THE GUV'NOR
Dave Burns
Don't expect Dubai pubs to offer a comfortable experience, advises this
ex-pat
Being a Greene King tenant in Bedford was not all it was cracked up to be, so three years ago Christine and I moved to Dubai, a place we knew well. We initially looked for pub-related jobs and found one in a five-star hotel in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.
Unfortunately the hotel management had not been informed that slavery had been abolished so we abandoned that idea and started looking for alternative employment, still in the hospitality industry.
Dubai is a thriving metropolis with clubs and bars in the majority of hotels as you can only serve liquor to the non-Muslim public if you have a hotel licence.
This goes for restaurants too, apart from a few sports clubs and old, established ethnic clubs that still get to have a liquor licence.
Individuals can also apply for a licence to purchase booze for home use, as long as they can prove religious faith (non-Islamic) and have a salary sufficient to support a habit.
Some sad sacks still make their own beer and spirits but no one who has ever experienced a home-made hangover ever touches the stuff again. Draught beer is available in most bars but gone are the days when a good pint of cask-conditioned IPA was on the menu.
Now that frothy, sterile
no-taste cross between bitter and lager seems the most popular.
The dark stuff is everywhere, as is every lager you can imagine. I visited a particular dive recently and was pleasantly surprised to be served an excellent German wheat beer out of a wet glass.
Smirnoff is out, and Grey Goose is in. Black Label is the norm, and blends are used to clean the brass work.
However, you can still buy a bottle of Old Monk Indian whiskey for about two quid - or if you're really desperate for a drink, the local supermarkets sell Blue Moon eau de toilette which is about 70% proof.
To be honest, most of the bars are full of tourists or posers. None is the sort of place an ex-licensee would want to visit, as massive irritation is the norm.
