the pub isn't so much the beer: it's the remarkable interior.  Beyond the bar, the room opens out to the dramatic high ceiling of the hall, with flags, shields and suits of armour above a magnificent 16th century fireplace.

The legend associated with the pub and proudly displayed on a sign by the stairs to the gallery is that this hall was once used as Henry V's Court Room.

Legend

Back in 1415 Henry Scrope of Masham, Richard, Earl of Cambridge and Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton were suspected of conspiring to murder Henry V and duly arrested. The conspirators in what became known as the Southampton Plot were put on trial at this location, found guilty and subsequently relieved of their heads at the Bargate.
Spoiling the tale somewhat, historians believe it's more likely that a trial would have taken place at the castle where the trio were imprisoned, which would have had plenty of suitable rooms in which to host a trial.  
Thereby somewhat scuppering the ghost sightings of a procession of three mournful souls leaving the pub.  Yep, the Red Lion claims it's fair share of paranormal activity with somewhere in excess of 20 ghosts said to make appearances and cause mischief.

A good knight out at the Red Lion
.....I'll get me coat. 

Despite it's age and history, the Red Lion doesn't feel like a tourist attraction - it feels like a proper pub.  There's a bunch of young lads standing inches away from the small TV showing Euro football qualifiers, a handful of locals by the bar and a few folks eating lunches.  And a parrot, sitting in is cage, overseeing proceedings.

Roy Orbison's 'Penny Arcade' is playing as we arrive - have a listen to it...it isn't half an odd song to walk into a pub and hear blasting from the speakers.  Our soundtrack then veered into a bit of Ultravox and Abba.

Personally, I enjoyed the Red Lion, but then I am a bit of a geek when it comes to heritage pubs.  Okay, you'll find better ales nearby, but you've got to go quite some way to match sitting on the gallery underneath the old timbers in the hall, keeping an eye out for ghosts and humming along to 'Take a Chance on Me'. 
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Heritage Pub Listing
There's also a great old picture of the pub in 1953 here, sporting Watneys signage a vacant lot next door.

Flower Pot, Aston

Reading Ale Trail: Final Leg

Almost there: 23 pubs ticked off since we started on the 10th February.   We'd saved one of the trickier pubs to reach until last. 
To get there we caught the Thames Travel 'River Rapids' (not as cool a bus as the name suggests) from Oxford to Henley-on-Thames.  This was something of a white knuckle ride, shaking up the Titanic Plum Porter and Cappucino Stout that we'd stayed far too long drinking at the Royal Blenheim last night.
This week we also had to contend with Storm Graham, bringing us prophetic dark clouds and unrelenting strong winds.
Braving this, we crossed the Thames and followed the Chiltern Way over gentle hills.

This took us through woodland and fields of crops, in countryside that I'd be declaring as lovely if only we had nice sunny weather.  Reaching the small village of Aston, the Flower Pot was pretty much impossible to miss
.
Flower Pot (Ferry Road, Aston, RG9 3DG - web)

Grey day.  The Flower Pot, Aston

To the right of the entrance is a narrow bar, whilst to the left is a more 'restauranty' area.  Here, in front of the bar there is a spectacular fire with enormous logs on it, emitting so much heat that everyone coming in immediately began to unzip jackets and shed layers. 

There are a lot of fishy decorations...

Winner of the prestigious Prop Up the Bar
Real Fire of the Year 2018/19 Award.

Yep, river-orientated decorations dominate the Flower Pot.  There are countless prize-catches displayed in cases.  Plus useful maps of salmon fishing pools in Scotland, fish pictures, bits of oars, paintings of ducks and swans...
And more fish.   
The beer selection on offer was Brakspear 'Bitter' and 'Old Ale', plus two more beers from the Marston stable, 'Saddle Tank' and Ringwood 'Boondoggle'.
I picked the 'Old Ale', which I've not seen available previously and which was a fine choice on this stormy afternoon.

The menu is a very retro laminated page of green paper, listing traditional pub fodder.  You know you're not in gastro-pub territory when you spot the Happy Shopper £1 ketchup on the condiments shelf.  We ordered a big plate of food to give us the energy to walk back along the Thames against the wind.

