Erin's Hope, The Hyde, NW9

The fascia above the entrance to Erin’s Hope says ‘FINEST WINES, ALES AND DELICIOUS FOODS’, but this hails from a bygone era as this establishment is now an open plan Irish pub without a hint of ale and I cannot recall seeing any food advertised when I visited early on a Saturday evening a few weeks ago. The service was friendly and the Guinness was well served, but the advertised live music wasn’t taking place and there were only three other gentleman in the building. A small projector screen at the rear was showing a foreign football match via Nova Sports and the larger projector screen at the front was showing some deep documentary on rural Irish folk that was in Gaelic. I decided to knock back my pint and leave when the Cheeky Girls randomly started playing on the jukebox. It’s a long time since I have been in such a depressing pub, especially at 21:00 on a Saturday evening.

Has the air of an Irish working men’s club and was a bit imposing as the curtains were drawn and the lights low for the football. This was being shown on two large drop down screens at each end of the long bar plus one standard TV. No real ale, mostly lager drinkers but I had a decent pint of Guinness.