The James Watt, Greenock

It's just a Wetherspoons. It's like every other Wetherspoons. But the service is mostly pretty fast, the staff are friendly enough, and the atmosphere is generally convival on a weekend's night.

Due to the low prices, this place is busy as hell at weekends with the pre-club crowd as well as regular drinkers. Food's the same as every other JD's.

Ideal to go to with friends to talk and to meet others, even if you're not moving onto somewhere else.

4 Apr 2005 20:49

The Horseshoe Bar, Greenock

The "old man" pub is a curiously Scottish phenomenon; half pints of Tartan Special for the old guys and pints of lager for the old-guys-in-waiting. The chapping of dominoes, or the occasional hack of a forty-a-day regular down by the fire exit punctuate the silence, as Sky Sports plays out silently on the wall.

The Horseshoe, attracting mostly an older clientele, might have been expected to fit this description. Thankfully, it does not.

Despite being in a party of five lads of between 18 and 21, we were welcomed warmly into the upstairs lounge section of the pub, which serves food at lunchtime, as well as all the drinks you'd find downstairs in the bar proper. It's a little unnerving being the only people under the age of 50 who aren't behind the bar, but the quality of this place makes the initial discomfort worth it.

The obligatory Tartan Special is excellent, as is everything else: Bud to Beck's to Strongbow to Sweetheart Stout is reasonably priced at The Horseshoe.

If the drinks get your hopes up, you certainly will not be let down by the food. The usual pub fare - sandwiches, pies, burgers and such - are all available, as well as fish and chips and lasange. The steak sandwich is bloody amazing, and extremely good value for what you get, as is the "Stack Burger", laden with bacon and cheese.

There's a TV with Sky Sports, and there's quite possibly a jukebox in the downstairs bar. I wouldn't know, however, as I've never been in: why bother when some of the best pub food in Greenock is available upstairs?

Great pub if you're old; still great if you're not.

4 Apr 2005 20:38

The Steamie, Greenock

Anything draught is nice and cheap; anything bottled is heart-rendingly overpriced. This is not a place for fans of Beck's. But, if you enjoy your drinks in pint form, there's the usual array of beers and ciders that you'd find in any Scottish pub, with Tennent's particularly attractively priced; two pints will leave you change from �2.50. No idea on spirit prices, as I don't drink them.

There's a pool table, a jukebox, and some quiz/fruit machines, although the pool table is taken out of commission after 7pm or so due to the rising possibility of cue-based violence. Occasional live music, too; but the karaoke defines the musical aspect of this pub. If you enjoy karaoke, you'll like this place on a Thursday (at least, they used to do it on Thursday) or Saturday. If you just want a quiet pint in a decent pub, any other night will do you fine - the place is often deserted.

4 Apr 2005 20:29