Well. What can I say? We turned up on St. Patrick's day in order to see a real Irish pub at its busy best, and The Welcome didn't disappoint us. The overspill, as you can see from our picture, was out onto the street and round the corner in no time. An Irish trio were fiddling like crazy in the corner, PA cranked to the max to try and surpass the multi-decibel crowd straining to get to the bar. Normally in a situation like this we double up our rounds at each trip to the bar, halving our queuing time, but it was just too hot. The temperature of the day coupled with the number of revellers meant our pints of Guinness were warm in a matter of seconds.
The atmosphere, we must say, was phenomenal - the best of the six pubs we visited that day - and the pub really is a gem. Evans street is pretty quiet normally, but today a constant stream of taxis continued to bring in impossible numbers of punters. I really don't know how the bar staff coped.
There's a story behind the pub's name - which we'll relate to you now - you see, it's all down to Winston, the dog you'll see on the sign outside. Winston was a pure-bred foxhound born in 1874 at Winthop grange in the UK. Winston was smuggled away from ill-treatment at the estate by a stable hand, who absconded to London after being wrongfully accused of poaching.
From London, Tom Dogan stowed away on a boat bound for Sydney, but when they landed, Tom and Winston were separated by the crowds. Winston wandered the streets searching for Tom, and eventually fetched up at the door to The Welcome, where instead of being shooed away as before, he was welcomed in with open arms. A rather touching story, don't you think? They do say Winston's ghost still keeps punters company, but if he's sensible he would have been hiding from the crowds on March 17th!
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