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The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers

The Poacher's Pocket

73/100
  • Lisbane, County Down
  • Gastropub with wood-fired pizza
  • By the glass
  • £££
  • Beta
  • Assessed July 2026
What's this?

These are confidence labels. They show how sure we are that what we publish still reflects the restaurant's current practice. They are not a judgement on the restaurant; the wine and cooking are scored separately, out of 100.

  • Beta means assessed and scored, but we are still confirming some details (such as the current wine list) and the restaurant has not yet had the chance to correct any factual inaccuracy, so it is published with that caveat.
  • No label means a fully confirmed entry.
  • In development means not yet a review. It appears so you can see where coverage is coming.

Restaurants often change their menus. The date beside the label says when we last reviewed.

We assessed The Poacher's Pocket in July 2026 and this review is based on the food menu and wine list at the time of the review. As menus and wine lists change, we name styles in order for the information to remain more useful as menus change. If things have slipped you can use the Vinealto Dining app including accessing an up to date reading using 'At the Table' from the wine list in front of you in the restaurant. How we assess

The Poacher's Pocket is a wine-minded gastropub at Lisbane with its own food-and-wine shop and a list far more ambitious than the setting suggests. The wine programme genuinely elevates the food (a well-priced by-the-glass and carafe house tier for the everyday plates, and a curious, wide-ranging bottle list that can partner everything from smoked salmon to an aged steak), let down only by the lack of any sweet or fortified wine for the puddings. It will most reward a curious drinker who wants real choice and honest by-the-glass value alongside generous, modern pub cooking.

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More in County Down

60/100 Beta

The Plough Inn

Hillsborough, County Down

Gastropub

The Plough Inn is a busy, many-roomed village gastropub in Hillsborough with a modern, spice-forward kitchen. Its wine list is broad and grown-up for a pub (a wide, well-described spread that can answer almost everything the kitchen throws at it) held back mainly by the absence of prices and of any dessert or fortified wine. It will suit an adventurous diner who wants a real choice of styles alongside big, flavour-driven food, and does not mind asking the price before ordering.

  • ££
  • Assessed July 2026
Read the assessment
50/100 Beta

The Whistledown Hotel

Warrenpoint, County Down

Contemporary Irish, hotel restaurant and bistro

The Whistledown is a busy seafront hotel whose bistro cooks a broad, spice-leaning contemporary-Irish menu to a crowd that comes as much for the bar. Its wine list is short and modest but a step above the basic, with a few genuinely characterful bottles and real Champagne lifting it clear of a pure house selection, held back by no wines by the glass, no vintages and no sweet-wine finish. It will suit the casual diner who wants an honest bottle with a curry or a steak more than the drinker seeking a list to explore, though that drinker may find more to love in the gin.

  • ££
  • Assessed July 2026
Read the assessment

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