January 9th, 2006 | The lowdown by Peter Sidell

Let's Pub at The Tavern

Tokyo seems awash with English- and Irish-style pubs but, given its size (3.5 million people, since you ask), there are surprisingly few in Yokohama. The Green Sheep is a recent, welcome addition which has found a following, but the English Pub standard is still set by The Tavern.

In a basement next to McDonald's (near Tokyu Hands) on the main street near Yokohama Station's West exit, it packs a lot into a pretty small space (like everything else in Japan, really). There are counter seats, high tables with stools, low tables with chairs, booths with benches, and a little carpeted area in front of the big screen where they show sports of every kind.

Being an English pub, much of the sport is soccer, though they also show rugby, cricket, AFL and anything else that happens to be on. If you sign up on the website, they'll email you the schedule every week, a neat service.
Run by a jovial expat, it caters largely to jovial expats, though plenty of locals make it their local too, making for a good, lively atmosphere.

There's a good selection of beers, including Stella Artois, Guinness and Kilkenny at about Y900 a pint, and they even have Blackthorn cider on draught. They also stock over thirty whiskies and bourbons from about Y800, with cocktails and shots from around Y600.

The food menu is a mix of English Pub 'fayre' (Bangers and Mash, Fish and Chips, Sherphers Pie) and more international food, largely Mexican (Chicken Quesadila, Nachos Supreme) and, while at the higher end of cheapness, it's reliably filling.

Really, it's a pretty fun place to go, whether you're watching sport or not. The locals are friendly, the service equally, and if you're eating or drinking or both, you can expect to come out full and happy. Enjoy.