I quite like Gnome; it’s small and cosy and Yuko is a great cook (I’m particularly partial to her colcannon and soda bread). And the sing-along events are great fun. Felicity and Tomoko Saito play a mix of British and Irish traditional tunes and sometimes even some Japanese too. Here’s their version of 知床旅情:
You’ll notice a couple of chaps at the back. The chap on the flute is local musician Sho Iwasa. I hadn’t seen him before. He can play a lot of different things; flute, banjo, mandolin etc… The bass player is Yuko’s husband Tatsuya. 
He joins in when he isn’t too busy serving the customers. As it turns out, Yuko plays too. “We have surround sound,” somone said, and pointed out that Yuko was playing a squeeze box behind the bar.
This kind of atmosphere is, of course, infectious.
And so the night went on and we all had a lovely time. Good food, good drink, good people and good tunes. Felicity organizes these events each month and it’s all (including songsheets) free! Please check her site for details. The next one is booked for the 23rd May. Until then I’ll leave you with Tomoko Saito singing “Do You Love an Apple?”. Lovely!
Ahhhh, Tomoko…