An enormous pub with more than 30 screens which makes the Walkabout an ideal pub for watching sport or a session on the booze.

The Venue
With a capacity of 1,450 Walkabout is a cavernous pub at the bottom end of St Mary’s Street. It’s all open plan and the flooring is dark wood, the ceiling is red and the general feel is quite dark, verging on dingy. There are clusters of brown sofas in the middle of the room mixed in with high tables and chairs. It gets rammed on match days when it’s the perfect place to watch sport, given its dozen screens in the main part of the bar alone. At the back of the venue there’s a vast open space on a lower level, which has its own bars at either end, as well as two massive roll-down screens. Big metal beer kegs with wooden tops serve as platforms to rest your pint on. Thursday is student night, when the bar is open till 3am. There’s live music on Friday followed by a DJ club night and there’s an open mic session on Sunday.

The People
As you'd imagine match days are the busiest time and it gets quite raucous, so much so that you can usually hear how a match is going from outside the pub. During these events the Walkabout is filled with lots of guys in T-shirts and jeans in their 20s and 30s standing around clutching their pints to their chest while gazing open-mouthed up at the screens. Non-match Fridays and Saturdays are a more mixed affair with a healthier male to female ratio and an up-for-it atmosphere. On these nights the aforementioned guys in T-shirts stand around clutching their pints to their chest while gazing open-mouthed at the women. Walkabout definitely becomes a place where people come to see if there’s any talent.

The Food and Drink
On draught Walkabout has Strongbow, Carling, Carlsberg, Foster’s, Guinness, Brain’s Bitter and Kronenbourg and the cheapest pint is £1.75. In bottles it’s all the usual brands, plus Oz brews such as Crown, Victoria Bitter and Toohey’s. It’s mainly about boys drinking lager and girls quaffing wine. The wine list is quite extensive with about eight bottles of white and eight of red for £8 to £10 a bottle. It features a number of Antipodean tipples, such as Jacob’s Creek and Montana. There’s also Blossom Hill wine on tap. Food includes sandwiches, pasta, noodles, chilli, salads, sharing plates and burgers. These range from £6 to £9 depending on the size.

The Last Word
Walkabout has a tried and tested formula which works - so why change? The staff are numerous and very hard working too.