Doyle's, Oakwood, N14

Haven't bothered with this place in the past as I am usually put off by the nicotine bouncers who linger in the doorway. But noticed that they were showing the football on a Setanta feed, so decided to venture in for a quick one and leave the wife to buy up the Tesco Express next door. Was pleasantly surprised to find a better pub than I was expecting. Yes it is an odd layout due to the square rectangular shape of the former retail premises, and has a bit of an Irish décor theme going on, but not to the extent to make it a plastic Paddy pub, and I can imagine the drinking experience in here has improved immensely since the smoking ban. Bar in the middle and seating along other side and at both the large ends for the satellite teles. A mature male dominated clientele on this Saturday afternoon and it's a long time since I felt one of the youngest people in a pub. Only one handpump and this was Courage Best. But my pint was congenially pulled by the Irish governor, and although not brilliant, was in far better form than the performance I was watching by the Lillywhites on the big screen.

This is a shop converted Irish bar with all of the usual favourites including a jukebox, old men propping up the bar talking about all things Gaelic and many flat screens for the football and horse racing. It took a while to get served my Guinness, which was very nice, and I got the feeling that nothing ever happens in a rush here. There was a standard draught selection available during my Friday afternoon visit and I was surprised to also see Directors available, not that I tried any. Although this place is nothing special I found the welcome to be friendly and I would have no problem returning here for a quick pint before jumping on the tube.