Visiting The Local Bars

One thing that myself and my housemates had neglected to do for a very long time, was to visit some of the local pubs and bars in Birkirkara, to get a feel for their atmosphere, beverage offerings, customer service and overall night life.

So, a quick Google search came up with many places that we had never even seen before, very local to us.

I always enjoy seeing how night life and pub experiences differ from country to country, as obviously traditions and customs will always vary.

Our first venture took us to the New 31 Bar, that was situated at the bottom of our street. Although we have all been in Malta for six or seven weeks now, we had never seen this quaint little bar before. The site itself is very small, but packs a great atmosphere, with chairs outside for people to take in the local scenery. There isn’t really much to take in, as the bar is situated against the main road. However, during that night, the roads were very quiet, which made for a pleasant experience.

Since we are used to paying slightly more for our beverages in places such as Paceville and Valletta, we did not expect to receive such a price difference and customer service difference in this small little bar.

As soon as we entered we were greeted by a bar maid who quickly took our order. In many bars, a bottle of ‘Cisk’ will cost you around €2.50-€4, however, in this establishment, it was only €2. A nice little surprise.

Speaking of surprises, it must be a customary tradition for Maltese bars to bring free food to their customers. In Britain it is very rare that you receive anything for free, so we were all incredibly puzzled when a gorgeous platter of traditional, herb-oil soaked Ftira was placed on our table.

Needless to say, it was absolutely gorgeous. The bread was incredibly dense and thick. It was laden with capers, olives, herbs, cheese and cooked onions. We completely finished the entire plate within a few minutes, with some of us wanting to be incredibly cheeky and ask for me. But, we didn’t.

A few bottles later we decided it was time for us to move on to somewhere else. So, we decided to catch the bus towards Valletta and see what bars and pubs would be near to us in the area.

This is where I found St Anton’s Band Bar. This was a lovely hidden gem, that I am very glad we stumbled across. The bar had a lovely seating area that overlooked some beautiful houses and a church situated behind us. We were even more pleasantly surprised that the bar was offering even cheaper prices for its bottled beer than any of the bars and shops we had ever visited. For just €1.50, one could snag themselves a bottle of any beer. Be it, Cisk, Heineken, Budweiser etc. Needless to say, we stayed here for a very long time to take advantage of such prices. There were even chilled bottles of wine available for less than €10, a price that cannot really be sniffed at, when one looks at the prices of some wines in restaurants back at home.

The gentleman who served us was a lovely and calm soul, he asked about our trip, our hometown, our interest in Malta etc. He was really keen to get to know us, which is probably why there were some regulars that flocked to the bar front to talk to this bar man.

He brought us a platter of cheeses, meats and biscuit-type puffs, along with a bowl of nuts and crisps for us to snack on. I almost felt bad about accepting this offering as we had already been given our drinks at such a cheap cost. But, he insisted that we take the offering.

We enjoyed the wonderful surroundings for around two hours, as we felt entirely relaxed and welcome at the establishment. It probably would have benefitted from some soft background music, but that is me just being pernickety.

The gentleman informed us that he would soon be closing, at the approximate time of 11pm, but we were not hurried in any way to finish our drinks and he even offered us the chance to purchase one last beverage before our departure. In many places back home, the workers are often excited for you to leave the premises and will often refuse to serve you another drink.

We then moved onto Charles’s Bar, where we had a short-lived stay, but we were still given the opportunity to purchase beverages and sit outside for three-quarters of an hour. The atmosphere in this place was quite quiet and the only other punters at the bar was a group of mid-twenties work colleagues and a couple sat in front of us. Again, when it came to closing the bar, the employees did not hurry us and again asked us about our visit and if we had any interest in the Beer Festival that was taking place in Mosta. Unfortunately, had we have known, we probably would have spent the night at that Beer Festival, but we were informed that it is running until Sunday, so there is still time!