Last Sunday was St. Patrick’s Day. So what did we do to celebrate? We went to a couple of pubs, including The Clarence, on North End Road and May Street. We actually wanted to go to a different pub, but when we showed up they wanted us to pay for a cover charge. Neither one of us was happy about that so we moseyed down the street and spied The Clarence.
When I walked in I wasn’t too impressed. It’s a little run down.
The man on the right did his best to stay out of the photo.
However, I felt comfortable there. The people were having fun. We ordered two pints and the bartender gave me some shamrock to pin on my vest. That won some points. 
Not only that, they reduced the price for Guinness as part of the celebration. The other pub was charging a cover charge. Right away my initial reaction to the pub disappeared and we decided that we would be back. We hung around for a little and watched two older chaps play pool. That was entertaining.
Not the pool players.
However it was time to wander again since I was hungry for lunch. We said when we left we’d go back someday. I had no idea we would be back later that night. When dinner time rolled around The Better Half mentioned that The Clarence was serving bacon and cabbage. I crinkled my nose. I’m not a fan of cabbage and I envisioned a plate full of cabbage with sprinkles of bacon. However, I lost the battle. We wandered back to The Clarence. This time we noticed something. There were two sides. We were on the side with the pool table. Through the bar we saw some people in the back with hats on.
We made our way to the other side, through the door marked Gentlemen. I was a bit hesitant since I wasn’t too keen on wandering into the toilet. Luckily there were two doors and we ended up on the other side of the pub. It was lively. People were playing music on the jukebox and were dancing. The bartender gave us free hats. We ordered some beer and cabbage and bacon. I was surprised when we were served a huge serving of ham, potatoes, and cabbage all for four pounds! What a deal!
These gals ended up dancing most of the night. I loved their Irish accents.
All in all we had a fantastic time. And we will be back. Even though this isn’t the nicest pub we’ve been to, I have to hand it to The Clarence. They made us feel welcome. The food was simple and good. The beer was cheap. And I loved the atmosphere. We won’t forget this St. Patrick ’s Day for some time. I give the pub 4 stars for the atmosphere. On our way home we walked by the pub that was charging a cover. It was practically empty. Serves them right.
Time for me to head home.
50 Year Project 
Not a lampshade but still really awesome LOL!!
Thought you might get a kick out of that
yummy, yummy, yummy
It was!
Sounds like a fun St- Paddy’s day celebration.
It really was. A simple celebration, but memorable.
My man is always telling me that one of the most difficult food combos to digest is meat and potatoes…..and you added cabbage to the mix. Digest with gusto!
I didn’t eat any of the cabbage.
Sounds like you had a good time.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
It was a blast.
You need to be writing for a travel guide. Your work beats anything published by Frommers!
ah you are so kind, sir. Have a great weekend!
Sounds like a real down to earth perfect pub!
Do you guys do “green beer” there? Here they take a Miller Lite and add two drops of green food coloring to it. (yuck) but people have fun with it.
I haven’t seen it here, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t do. Not sure I’ve seen Miller Lite though.
Did you have too much Guinness?
How nice to get Guinness for a reduced price. Glad you had a good time overall. That pool table is just calling out my name, though!
We stayed home and cooked corned beef and cabbage (and red potatoes, onions and carrots mixed in it too). It was yummy!
Sounds like you had a great time. Good for you!
Sounds like you had a really good time.
We did.I want to find out what the place is like on a normal day.