Posted on Sunday, 14th August 2011 by Contributer

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Many Celtic fans will be familiar with the site celticbars.com . For those of you who aren’t, it is a site which you can use to find the nearest pub to you anywhere in the world that is likely to be showing the Celtic game. There are bars listed from Kelso to Kenya to Croatia. However, they are not necessarily exclusively Celtic pubs. 

In the next few weeks I will write reviews of some of these pubs that I have been to in order to let people know what kind of experience you might have if you go to see a game. I’ll do this with a description of what happened and then more general info about the bar at the bottom of the article including how to get there, prices and the likelihood of Mordor escapees ruining your day. That last one will be measured in Asbos out of 5.

MALTA  -  MUNCHIES  BAR

Game Watched – Rangers 0 v 0 Celtic 24th April 2010

I had gone to Malta for a long weekend and no intention of missing this game. Therefore I had been checking for Irish bars in Valletta because we were staying quite near there. However, Malta is a very small place and wherever you go on the bus seems to be about half an hour from anywhere else so we decided to go to the home of the Malta CSC, which is Munchies Bar in Bugibba.

When we got to Bugibba it was still an hour and a half before the game so we went for a walk around. I noticed some people in Celtic stuff in one café and some people in Rangers stuff in another and I momentarily thought I was in Dumbarton Road somewhere between The Smiddy and The Rosevale but the beach and the sunshine disabused me of the notion quickly enough.

We sat on the beach for a while then went along about 45 minutes before kick-off and just in time so that I could help the barman put up this flag (being lanky sometimes has its uses)..

The bar is split into two parts but one of them was closed when I arrived. I ordered a beer and sat down and the first thing I noticed was four quite rough types, one of whom had a rangers tattoo. There was also a family of Celtic supporters there with two little kids. I asked the barman how many Celtic supporters were likely to come and he said “lots of them, they will be here soon”.

I couldn’t see many people arriving and was beginning to wonder where everyone was when I went out for a cigarette and noticed that the other part of the bar had opened up and everyone in it was wearing Celtic strips.

It is easy to see that this is a proper Celtic bar. The second room is covered in Celtic wallpaper and has team photos all around the wall.

So the game started and I got talking to the people there. They were mostly Scottish expats who live in Malta now but also a few people who were there on holiday. There were about 40 people, of all ages and friendly and helpful about Malta too. The four Rangers supporters I had seen before did not come into this room for the game but instead stayed in the other part of the bar. It was a nice family atmosphere. One of the people from the Malta CSC also told me that the basement of the bar is going to be converted into the place for the Celtic games and supporters club and that it will be a bigger and better space than the room in the photo above.

The only downside to our experience in this pub was that one of the two Rangers fans who did come into this part racially abused both a Rangers and Celtic player (Diouf and Ki).

That bit of unpleasantness aside, if you find yourself in Malta for any reason then this is definitely the place to go for the game.

The Info

  • Prices – Malta prices so quite cheap. Maybe 3 euros for 660ml bottle of beer
  • Food – Didn’t eat, I was too nervous.
  • How to get there – 30 minutes on the bus from anywhere else in Malta!
  • Proper Celtic Bar? – Undoubtedly
  • Recommendations – Try Cisk beer, the Maltese one. It’s quite nice.
  • Dark Side Interloper Possibility – 3 out of 5 Asbos, but they are definitely outnumbered.
  • Address – MUNCHIES  BAR,  BUGIBBA (Tel: 00356 99459778 Ask for Dave)

 

Michael Greenwell  (twitter @mgreenwell and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys)
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