Cities the world over have British and Irish pubs, but even by those standards Vieux Lyon has an extraordinary concentration, patronised by expats, visitors and local Lyonnais alike. Firm favourites open daily until at least 1am include the bookshelf-lined Smoking Dogin St Paul; the social James Joyce, and home-from-home St-James in St-Jean.

Further south in St-Georges, good bets are Johnny's Kitchen, which does decent pub grub; its sister bar (with live music five nights a week) Johnny Walsh's; and, somewhat off the beaten track, the atmospheric L'Antidote.