O’ Sullivans; the new and improved

O’ Sullivans pub in Douglas has undergone a severe facelift recently. The entire bar was removed, more than likely put in a skip and replaced with a carbon copy of the inside of Barry’s, just down the road. That skip must have been pretty full when they hauled it away; not only was it full of wood, tile and metal, it also contained all the character of the previous decor.

Posessing a wandering disdain of this new ‘marble and stainless steel’ cardboard cutout pub template as I do, I can’t help but feel that it was the wrong way to go in this case. We’ve already got ‘trendy’ pubs in Douglas, O’Sullivans was the place you retreated to when you wanted to get away from all the SUV driving, alcopop swigging heaving masses out there.

It’s not all bad though, the extension to the bar gives it more room than it ever had, almost enough to lose an unwanted member of your group in on a busy Saturday night… should you feel the need of course. The bar staff are as friendly as they always were, thankfully they didn’t get the same skip treatment as the rest of the pub’s innards. The bar now runs completely around the room, centrally located for maximum opportunity to call for a few pints. Just don’t call for a pint of Murphys, We only just about managed to choke down ours before moving onto something a little more palatable; turpentine. Hopefully the quality of the Murphys will get better in there, perhaps it’s just a teething problem that has to be sorted out. Either that or nobody has told them yet that Cork’s finest isn’t that fine when it’s poured from their taps.

Would I/Will I go back there? Of course I will, if only to dry my hands in the oddly unique hand dryers in the toilets.