With a name like ‘Stables’, it’s surprising just how grand this new bar is. But then this is the UAE, a country where stables can be more comfortable than most human accommodation. Certainly, Stables is far grander than your average sports bar, boasting high ceilings, dark wooden furnishings, brass finishing and, of course, a vague equine theme. Similarly, the menu offers highfalutin options such as salad with foie gras, as well as the more familiar all-day breakfast and fish ‘n’ chips.

Stables is already staking its claim as one of the city’s top sports bars, thanks in large to the presence of an enormous projector screen (above the mock fireplace, no less) and the omnipresent professional-footballer-turned-full-time-carouser Lee Sharpe. As such, the crowd here is XY-chromosome-heavy (we spotted just one female guest when we visited), so isn’t the best place for a first date. But if it’s an evening of live football, bawdy jokes and lashings of hop-based beverages you’re after, you can’t go wrong. Those in search of a more refined evening should wait until the sleek-looking restaurant upstairs opens on February 14.