Crown & Anchor

Review

English and Irish pubs have sprung up all over Las Vegas and Henderson by the boatload. You can't swing a member of Radiohead by the ankles without sending him through dartboards, breaded fish and boomer idiots bellowing along with "Brown-Eyed Girl." In the face of this growth, the Crown and Anchor has maintained a calm, stately indifference that allows the two-level English pub to continue to be Vegas' least pretentious, yet most lively, watering hole.

The crowd that gathers at the Crown every night is equal parts casino workers, local hipsters and UNLV students and faculty, and despite its size and boisterous nature, it may be one of the best-behaved bar crowds you'll ever mix with. They tip Guinnesses, Newcastles, Blackthorn Ciders or one of the establishment's signature James Bond martinis, shoot pool in one of the upstairs balconies (the one with protective netting -- all the better to catch those airborne, lager-fueled cue balls) and punch U2 and Jam songs into the jukebox one after another.

We recommend you sample the Crown's stocked menu. Try the Ploughman's Lunch, a platter of cheeses, fruit and bread that goes surprisingly well with heavy drink.

You're likely to live at the Crown and Anchor for a few weeks. That's perfectly normal. If we had a nickel for every time we've bivouacked at the Crown and Anchor, we could buy Guinness. Not just a pint or two -- we could buy the entire brewery, and most of Dublin around it.

-- Review by Geoff Carter