The Flower Pot was one of the more unusual pubs on the Ale Trail - a country pub which retains a bit of a vintage feel.
The 24 pubs that we've visited have been widely different and have taken us to a number of new places in the region.
It's provided us with some great days out, so my utmost respect goes to all those who put in the hard work organising it all.
From here we made a couple of stops in Henley at Lovibonds tap room and the Bird in Hand, but with the weather being so miserable we were eager to catch the return bus back today.
I'll now look forward to collecting my t-shirt at the Reading Beer festival on the 2nd May.
Cheers!


Reading Ale Trail Part 1   (Woolhampton - Sheffield Bottom - Tilehurst - Shinfield)
Reading Ale Trail Part 2  (Tidmarsh - Woodley - Reading)
Reading Ale Trail Part 3  (Waltham St Lawrence - Twyford)

The Bell Inn - Waltham St Lawrence

On the Reading Ale Trail - Part 3

A couple of weeks on from our last train ride down to Berkshire and we're back on the mission to complete the 24 pubs in the Ale Trail, as devised by the CAMRA folks behind the Reading Beer Festival.

Today began with grey clouds and rain so I was delighted that by the time we alighted the train at Twyford station the sun was out and the sky was blue.  Ideal, as we had a few miles of footpaths ahead of us.
We found a route through the fields which took us to the village of Waltham St Lawrence. 
Having made it faster than expected, The Bell Inn was still shut when we arrived.  
We took the weight off our legs and grabbed a bench next to the spectacular yew tree in the nearby church yard.

Waltham St Lawrence Parish Church

By the time the front door was opened there were a handful of visitors loitering around, waiting for 12 o'clock.  Typically we were first to arrive at the pub, last in the queue at the bar.

The Bell (The Street, Waltham St Lawrence, RG10 0JJ - web)
The 16th century publisher Ralph Newberry who lived nearby at Beenham's Heath gave this pub to the church in 1608, although it appears to have operated as an inn as early as the 1400's.

The front door took us past the stairs down to the cellar and into a cosy room with the main bar.  To the rear there is another room set up for dining which I didn't poke my head in, whilst through a doorway (complete with chunky wooden step to trip over) there is a second great pub room with wooden beams and wood panelling on the walls.  We settled here, next to a fire burning in the hearth.
Four hand pulls offered up a pleasing beer range, with ales from Wild Weather, Loddon and Branscombe Vale on offer.  Not seeing Branscombe in this neck of the woods very often I picked this and enjoyed a pint of their 'Golden Fiddler'.

Checked carpets, wooden beams and a real fire greet us at the Bell 

There's also a good-size pleasant garden to the rear of the pub, which would be great in warmer weather.  From the traditional charm of the pub interior, to the friendly locals who commended us managing to spend so long in the same room as them, to the great beer, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to recommend finding your way out to the Bell.

Leaving the pub, we opted to follow several footpaths to take us in a loop back to Twyford rather than simply retracing our steps.
Recent storm Freya had left added wind-fall for us to negotiate along the path.

Obstacles

We couldn't spend too much time prancing around avoiding the muddiest bits as our next pub had a closed period in the afternoon, with 12-3 and 6-11 opening hours.  But we made it in ample time onto the lanes of Ruscombe, just to the east of Twyford.
The Royal Oak (Ruscombe Lane, RG10 9JA - web)
I'm struggling to work out the identity of this place.  Is it really Burrata's at the Royal Oak as the pub-sign says, or has the Royal Oak become Burrata's?  It certainly has more the feel of a restaurant than a pub, albeit one which is pretty relaxed where we didn't feel too guilty about wandering in with muddy boots.

There's an eclectic collection of ornaments and furniture in here, from guitars and corkscrews hanging on the wall to a display case full of vintage photographic equipment.  
I think we were the only customers not eating a meal this afternoon.  But I did have a great pint of Bingham's 'Twyford Tipple', which has travelled just a few meters from their brewery in the industrial estate across the road from the pub.
Being so close, we called in to Binghams and took away a litre of 'Bricks & Mortar' stout.  One for the road.
In the meantime, just across Twyford and close to the train station, was our next destination...

The Golden Cross (38 Waltham Road, Twyford, RG10 9EG)
Now this is a proper pub, no doubt about it.  No food - just drinks and crisps.
It was doing a good trade on a Saturday afternoon, helped in part by the televised Six Nations.  But there's a pretty wide range of punters in the pub, not just a crowd hooked on the TV screens and all-in-all this has a good atmosphere of pub that is doing things right.
I was expecting beers from Upham Brewery at the Golden Cross, but the two hand pumps were both dispensing Ascot Ales on this visit.  Which was great as I had a marvellous pint of 'Gold Cup', their very drinkable 4% session IPA.

