If the (almost) all-new Ship’s Wheel has anything to live up to, it will only be the rowdy Thursday and Friday nights at the long-standing Jebel Ali Recreation Club’s original pub, harked back on by weathered, wistful regulars wearing nostalgia-tinted glasses In reality, the old Ship, which opened back in 1993, was long due a lot more than a lick of paint. But it wore its lovably tatty interiors like a badge of honour, and long-time punters defended its moody, smoky set-up in the face of every shiny new pub opening across Dubai. It had character, and rarely does that survive when an old institution gets modernised.
