Osqa

the right club or piano bar we like to go drink a beer or a glass of Champagne Lanson

I’m not a huge sports fan. Most trivia on the subject bores the marrow out of my bones and I’d rather clothesline a Hell’s Angel than watch a match in a pub. You feel like you can never move, for fear of losing your seat or blocking the screen just at the vital moment a striker’s puck hits the wicket, or whatever.
However, when I visited Osqa’s sports bar, next to the restaurant, I found it delightfully empty. I think maybe because it was its second night open or something. Anyway, the deserted glass-​walled room and bored staff were a relaxing hiatus in my venture through town. The walls are decorated with pictures of everything from Pele to that other guy and a selection of screens gives you a choice to look at either the football, horse racing or static.

When I first noticed this place just off Renshaw Street, I was baffled by how to say the name and it wasn’t until I entered and was greeted by a member of staff that I realised it is ‘Oscar’ and not ‘Osqwa’ or something equally ridiculous.
Name problems aside, I have been to Osqa on a few occasions in both the sports bar and the restaurant and have found it an excellent place to watch the footy in a comfortable atmosphere with reasonable drinks prices. I haven’t eaten here as the times I have been in the restaurant have been when I have attended the weekly open mic nights they hold on Wednesdays.
Offering cheap drinks deals (always a winner) and giving local talent an opportunity to get up and sing (a recent highlight was a 3-​piece covering Destiny’s Child’s ‘Say My Name’, pop punk-​style) makes Osqa a lovely place to spend the night.

I’ve not eaten here yet so I can’t comment on the food, but the venue itself is really nice and the drinks are good! I was surprised when Osqa opened because I doubted it would get much business due to its location. You see, if you weren’t looking for it you wouldn’t find it. The website describes it as being at the top of Renshaw Street not far from the bombed church, yet it is actually hidden away down what looks like a side street that no one ever seems to go along.
However, having said that, location aside it is a really good place to be. They have their own sun terrace which, unlike most sun terraces in the city, actually gets the sun for more than 30 minutes. As I say, I’ve not eaten here, but I’ve been on a sunny day and sipped cold beer whilst listening to the hustle and bustle of the city without actually being able to see it. My experience was only slightly marred by the parents a few tables away who seemed unable to control their children, but hey ho, what can you do?
Anyway, a nice place to sit in the afternoon and watch life pass you by. It is a restaurant, sports bar and piano bar combined, so caters for everyone, and I’d like to see this place do well, as it seems to be a nice little haven away from the humdrum.