Winemark

Not sure why this wee off license on the Ormeau Road has been slated in previous reviews. It all seemed perfectly fine to me! Really great selection of beers and wines and friendly staff - what's not to like? Granted there are other specialist wine merchants on this road but if you want big brand beers and a bottle of plonk to bring to a BYO restaurant then I wouldn't look any further than Winemark.

One noteable thing I noticed about this Winemark was the wee packs they had made up at the tills. One had a few miniature bottles of gin and some tiny tonic tins. Perfect for train boozing (I don't condone this ;)) or to give to someone as a gift.

Winemark always has good offers on beers, last night they were doing 4 pint tins of Heineken for a fiver. You can't say fairer than that! As my rating suggest I'm a fan!

This run of the mill little off licence was located ideally around the corner from where my girlfriend lived so going for some beer or wine became more of a pleasure than a chore.

As with most Winemarks, this one is pretty standard. The staff feign excitement when they serve you, you still need to go through a series of buzzers, secret doors and fingerprinting to get to where you want to go, and the shop is always well stocked, primaril because anything that doesn't have a special offer tag usually doesn't get bought.

They always have some sort of offer on wine which is a bonus in my book, but overall it is pretty standard and if it wasn't so ideally located at the bottom of the Holylands, very few people would actually visit it.

Not the best place to get fine ale and vino on the Ormeau Road it's fair to say.

I've been in this little offy on a couple of occasions, the most memorable being St Patrick's Day a year or so ago. It was, quite honestly chaos. The tiny surroundings, packing with the drunk and crime happy.

I ended up standing in a cue which curled its way around the beer in the centre of the store, only to be interrupted by the oaf locals who decided a queue wasn't for them and they would barge in infront of everyone else.

Besides that bad experience this store doesn't offer much more than the average small off-license around the city. If you are after something truly interesting and delectable try the varied (if pricey) Vineyard on up the road.