O Neills Bar

Along the busy streets of Watford at the dead of night on a Saturday, drinkers shuffle in single file like a flowing brook towards destinations within arms reach of the bar they have just left. O Neill’s is right in the thick of the action and is a relatively large venue. The bouncers outside are stern and let only the elderly pass without ID. Once inside the noise is close to unbearable, the roar of the crowd grows with some stability, the live band plays a racket that few cats would ever enjoy and standing 5 deep at the bar for close to twenty minutes we pull up a couple of loosely abandoned armchairs and balance drinks on top of a fruit machine as those around us joke drunkenly and grow ever more rowdy. The place doesn’t really have a delightful environment, in fact it gets far too busy to really enjoy the usually friendly Irish welcome of this chain.

Drinking up in haste, after spending so long queuing we head back outside, where it seems the crowd has grown into a human river and we are swept along to the next bar - 4/10