Another old-timer on the ex-pat pub scene, the Shakespeare has been at its present location for only a year or so, after moving from its former, decade long residency in Molokan Gardens, due to a rent increase. Always busy, with a friendly and very international crowd of ex-pats and Azeris vying to get on the winner-stays-on pool table. Live music – usually rock – on Fridaysrnand Saturdays is also a big draw and weekend nights can be absolutely rammed. The staff are super-friendly, beer flows way into the wee small hours and the menu of club sandwiches and pub classics is far better than the so-so curry upstairs (for a spice fix, you’re best off going next door to Adam’s incidentally). Most surprisingly, perhaps, is the news that they have now opened a sister Shakespeare pub in Pattaya, Thailand, a sort of beach bard, one would imagine.