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We’re in Hornsey! Hornsey Hornsey Hornsey!! As we visit a relative unknown in the shape of newcomer Pub-consortium and craic-factory Internationale McCaffertys.

Despite having not heard of them before., McCaffertys it turns out has pubs in all the major polycentric conurbations and Alpha global cities- London, Dubai and Donegal Town.(Donegal , for the uninitiated , is the most northernly part of Ireland, located in the north of Ireland but crucially is not in Northern Ireland. Yes?? )A brief bus ride cross North London from the endz of Wathamstow, through Tottenham, Seven Sisters, we come to a pub that looks and feels the part.

Full of nooks and siderooms , we find our own private room covered in classic Irish Bar wall tat and order several very very good pints from the excellent bar staff. Live music , a central tenet of the Irish pub formula is also in evidence, with a live band featuring a bassist with a radio mic so he can walk all around the pub free to roam , coming up behind you ominously slappin’ de bass. Followed up by a dj playing quite decent funk tunes. Its nice to be in a late bar of a Saturday and we stay for the duration of the eve.

McCafferys is literally a textbook , picture perfect Irish pub- it has everything you want and expect. But its no wonder , as they have perfected the Irish pub essence and successfully replicated it from Donegal to Dubai, ( including the fantasically named “Yas Island”. Yass queen .) Having sprung up from nowhere, they seem hell bent on global Irish pub domination. But they are a fair bit more authentic the other transcontinental Irish pub chain, Harat’s Irish Pub Co, hailing from the hurling stronghold of Siberia, and can be found across eastern europe and the former Soviet Union. I will visit a Harats and get to the bottom of that ole chestnut at some stage , of this I am sure.