This is a pub that was just across the road from our hotel on Exhibition/Bourke Street in Melbourne. It is a traditional English pub that is a hub of activity, especially at the weekends. There is seating available outside and heaters are on hand to keep you cosy while you sip your beer. It is a pub with loads of character. They show all the major sporting events which included the rugby world cup that was on when we were there. I was drinking pints of Erdinger and they were all fine. Jen was drinking white wine and she didn’t appear to have any complaints. There are some nice seating areas availabe and they serve very decent food from what we saw.
The toilets that we used were up stairs and were very clean and well kept. There is also another bar available upstairs but it was closed when we visited. All in all a very enjoyable pub to visit while in Melbourne. I noticed memorabilia around the pub including some Beatles pictures. The Elephant and Wheelbarrow is a good old fashioned English pub for the Australians and visitors to enjoy.
Toilet rating: 7/10
Pint rating: 7.5/10
Overall rating: 7.5/10
Final comment: Apparently they have a ‘Neighbours’ night on the first Monday of every month where you can meet some of the cast and hear Karl Kennedys band. Wahay!
Welcome Stranger is a pub that we visited twice while in Melbourne. It is a pub and small casino combined located on Bourke street. It was quite busy when we visited both times. There was a bouncer on the door who appeared pleasant. I had a couple of pints of Carlton beer and it was very nice indeed. There was a good mixture of young and older people in this pub. While we were there, they were showing an England rugby world cup match on the television. The draught beer taps had ice surrounding them which i couldn’t help touching! We found some of the bar staff to be friendly but some of them were quite rude. We got potato wedges as a snack while we were in this pub and there was a good menu with other food available. There is a smoking area available at the front of the pub looking out onto the street.
We didn’t go into the casino part but it appeared busy from looking in. There was just one gents toilet and it was only alright. Its condition wasn’t great when i saw it. Both myself and Jen enjoyed our trip into this pub and it was grand for a couple of drinks.
Toilet rating: 5/10
Pint rating: 6/10
Overall rating: 6/10
Final comment: Welcome Stranger is an interesting name for a pub.
Another impresssive establishment in this fine village. Lots of space and atmosphere. The “divider” in the middle of the bar is unique. Has two well postioned tellies, so if you want to watch a match you’ll miss nothing. If poker is your game, there’s a good Texas Hold ‘em school here most nights. But it’s always a friendly game. Jukebox needs updating. That aside the beer is very good and Martin himself is a sound gent.
Toilets 7/10
Beer 9/10
Atmosphere 10/10
Next on our Honeymoon we headed to the beautiful city of Melbourne. It is most certainly a place i could settle down and live in. We stayed at the rydges hotel which was nice and we were very central to all bars and restaurants in the city. I love singing and will as Ryan has said always find a karaoke bar where ever i go. We passed a sign that said Hollywood karaoke and that evening we decided to check it out. It is located up and stairs. When we got up we were charged 10 dollars each to sing a song and a drink was included in that aswell. This was possibly the weirdest pub i have ever been into. The guys running the pub were Chinese and there was about 5 other Australians inside. We both ordered a bottle of Budweiser and they brought us two whiskeys! We got some stares from the 5 others inside. They were most certainly off their heads on something. They didn’t make us feel welcome but we looked throught the song lists any way. We probably should have left when we got inside this pub but it was an experience!
The toilets were smaall and not very well kept. There was about two or three pages of English songs, the other 100 were Chinese. I sang a terrible song and we made a quick exit. You really would have had to have been there to understand how shocking this pub really was. I enjoyed the experience but i would definately not recommend anyone to visit here if in Melbourne.
Toilet rating: 3/10
Drink rating: 4/10
Overall rating: 4/10
Fianl Comment: I think i can truly say that this was the worst pub i have ever been into. Not because of the decor or the toilets but because everything was so weird about it.
The first pub we visited on our trip was Pj Murphy’s in Hong Kong. It is a basement bar below the Imperial located on Nathan road. The first thing that struck me as i entered was how good it is to have smoke free pubs in Ireland. The pub itself is quite big and the people serving behind the bar were English. I didn’t find it to be the friendliest place in the world and the drinks were expensive. I tried a pint of Guinness and like most places outside of Ireland, it was more like a youghart. I stuck with the beer after that. Stella Artois and it was grand. The pub serves food that appeared to be reasonably priced but we didn’t try it. There is internet access in the pub, 20 Hong Kong dollars for an hour and it wasn’t a bad spot to have a drink.
The toilets were small and very clean when i saw them. It was a sad sight to see an Asian girl standing in front of us for about a half an hour fixing her hair before approaching an older man at the bar who proceeded to buy her drinks. Being honest the area that the pub is in didn’t seem the nicest. Overall not a bad spot to enjoy a drink while in Hong Kong.
Toilet rating: 7/10
Pint rating: 5/10
Overall rating: 5.5/10
Final comment: I am sure that there are much nicer pubs in Hong Kong but being Irish we were drawn here.
We had a fantastic round the world trip and completed loads of pub reviews. Will start putting them up soon.
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