Review: This fun house has live music, sports, pool and virtual golf…

It feels like pubs are making a comeback in Dubai right now. New venues are popping up all over the city, from casual English-style offerings to Olde Irish taverns, promising their visitors plenty of fun without the fuss and frills of some of their fancier Dubai counterparts.

Goose Island Tap House just opened on the ground floor next to Five Jumeirah Village, offering a cool and relaxing watering hole for the residents of JVC and beyond. Old-style pub as the words ‘tap house’ suggest though, this is not. It’s a pub reimagined, with a clear industrial aesthetic of woods, metals and brass.

FIVE Goose-island

A huge bar dominates the centre of the venue, serving up 14 curated draft beers and other tipples and there’s even a Barrel Room, created for beer and gin tastings. Huge LCD screens show off live sports and there’s an area dedicated to pool tables and virtual golf. Live music is big at Goose Island, with a stage set up to show off the bands.

Happy hour runs from 5pm to 9pm, Sunday to Thursday offering selected beverages for two-for-one. On the menu there is comforting pub grub such as eight-hour braised beef tacos (Dhs65), Mexican loaded fries (Dhs55), piled up with spare ribs, jalapeños and cheese, a Chicago dog (Dhs65) or chicken Kiev (Dhs75).

On Friday’s the ‘Let’s Get Goosed’ brunch, narrated by a live band, serves up unlimited drinks and classic English dishes such as breakfast items and fish and chips. On Saturdays, drop by for a hearty roast and two-for-one drinks at selected times of the day.

Goose Island Tap House, Five Jumeirah Village, JVC, Sun to Wed 4pm to 2am, Thurs 4pm to 3am, Fri 12.30pm to 3am, Sat, Dhs12pm to 2am. Tel: (0)4 455 9989. fivehotelsandresorts.com

Images: Provided