Spiders Bar is a neighbourhood bar at 2021 Great North Road in Avondale, Auckland, carrying a 4.0 rating on Google. A good suburban bar is less about the fit-out than the feel: regulars who claim the same corner, a bartender who remembers your order by the second visit, and an honest pour rather than a showy one. On main roads like this one, such places often serve as the neighbourhood's living room — quiet on a weeknight, filling out by Friday. The surest way to judge one is to walk in early, when the state of the taps and the greeting at the door tell you most of what you need to know. A pool table or the footy on a screen is often where the local crowd gathers. For west Aucklanders after an unpretentious drink close to home, Spiders Bar's stretch of Great North Road puts a proper local within easy reach.