De Vere's Pub Sacramento

At long last there is a proper city pub in Sacramento - a proper city pub - an Irish one at that. This is long overdue and thank goodness there is now a place to go for lunch, after work drinks, and a place to stay until late if you feel like it. De Vere's is a good place and they have a crowd of regulars by day and night which makes things easy on all concerned. I like the staff, and they have a built a nice feel. There are all those little nooks and crannies where you can try and make a business deal, try your luck with someone or hide from the 'guv' during lunch.

So let me define this term by way of comparison:

• Village/ Country Pub. Old and quaint, small, low ceiling, has room for around 30 punters (customers). The Landlord opens and shuts the place. Normally in rural areas very nice, fast service, but a little too local at times.

• Local Pub. Newer, mid-size, bad carpet, has an old bloke that sits in the corner with his dog 'Mikey' and reads 'Best Bets' over his half-pint of warm beer. The place warms up in the afternoon and into the evening. Not a bad place to start the night, or for the Tuesday quiz night.

• Neighbourhood Pub. Decent size pub, they'd have a happy hour on Friday and serve cod and chips on the weekends, maybe with a little salad . Two decent looking barmaids on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and a great place to meet the local lads and ladies on the weekends. They'd probably sponsor a football team and have a darts league.

• City Pub. Big, around 200 people, four or more barmaids, that know how to make a decent drink, they have all sorts of beer on tap and you can get decent meals there. Normally within walking distance of a train station, tube station or the like. Has an older business crowd that transitions in the evening to a younger professional crowd. Good place to meet other folks and best of all you wont get blasted out by bad music of an evening.