All Bar One — The Electric Press

All Bar One dominates this corner of Millennium Square.

I’d never been in All Bar One before, but walking by it always struck me as a bland-looking chain bar. But I must say it has a lot to offer: a huge indoor space, two beer gardens, wifi, newspapers, and a diverse menu including breakfast. It’s a place you could come with a large crowd for drinks or just on your own to linger over a cup of coffee.

We want to see one made of pint glasses next!

It definitely looks and feels like a chain pub. There are many different types of seating and it’s decorated in a way that makes it feel a bit like a kitchen outfitter’s showroom. I was taken with its impressive chandelier made of wine glasses, which fits in with their efforts to appeal to wine lovers. The extensive wine selection can even be enjoyed in flights (three very small pours of different wines served together on a sampling tray). The staff are friendly and also know their way around beer — I always find it reassuring when we don’t have to ask for a glass after ordering something crafty.

One end of the large wraparound bar.

And they do have a decent choice of beers: Blue Moon, Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada, Negro Modelo and Innis & Gunn in bottles, plus Sierra Nevada, Urquell and Meantime lager on keg. Not the widest range around, but perfectly acceptable and a nice complement to all the other reasons you might visit.

So we would definitely come back here — not for the beer alone, but easily tempted by the other good stuff. Did I mention there’s eggy bread on the menu? Eggy bread!