The glasses clinked and the whisky flowed. In the background pop music played over the sound of singing from the Ya Hala bar’s customers.
They had a lot to celebrate — and even more to forget. Not long ago this pub in the Christian town of Qaraqosh, 12 miles from Mosul, was being used by Isis for bomb-making. But for a month now it has been welcoming thirsty customers back to its smoky interior after the militants were ousted from the area by Iraqi forces.
For the groups of men — Christian and Muslim — who propped up the bar last week, Ya Hala was an escape from the ruined world outside, where scarcely a building is undamaged and the danger from Isis sleeper cells is ever present.
“It’s good to be back,” said Abu Firas, the bar’s corpulent owner. “But it’s not the same.”
Before Isis swept through Iraq and Syria in 2014, Qaraqosh was known for its nightlife. Each weekend Muslims from Mosul would leave their conservative city to drink and dance in the town’s bars, gamble in the casinos and stock up on whisky.
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The Christians fled from the jihadists’ advance, but local rumours claim that Ya Hala was kept open for the benefit of Isis fighters until the drink ran out.
“There were empty bottles everywhere when I came back,” said Abu Firas, shaking his head.
Since the bar reopened, regulars have flocked to sample the imported whisky and beer. But there are also new customers: young Mosulawis who became disenchanted with religion after three years under Isis rule.
“Many are drinking for the first time. I think 90% of the youth in Mosul drink now. They suffered a lot. Isis said they represented Islam. But Islam is very far from Isis,” said Abu Firas.
In a corner of the bar two Muslim businessmen downed cold beer at an astonishing rate. Both had stayed in Mosul during the occupation suffering airstrikes, systemic violence and alcohol shortages so dire that they had been forced to turn to home-made arrack, sold by smugglers at £80 a bottle.
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“When Isis was gone it was like a nightmare had ended,” said one.
“I drove to Qaraqosh and bought a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red Label. I drank half of it that first day.”