Carlisle Castle Hotel

The Carlisle Castle has been pouring beers on the same Newtown backstreet since 1867. The front bar still runs on a slab of marble imported from Italy and installed by brewers Reeches in the 1920s — the best argument you'll get for ducking off King Street. Past the main bar sits a bistro doing home-style pub food and a courtyard that opens Thursday through Sunday, which is where most dogs settle in with their people. Regulars call it a classic suburban pub, the kind where Wednesday trivia and Thursday live music draw the same faces year after year.

It is also, reputedly, haunted — bottles falling off shelves, taps running on their own, usually blamed on a former barman called Old Peter. Dog-friendly, unfussy and properly quiet, it's the Newtown pub for afternoons that aren't meant to turn into anything much.