Castle Hotel

You know the Castle — that solid, unpretentious boozer on South Road that's been holding down the neighbourhood for years. Walk in and you're greeted with dark wood, low ceilings, and the comfortable clutter of a proper local pub that doesn't feel the need to reinvent itself every season. There's a real mix of people here: students nursing pints, regulars who've claimed their spots at the bar, families grabbing food before heading to the seafront. The real draw is that it feels genuinely lived-in, the kind of place where the staff remember your order and the atmosphere shifts naturally from quiet afternoon to buzzy evening. It's honest, unpretentious drinking and eating — nothing fancy, but that's precisely the point.