Beckett's Irish Bar and Restaurant

Bajcsy Zsilinszky út 72
Pest Centre, V, between Nyugati and Arany Janos (M3)

Going to an Irish bar in Budapest is perhaps a little Irish, particularly when you have to pay through the nose for the experience. However, there are two valid reasons to visit: the football and the rugby.

With plenty of televisions and a range of channels, if you can’t see it here, you’re unlikely to find it elsewhere. To its credit, Beckett’s is reasonably spacious, feels like a proper pub and draws a good crowd for the big games. It also has Guinness on tap! Sadly, it falls short in a few other areas.

Service is not the greatest; the food is on the measly side; and the Irishness, as with most Irish bars outside Ireland, is a little flakey. To be shifted from one television to the next at the whim of the management is rather annoying. I also feel as if I’ve offended the barman by asking for my beer in Hungarian. The elevated prices too, make it clear that this is not an ideal choice for those of us earning forints.

Unfortunately, with the lack of competition for sports bars, there’s no incentive to put this right, so it’s hard to stop going back.