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.