Pubs and Bars / Old City
Pub of the Week: Seamus O’Donnell’s
On a recent evening at Seamus O’Donnell’s, the pints of Guinness were flowing from behind a bar that has four Guinness hand pulls to cope with demand.
At a table of eight men in the pub next to St Nick’s Market, every drink was a Guinness as the friends spoke about an upcoming stag do.
It may have been International Women’s Day, but only one out of 20 people soon before 7pm was a woman.
“There’s no such thing as a G-spot,” one of her work colleagues explained to her as she sipped a gin and tonic from a Guinness-branded glass. “It’s a flawed argument.”
Yes – that’s a giant toucan flying above this one-room pub
On the walls here are a lot of Guinness memorabilia including many examples of their old mascot, the toucan – a six-foot-long model of which hangs from one corner.
There are also musical instruments attached to the walls including a fiddle and a clarinet. On this particular evening, another corner of the pub was roped off for a performance later that night by folk band The Troll Hunters, with live music here every Thursday night and some Friday and Saturdays.
The Irish theme continues with a variety of Irish whiskies and poteen, a 70 per cent triple distilled spirit traditionally made from either potatoes or grain which is so strong that it is limited to one measure per customer.
Back at the bar, underneath a poster advertising the upcoming St Patrick’s Day celebrations, a local was bucking the trend for the black stuff by drinking a Natch while looking intently at his phone, headphones in his ears.
As he poured a second can into his glass, a lookalike for Tim Burgess from The Charlatans left with his skateboard, fist-bumping the two barmen on his way out.
Seamus O’Donnell’s, 13 St Nicholas Street, Bristol, BS1 1UE
0117 925 1283
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