Twyford's Golden Cross

There's a handy TV screen above the bar showing live departures from the nearby railway station.  Yet even aided with this technology we managed to arrive at the station just in time to see our train pulling away from the platform. 

Note interchangeable sign, in case something
other than beer is good next week.

We made the irresponsible, but highly predictable, decision of getting off the train at Reading, which led to Brewdog and the Castle Tap. Then the Nags Head, then the Greyfriar - so much for a quite day out (for the record, none of this was my fault - I was all for getting home early and watching Pointless Celebrities).
With 26 days left to return our completed Ale Trail booklets, we just have the Flower Pot to visit now.  Then we have to find something else to do with our weekends!

Reading Ale Trail Part 1  (Woolhampton-Sheffield Bottom-Tilehurst-Shinfield)
Reading Ale Trail Part 2  (Tidmarsh-Woodley-Reading)

Seven Bars in Belfast

At the beginning of March we treated ourselves to a weekend getaway.  There's a clue in the picture above as to where we went.
This was my first trip to Northern Ireland.
Not being completely fixated on pubs and beer (no, really...) we had some sightseeing planned and a Saturday evening concert to go to.  But I figured with the rest of the time we could manage to visit the handful of Good Beer Guide listed pubs and a couple more besides.
With a Friday afternoon arrival we orientated ourselves with a walk around the centre.  The streets around St Anne's Cathedral proved to be a treasure-trove for street-art enthusiasts.

This was also the vicinity of the first pub on my list... 
The Sunflower  (65 Union Street, BT1 2JG).
The Sunflower in it's current guise dates back to 2012.  Prior to that there's been a bar on this corner for over a hundred years, previously called The Tavern and The Avenue.     

More welcoming that it initially looks.

It's pretty impossible not to notice the security grill at the front door.  Erected in more troubled times in the 80's, this now acts as a photo opportunity rather than it's original purpose of letting the barman decide whether or not to permit you entry.  Inside, this is a welcoming and characterful pub.  The walls are covered with sporting pictures, breweriana and musical instruments.  It's everything that you'd expect a great back-street Irish pub to be and I recommend it highly.  There's just the one cask ale on the bar, a pale ale from Hilden Brewery on this occasion, but the range of local craft breweries on the kegs, plus a large can and bottle selection provide plenty to choose from.
From here we walked back into the city centre to our next destination, The Garrick.  This is right next door to a branch of Boojum - serving up "Belfast's most famous burrito", so we stopped to have one of these and can attest to them being pretty damn good.

The Garrick (29 Chichester Street, BT1 - web)
Hmmm...my bad timing strikes again here.  I'm not sure I'd ever have found the Garrick quiet at any time over the weekend, but visiting just as the office workers clock-off on a Friday afternoon was probably not the wisest.  Shame, because I'd like to have been able to grab a seat and enjoy the surroundings of this historical, wood-panelled pub.  Instead of squeezing through the masses to prop against a wall in a far-flung corner.
I tried my best to take a photo of the collection of barometers hanging on the wall in the back room.  Not something you see every day.  But someone kept standing in front of them until I eventually gave-up.
Not being able to see the bar properly as I ordered over someones shoulder, I just picked the first thing that caught my eye, which was a pretty dull Smithwick's 'Pale Ale'. 

        
Bittles Bar (103 Victoria Street, BT1 9FZ)
No denying that this is a great-looking bar, spectacularly situated in a flat iron building.
Bittles is currently on top of the list for Central Belfast on ratebeer, but the absence of cask ale means it's omitted from the GBG.  Small in size, the single wedge-shaped room is filled with memorabilia and paintings depicting Belfast and the cities literary and sporting heroes.
There's a pretty decent range of craft ales on, from which I chose a Doyles 'Irish Craft Ale'.  It had a home-made pump clip which always constitutes a dubious pick.  Not being blown away by the Doyles I went back for a 'Big Axe' - an 8% hop-monster double IPA by Bullhouse Brewing Company from County Down.

Mrs PropUpTheBar was suffering with a stinking cold so headed back to the hotel for some recuperation and probably to make sure she didn't miss Eastenders.
Torrential rain had started to fall, so I tried my best to increase my own chances of catching cold, undertaking a 1½ mile walk in this miserable weather.  

