Laura C.
Yelp
I have travelled a fair bit in my time. Unkind people tend to put it as I've been around a bit, but I prefer to think of it as romantic wanderlust. Anyway, apart from the wonderful Public Bar in Melbourne, and possibly Dubliners in Tokyo (actually no, their Guinness is questionable and their 'soda bread' is in fact wheaten), Katy Daly's is my all time favourite bar in the world.
This says quite a lot if, like me, you fled screaming from these shores at the first possible opportunity and spent several years abroad. But I've come to realise on my frequent returns, to sign on, that Belfast is actually quite a cool wee city. And Katy Daly's is one of the main experiences for me that encompasses that vibe.
Imagine my shame and horror last year in Australia when one of the lead items on the news was the spides in the Village burning the Roma population out of the area. And when any July overseas the pictures beamed in from Belfast are of riots, bottle-throwing spides and triumphalist sweaty-faced Orangemen doing their damnedest to make sure no-one can get down the Lisburn Road. 'Belfast isn't like that!' I'd wail to anyone who'd listen, and plenty who wouldn't. 'Look at Katy's for example!'
A rock bar with great music both live and on the jukebox, an unpretentious and friendly crowd, the best pub quiz I've ever been to (yes, even better than Melbourne's), friendly staff who remember your usual (ahem), and good food at good prices, makes Katy's a must visit for any tourist who thinks Belfast is all burning buses and bodhráns.
Oh, and most unusually, and welcome, for an average city bar - the ladies are normally outnumbered by the men. Most of whom are of an alternative ilk and not decked out in Ben Sherman and Timberlands, and therefore are generally gentlemanly instead of trying to cop a quick grope as you go past them on the way to the loos (Bot, I'm looking at you). Many of them are long-haired and tattooed to boot. Yummies.
In fact, I'm sitting in Katy's right now writing this. Goddesses bless mobile broadband.