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FLANAGAN'S CHURCH STREET, LISTOWEL

THE black pubfront said it all - this was an old-fashioned, honest to- God Irish pub. Lest there be any doubt, the words "traditional pub" were stencilled on the window, along with a few Irish phrases - "cheoil agus craic", "tigh tabhairne" and "failte romat isteach".

We were surprised when we went in and found it be a modern pub. Pop music from the '70s and '90s was blaring out and the mostly young clientele were watching football on the two TVs.

A sign in the bar-lounge warns that the pub operates a "pub watch" system. For an awful moment we wondered if Pub Spy had a rival at last - then we clocked the big writing which said: "Barred from one, barred from them all".

The young barman served us with a smile. And at €3.60 we felt it was good value.The toilets upstairs were clean but a lady told us there was no soap dispenser and the drier wasn't working. A minor quibble.

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