McCafferty's Bar, N8

Steve of N21 left this review about McCafferty's Bar

Well, a pint of Guinness is definitely the best option now as the Hope and Anchor has been transformed into a McCafferty‘s bar. It was the eighth member of this Irish themed chain when it opened its doors a couple of years ago.
Now a fetching green colour externally, as shown in recent photographs, internally it’s largely one open space wrapping around the central L shaped serving area. But there are raised areas to the corners and booth seating to the long edge to give the inside space some definition. Then when you move beyond the bar towards the garden there is a separate room to the right equipped with a dart board. When you move through the door into the outside space the first two sections are actually under a roof giving you the impression that you’re still actually inside the pub and then from here you enter out into a nice square courtyard garden area set to tables all aligned to give a view of a large external screen at the end of the courtyard.
in fact, in keeping with most Irish bars, this one is also festooned with TV screens in every section of the pub. But although the inside ones were all on but muted for my visit, somehow they were not intrusive, as they blended in with all the rest of the Irish theme branding, pub and brewery memorabilia, and general bric a brac that adorns all the walls and most of the ceiling area towards the back. For example the kettle collection hanging from the ceiling on the bar section is quite impressive if you’re into that type of thing
On the bar, multiple Guinness fonts as you would expect and all the usual keg suspects. However there was Beavertown neck oil, which was probably the most interesting ale option.
This was my first visit to one of the McCafferty bars, so I don’t know if they are all like this, but I have to say I was impressed with this one and thought it was quite an accurate representation of the genre. Yes I know it’s all fake, with the exception of the Irish barmaid, who was authentic, but I can still imagine this is a cracking pub to watch the sport in, especially if there is an Irish team playing.

On 10^th August 2023 - rating: 7
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