The John Hewitt, Belfast

After visiting a string of tourist traps before here I was pleased to find that the John Hewitt is a proper pub aimed at drinkers. To the right of the entrance are a couple of high tables and beyond is a snug. To the left is a small stage area with seating and seating runs up the left wall faced by the bar counter up the right. The décor is traditional and understated. No televisions, but some background music was playing. The bar supports 16 fonts for premium and craft keg, eight of which were from Boundary Brewing, a local micro. I went for a Guinness. I found the service to be polite, and whilst this place isn’t remarkable I was able to get comfortable enough to stay for a second beer.

Came with good reviews but I was pretty underwhelmed by this one. Inside is a blandly opened-up room with a small snug to the right. Dimly-lit interior sporting quarter length dark wood panelling and claret red paint decor with a feel that has surpassed lived-in’ and is now firmly at the start of ‘battered and tired’ – maybe the Unemployed Resource Centre can funnel a bit of that resource into a spruce-up. There are call buttons which apparently work but I decided I didn’t require a second pint so they remained unpressed. Live music-led, though in this case it was a couple of lads practising standards with an acoustic guitar and a tin whistle to the appreciation of half a dozen other punters. GBG listed though the one ale pump wasn’t dispensing. Plenty of interesting local keg though including a sour from Wicklow Wolf. Maybe this is best sampled on a Friday or weekend but I left feeling like I’d need good reason to prioritise it next time given the nearby Deer’s Head. From reading older reviews this place feels like it has lost ground and been overtaken by other bars nearby.

A good sized and popular pub, it was pretty much full to capacity on our Saturday evening visit, perhaps on account of the traditional Irish band playing away in the corner. Fortunately we managed to grab a table in the snug to the side just as someone was leaving. Internally it’s primarily one large, open plan room, with etched glass in the windows, Victorian style mosaic tiling around the bar counter and wooden boards elsewhere. Deep red paintwork was on both the walls and ceiling, whilst a dark wooden porch complete with stained glass protruded in to the pub and was something of a feature. A wooden archway to the right led to the snug, and this had a number of framed theatre flyers on the walls, as well as a large black and white photo montage of Irish writers next to the Giant’s Causeway. The solitary beer on tap was Wadworth’s Bishops Finger, whilst the only cider was MacIvors, which was a new one on me. Overall, not a bad pub, but whilst it certainly had a lively atmosphere, I’m not sure it’s anywhere I’d make a point of rushing back to.

This is a simple L-shaped pub that I would have called out for being a clichéd faux-Irish pub were it not for the fact that it’s located in the heart of Belfast city centre. The main bar is a bare boarded room with some patterned floor tiles around the servery and a raised seating area in the front left corner. An L-shaped, dark wood bar counter can be found to the right, with a granite bar top and grand bar back with nice mirrors, a whisky box collection and an integral clock. The entrance has a nice stained glass door within a compact porch and gives way to the room’s main seating area, which sees tables and chairs, plus a few benches through the centre and left side of the room. A fireplace with a large plain mirror above it, onto which someone has drawn an advertisement for Yardsman beers, breaks up the left hand wall, which is half panelled with bright uppers and decorated with various photos of graffiti-style art. The front windows have black-out blinds, which were drawn and displayed the pub’s name on them, as well as some more hand drawn beer adverts. The raised front seating area was being used by a traditional Irish band, who were playing the usual standards. Meanwhile, to the right of the entrance, a nice arched doorway takes you through to a side room where a few more seats are available. There is a blue plaque next to this doorway for the poet John Hewitt, after whom the pub is named. There is only one hand pump here and rather disappointingly, it was dispensing Shepherd Neame Spitfire, so I looked instead to their fairly impressive craft keg selection, which totalled eight taps in all and included beers from Yardsamn, McMullan’s, Wicklow Wolf and Sullivan’s among others. I tried a pint of the Galway Bay Buried At Sea Milk Stout, which after warming up a little, was a lovely drop and much better than that other stout you see a lot round these parts. I was quite looking forward to visiting this place but have to say that I left feeling a little underwhelmed. The place felt like a by-the-numbers pub with very little making it stand out from the crown other than, perhaps, the craft keg range. The service was friendly and the music was quite pleasant to listen to for a while, but this wasn’t the destination pub I’d hoped for and I’d probably skip this one the next time I’m in the city.

Splendid Cathedral Quarter pub, with traditional furniture around the 'L'-shaped bar and small side room. Plenty of local interest in the decor, with the dark wood and paintwork enlivened by modern art on the main walls and displays about the eponymous writer and controversial politician David Ervine. About 50% of the tables were set aside for dining when I visited mid-afternoon, but there was still some seating free for those just having a drink. Two real ales on the impressive bar counter, offering two Hilden beers: Twisted Hop and Poetic Justice (£3.60). Whitewater Hoppelhammer IPA also on tap, and a decent selection of local bottles beers and ciders is also available. One for the 'must visit' list.

Fine little pub very close to the Cathedral. At lunchtime every table is set up for dining and they ask you to queue at the door to be seated. Even so there's a few stools round the bar for the drinkers. In the evenings it's rather more lively with music played on the small stage most nights. Standard range of Irish kegs on the bar and 2 handpumps. Sadly these always serve beer from Hilden brewery which is pretty crap. Luckily they had College Green Headless Dog (also brewed by Hilden) on when we called in for the first time which was very good. Sadly when we called in later in the week they were back to Hildens own beers, I tried a Barneys Brew, it was crap although there was nothing wrong with the way it was kept. A good pub sadly spoiled by serving beer from a crap brewery.