The target behind this soggy, puddle-dodging excursion was The Errigle Inn (312-320 Ormeau Road, BT7 2GB) which I'd heard was a bit of a winner for beer aficionado's.

This was a large pub, dating back to 1935 and now featuring multiple drinking areas.  Having not done my research properly, I didn't realise this, so spent most of my time on a stool at the main bar.  
Beers were displayed on screens at the back of the bar. I started off with an IPA brewed by Kinnegar before selecting one of the cask ales, 'East the Beast' from Lacada Brewery in Portrush, County Antrim.  The barman told me it'd take a few minutes to get it and disappeared.  It was only upon exploring to see where he'd been to get it from that I discovered the characterful Oak Lounge, a bar to the rear of the Errigle where they've located their 5 cask ales.
It's great that the barman was happy to go and collect this from another bar.  I've had a disgusted roll of the eyes in Cowley Wetherspoon's for ordering something a couple of meters away on the other side of a pillar.

The majestic Crown Liquor Saloon - pictured when we first arrived...
spot my impatience to wait for a less busy pedestrian moment.

The Crown Liquor Saloon (46 Great Victoria Street, BT2 7BA - web)
I'm a little bit gutted that I didn't get the chance to visit the Crown when it was quieter and I could really appreciate the splendor of the place.  This is one of those pubs that is a genuine tourist draw.   The Crown is a Grade-A listed building owned by the National Trust and dating back to the 1840's.  It was refitted in 1885 and changed it's name from the Railway Tavern to the Crown Liquor Saloon.  The jaw-dropping woodwork, stained glass and tiling is thanks to Italian craftsmen who worked on the pub after finishing their day-job at a nearby church.  There are 10 snugs with private doors and bell-pushes for service, each guarded by gryphons and lions bearing shields.
I took a lot of low quality pictures (I blame the crowds and the gas lighting).  But I'm not going to post those shoddy snaps when you can find this lovely 360° tour online.
Busy on my visit, I had to resort to propping up a corner of the bar. Being a Nicholson's house, the range of casks was reasonably familiar and had nothing that hadn't been shipped across the Irish Sea.  Wanting to stay local I made what's an unusual choice for me, in the form of bog-standard keg lager: 'Belfast Lager', brewed by Whitewater Brewery 4.5%. 
And it gave me hiccups.

Saturday morning started in the local Wetherspoons: The Bridge House.  It was too early for alcohol to be served, but still busy with a breakfast crowd.
Great to see the regional variation, with Ulster breakfasts on offer.
   
A notable lack of Tim's Brexit table-talkers and recently politicised magazines here, which is probably wise.
We spent the rest of the morning visiting the Titanic museum and exploring the city a little more, before heading to a pub late afternoon.

The John Hewitt (51 Donegall Street, BT1 2FH)
For me, The John Hewitt was a winner from the moment we walked in the door.  To the left there was a raised section of the pub with a table of folky types playing traditional music.  As we'd come to expect, the pub was busy, although not uncomfortably so and we managed to bag a table in the corner.  Bar-blockers made it frustratingly difficult to see what beers were on offer - I'm pretty sure there was something on cask, but the craft selection looked appealing so we stuck with this.  I had a wonderful 6% milk stout, 'Wolf of Malt Street'  brewed by Yellowbelly from County Wexford.

After staying for a couple in the John Hewitt there was just time to squeeze one more pub visit in...

 McHugh's Bar & Restaurant (29-31 Queen Street, BT1 3FG)
This bar is named after Pat "The Hat" McHugh,  a well known Belfast publican.
The building it is in dates back to the 18th century, originally a townhouse on the docks.  Sometime between 1715 and 1720 it was converted into a small pub.  An expansion in the 1990's incorporated the neighbouring DuBarry's Bar to dramatically extend the operation.
There is now a restaurant on the 1st floor and apparently a basement bar.  Just the one hand-pump for cask ale, from which we enjoyed a pint of Whitewater Brewery's 'Maggies Leap'.  There was a bloke with a guitar playing in one side of the pub and a pretty relaxed and comfortable atmosphere on this Saturday evening.


Well, as usual, we'd inevitably missed some great places and needed much more time in Belfast to see it properly.  And we could have done with a bit less wind & rain.
But there's obviously a wealth of intriguing pubs and bars in the city, with a few cask ale options and an increasing number of craft beers on offer and the city made a great option for a weekend break.