Kellys Cellars, Belfast

Another of Belfast’s oldest pubs, this one arguably looks the oldest, thanks to a cracking multi-room layout and an atmospheric appearance. Entering through the left hand side, you find yourself in a corridor of sorts with rooms to either side. To the left there is a quite cosy looking room with limited seating options, stone flooring and whitewashed walls, popular on this visit with not a single chair unoccupied. Turning right, you enter the main bar with limited banquette seating along the front wall and the servery opposite. This room is set up similarly to the left hand snug, with whitewashed walls, including some appealing looking low arches to the right, and a stone floor. The bar has a typical dark wood counter and a nice old fashioned bar back with an ancient cash register at the end of the counter. Continuing to move to the right, through the aforementioned arches, you enter the right hand room, which extends quite a long way back. This room has chair and pew seating to the front and padded banquettes around the walls at the rear. Dark wood ceiling beams have buckets, jugs, pots, colanders and the like hung from them, whilst elsewhere you can spot various mirrors, bits of breweriana, old clocks and some pleasant display cabinets. The bar here has a low counter and fairly uninteresting bar back, although the latter has been livened up by the presence of a fake human head, which has been rather tastelessly hung there like some leftover Halloween decoration. Lighting throughout the pub is kept at very low levels, adding to the ambiance and sense of history. A few chaps in one corner of the pub were playing tunes on typical traditional Irish instruments and I spotted a heated patio outside, which no-one dared brave in the driving sleet that graced this December evening. I was greeted by a very friendly and efficient barmaid who informed me that they had no ale on, pointing out the range of keg options instead. I tried the Smethwick Pale Ale – one of several Smethwick brews available – which set me back £3.90 and was far too cold but otherwise surprisingly drinkable. This is another fine old pub in the centre of Belfast, and alongside the Crown, McHughes and Duke of York, makes up a quartet of very good touristy pubs that any visitor to the city should enjoy exploring. This one was maybe the weakest of the four, but it’s still a very solid city centre option and worth adding to any itinerary.

Recommended as a must visit pub. Easy to find at night, as there is a thin light in the pavement that stretches for yards - right to the front door. Irish music on and a large amount of tourists soaking up a traditional Irish pub experience. Myself, included. Stuck to Guinness. As did everyone else.