I've been chasing up pubs in central London, in the hope of getting somewhere to show the Ulster game on Friday night.
After some initial confusion.. Waxy O'Connors (near Leicester Sq) have told me they'll show the game. I'm slightly dubious about it, and will be calling again on Friday to confirm, but at this stage, we're on.
I'll be there, and I'm expecting Mr Jamesie to show his face. mikerob, who found the pub in Brentford last week - it'd be good if you could make it. But it'd be good to have as many people as possible.. then maybe we could get Waxy's to make a regular thing of Celtic League games - and for all its faults, Waxy's is a good place to watch rugby (usually). So reply if you're thinking about coming.
[DISCLAIMER: I cannot be held responsible for any last minute changes of mind by Waxy O'Connors, nor any messing up by the muppets at Satanta )
Cheers Aaron - I'll be there and will forward the info on to others.
You may know this already but the CL games are on Setanta Ireland, not Setanta UK - this probably means the pub needs a set top box registered to an address in Ireland...
If Waxy's falls through, then other options could be Tommy Flynns (in Camden, Hammersmith and Islington), Oxford Arms, Cobden Arms (both Camden) or Captain Morgans in Brentford where we saw the game last week. All pub details are on http://www.beerintheevening.com - let us know what the story is on Friday.
Thanks. I tried a few of those pubs, with no joy, but had a feeling I was speaking to the wrong person each time. Will try again on Friday if things go wrong.
Incidentally, everyone in the UK and Ireland now gets Setanta Ireland, apparently, if they have Setanta. Initally, Waxy's didn't think they had the channel (hence the confusionr referred to in a previous post), but then called me back to say that they did.
I've just called Waxy's and they say they're definitely showing the game. I'll be down just before 7, though will turn up earlier if anyone else is planning to..
good evening had... pretty choked seeing an ulster match beamed out in the middle of one of the biggest pubs in london.
also fair play to the man-mountain ronan (a.k.a. sea point) who took my mocking about alaskan rugby in good jest. i probably deserved a slap in the lugs but he held back
Was a good evening, not a massive crowd but enough to be entertaining. Good to meet Mikerob and others (the others tend not to hang around this board, so no point naming them). Mr Sea Point seemed used to the Ulster jeering, what with him 'sleeping with the enemy' (his words, not mine).
Locals seemed alright with it, at one point I looked around the bit of the pub we were in and counted up to 20 people paying attention to the game. There was one hairy moment when a drunken local banged his head on the screen, and rolled it up in anger. Seapoint (man-mountain that he is) just lifted the only other connacht fan in the place, lineout-style, and grabbed it back. Quality work!
Am heading down for the Ladyboys tomorrow, if anyone's about.
Hi guys - it was a really good night on Friday and good to meet you all.
I discovered that I was at primary school with SeaPoint's "enemy" !
There were some Kiwis around who also got into the game, but none of us could remember where Andy Ward was from in NZ.
Regarding other potential spots for the game - Waxy's is fine but the vast majority of people there aren't interested in sport. As mentioned by Aaron, The F3K in West Ken is a dedicated sports bar and only 5 stops down the District Line from me so I'm definitely up for it!
Aaron - were you going to contact them to see if they will be showing Borders v Ulster? I see that Leinster are playing Cardiff before the Ulster game so they could run a Celtic League double header.
cheers - hope to see everyone again and more for the game on Saturday to keep building the London Ulster support.
will try and muster up some of BRA's finest alumni... theyre not pretty though 
