The Bank Bar, Dundee

A tidy and traditional bar with a bit of an alehouse feel. Assumed 90’s refit, bright and cosy with some partitioning via wood and glass full length dividers, exposed light shaded brick walls and a rear room, all done-out in a salmon shade. Four cask on the go in this GBG listed outlet with a mixed bag of Jarl (NBSS 3.5) and 71 Heavy Lifting (2.5) plus two others I failed to note but certainly seemed like (Spoons aside) the widest choice in the city centre, so you’ll doubtless end-up here. 7.5

Nice real ale bar near station

This is a nice, unpretentious city centre pub with much less of a corporate feel to it than many others that I tried around Dundee. You enter to a scuffed floorboarded room with a run of nicely screened banquettes down the left hand wall and a servery down the right side of the room, with a few pillars and other structural supports in between. Standard tables and chairs run through the centre of the room and a fair bit of standing room has been kept as well, which is handy for nights when the pub is packed, such as on the night of my visit. The reason for this was that he last booth along the left hand wall had been cleared out so that some live music could be staged and this had drawn a pretty large crowd as well as a fair number of musicians all waiting their turn to get up and play. Beyond all this, there is a rear raised lounge-style area with chairs and fixed benches under some nice modern photographic prints, bare brick walls and a bookcase. A fireplace to the right has a big stove in it and there were also local sketches and a couple of brewery mirror on show. I initially took a seat in this rather homely space only to find the bands were using it as a dumping ground for all their equipment, so I was quickly blocked in and upon escaping, spent the rest of my time propping up the bar where I had a good view of the bands. There were three handpulls in action, dispensing Theakston XB, Stewart Jack Back and Fyne Ales Jarl. I tried the latter, which was in very good nick and having decided to spend the rest of my evening in here watching the live music, I sank a fair few before tottering back to my hotel. This is a fairly unremarkable pub that benefits from having a sense of its own identity, unlike many other pubs around town, and seems to know how to keep a good pint of ale. I enjoyed relaxing here with some decent beer and music but can also imagine it might provide a rather underwhelming experience if caught at a different time of the day.