Spy Bar

Spy is one of a series of student bars down Osborne Road, and it's a bit run of the mill.

The Venue
Most of the bars down this way were originally attached to hotels but as they grew in popularity they expanded to accommodate the swelling student population. Spy Bar is no exception and is attached to the Carlton Hotel. Inside, it’s all quietly modern with a dubious colour scheme of violet, orange and blue.

You can watch sport all day long on one of its three 42" plasma screen — or for the big games they roll out a 6ft projector screen. You’ll catch everything here from footie and rugger to tennis, and that must-see - Australian women’s aerobics. There's a bit of pale wood and a grey marble-topped bar with screens behind it.

The bar leads to a break-out area with green and yellow spotlights, big pictures on the walls and large cubic low-slung brown vinyl armchairs and black sofas with stubby round legs. There are more rooms to the left and the right of the main central bar. The trouble is they’ve never quite shaken off that transient hotel feel.

The People
Guys in short-sleeved shirts billowing outside their trousers and girls in cardigans convene here. It gets rammed between 5pm and 7pm (happy hour), as all the bars on this stretch do.

It’s a hit with sports fans, and particularly popular with the Saffa and Ozzy communities who come here to pursue their favourite activities of drinking, and watching sport.

The Food and Drink
On tap you’ve got San Miguel, Guinness, Fosters, Kronenbourg, Woodepecker, John Smith’s, Coors, Grolsch and Carling. In bottles there’s Sol, Budweiser, Corona, Newcastle Brown, Bulmers and Magners.

On the food front there’s everything from sandwiches to sweets. A Cajun chicken burger is £3.99 and a veggie burger £3.60. A ham, mushroom and cheddar panini will set you back £3.20, and a scampi and chips is £4.99. A curry and a beer on Sunday night is a snip at £4.99.

The Last Word
I spy with my little eye a bar beginning with “a” for average.

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