Hello people,

I know there are many threads on pubs in zurich, but things can change very quickly in the world of gastronomie and I was looking for some up to date advice.

I have visited all of the pubs listed below, but am planning a night out with family and was looking for the locals of zurich to rate the pubs from best to worst. If you can be bothered, then a brief description as to why the are up or down in the ranks. Not been to zurich for a long time so want to make sure i pick the right pub for the perfect evening (will be a friday by the way)

I have listed them in the order that i see them;

1. Paddy Reillys - Great to see practically an all english speaking staff group, sometimes too dark inside though.

2. Oliver Twist - Beautiful pub, but a little too expensive

3. Nelson - Would rate as no. 1 if it wasnt for the (in my opinion) poor selection of beers and 2* service

4. Shamrock - Great beer garden but very few ex-pats

5. McGees - Nice pub, nice prices but a bit out the way

6. Big Ben Niedredorf - Cheekiest staff i have ever met

7. Bonnie Prince - Didnt really feel like a real Scottish pub and could do with a refurbishment.


If you have any more which i have missed, please let me know. I have never been to the second Big Ben pub so havent rated it

Cheers

The Oliver Twist pretty?? Dominant small of fried food TBH
The Lion Bar - it;s like a train waiting room. And the staff don't know haw the TV works !

The Nelson - wouldn't look out of place in Corby ....

Nelson/Lady Hamiltons - I'd be careful on a friday night, turns into more of a bar than a pub. Ok if you want to dance or whatever, but not the best place sit and have a beer. And on a night they may not let you in if you don't have enough girls with you (which obviously never happened to me )

Big Ben - Possibly the worst excuse for an English pub I've seen. The only English thing was one of the barmen, and he wasn't very welcoming. I went in my first month here, was a little homesick and just wanted to go and talk with some English people and drink some beer. Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong with German/Swiss beer, but I just wanted something English. Here's how the conversation went:

Me - 'Alright mate, what English beers have you got?'
Barman - 'We haven't got any'
'What?!'
'What's the point of coming all the way to Switzerland if you're just gonna drink English beer?'
'What's the point of coming all the way here and opening an English pub if there's nothing English about it?!'

I was more annoyed that the guy was such a **** than I was about the beer. And I don't think there were any other Brits in, despite being full. I sat sulking and quickly drank my (very good foreign) beer before leaving. Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant . Can't really advise on the others.

If I'm ever in ZH, I tend to head for Paddy Reilly's, mostly because I know the manager. It can get pretty crowded for big football or rugby games, but I quite like it like that.

I find it sad when the Swiss come into a pub and when things are not running the way they do in a swiss bar (ie, table service, salt sticks and croissants on the table, no schnitzelbrot) and complain that as the pub is in switzerland it should run as a swiss bar. Why dont they just stick to frequenting swiss bars then instead of coming to a pub where they clearly are out of place.

(This only applies to the minority of swiss, the majority love having the true feeling of a pub)

I think its very important that in a pub, the staff should either be english speaking or at least have an excellent grasp of the language and understand the pub mentality

You have a paddys out in fribourg as well, dont you? how is that, never been there

I thought Big Ben was named after the barman ?

It's my local. I like it, some people don't. I just feel very comfortable there as I know all the staff and most of the regulars. Always good for big sports occasions.

There is also St. Josephs, near Limmatplatz:
http://www.st-josephs-pub.ch/

As I don't drink beer, I can't really give a feedback about that. I've been a few times, service was good, it's pretty small though.

S'ips in Oerlikon is an english pub run by a bloke from hong kong. The place looks a little rusty but he's really friendly and it has ok beers I guess.

I don't really frequent too many englishy type places anymore because I like the swiss bars in zurich (BQM, el lokal, hafenkneipe, cheyenne) more. If there's an Australia sporting event or EF event for Australia day or something I like going to Oliver Twist for a chat with brendan and a few others. Plus the swiss bars generally tend to be cheaper, closer to home and my mates in there. And the type of female clientele tend to be ok to look at ....

The most publike pub I've ever been to in Switzerland is in a small village in Glarus.

It's done up by a pub, is frequented almost exclusively by Swiss people (although there are a few Anglo-Swiss types in there from time to time), serves Swiss beer, yet somehow, for reasons I've never quite put my finger on, feels exactly like an English country pub should.

If any of you know the Royal in Burton in Kendal, you'll know what I mean.

Failing that, the Shamrock is pretty good (but too far away for us peasants).

Aren't you supposed to be at home in bed TB?

Well that being said... hehe I think Paddy's is no1. I just like the atmosphere, they always have good footie on, and I like my guinness.. I don't think it is as dark as the Nelson, which I find depressing and a strange layout. However I may be biased, as the first time I went there was to watch the US game and had to crane my neck to a tiny tv in the corner and hide behind the big screen with England on... hehe I haven't been to Sip's (or however you spell it, I can never quite remember) My husband says it is okay but no great atmosphere, however convenient if you live in that area.

Oh yes, I almost forgot, Oliver Twist is nice as well, not to dark but the two times I was there not too friendly an atmosphere. But it was during the day. Paddy's by far has the best fish and chips for me!

Not an English pub at all, but one place that has a good variety of beers from all over the world including about 8 or 9 decent English ones (and none of the boring mainstream stuff) is the Old Gregory on Langstrasse. Very recommendable.

From memory he has

- Theakstone's Old Peculier (in two varieties)
- Badger's
- St Austell's
- Bombardier (sometimes even on tap)
- Old Tom's

and maybe 4 others that I've drunk too much of to remember their names

Pedigree?

Seriously? On tap, or bottle?

He said decent

Well, I might as well get back on it after thinking i was off it for 9 months

They have Carlsberg and Guinness
Google Streetview

bottle unfortunately, but that's still better than any other Swiss pub I know.

and a strip club next door