Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [101]
Stag’s Head (Map; 679 3701; 1 Dame Ct) At the intersection of Dame Ct and Dame Lane, just off Dame St, the Stag’s Head was built in 1770 and remodelled in 1895. It’s sufficiently picturesque to have featured in a postage-stamp series depicting Irish pubs.
Long Hall (Map; 475 1590; 51 South Great George’s St) Luxuriating in full Victorian splendour, this is one of the city’s most beautiful and best-loved pubs. Check out the elegant chandeliers and the ornate carvings in the woodwork behind the bar. The bartenders are experts at their craft – an increasingly rare experience in Dublin these days.
Kehoe’s (Map; 677 8312; 9 South Anne St) This is one of the most atmospheric pubs in the city centre and a real favourite with all kinds of Dubliners. It has a beautiful Victorian bar, a wonderful snug, and plenty of other little nooks and crannies. Upstairs, drinks are served in what was once the publican’s living room. And it looks it!
Neary’s (Map; 677 8596; 1 Chatham St) A showy Victorian-era pub with a fine frontage, Neary’s is popular with actors from the nearby Gaiety Theatre. The upstairs bar is one of the only spots in the city centre where you stand a chance of getting a seat on a Friday or Saturday night.
Grogan’s Castle Lounge (Map; 677 9320; 15 South William St) A city-centre institution, Grogan’s has long been a favourite haunt of Dublin’s writers and painters, as well as others from the bohemian, alternative set. An odd quirk of the pub is that drinks are marginally cheaper in the stone-floor bar than the carpeted lounge, even though they are served by the same bar!
James Toner’s (Map; 676 3090; 139 Lower Baggot St) With its stone floor, Toner’s is almost a country pub in the heart of the city, and the shelves and drawers are reminders that it once doubled as a grocery store. Not that its suit-wearing business crowd would ever have shopped here…
Hartigan’s (Map; 676 2280; 100 Lower Leeson St) This is about as spartan a bar as you’ll find in the city, and it’s the daytime home to some serious drinkers, who appreciate the quiet, no-frills surroundings. In the evening it’s popular with students from the medical faculty of University College Dublin.
Sackville Lounge (Map; Sackville Pl) This tiny one-room, wood-panelled 19th-century bar is discreetly located just off O’Connell St, which perhaps explains why it’s so popular with actors, theatregoers and anyone who appreciates a nice pint in a gorgeous old-style bar.
Live-Music Pubs
The following places are excellent venues for catching some traditional Irish and contemporary music.
Sean O’Casey’s (Map; 874 8675; 105 Marlborough St) This place has a weekly menu of live rock and some Irish traditional music sessions.
Hughes’ Bar (Map; 872 6540; 19 Chancery St) Directly behind the Four Courts, this bar has nightly, if impromptu, sessions that often result in a closed door – that is, they go on long past official closing time. The pub is also a popular lunchtime spot with barristers working nearby.
Cobblestone (Map; 872 1799; North King St) This pub is on the main square in Smithfield, an old northside marketplace. There’s a great atmosphere in the cosy upstairs bar, where the nightly music sessions – both traditional and up-and-coming folk and singer-songwriter acts – are superb.
Oliver St John Gogarty’s (Map; 671 1822; 58-59 Fleet St) There’s live traditional music nightly at this busy Temple Bar pub, catering to a mostly tourist crowd.
International Bar (Map; 677 9250; 23 Wicklow St) The International has live jazz and blues most nights.
Bruxelles (Map; 677 5362; 7-8 Harry St) This place has weekly live rock music, perhaps the only link the now trendy pub has to its heavy-metal past.
O’Donoghue’s (Map; 661 4303; 15 Merrion Row) The most famous traditional music bar in Dublin, O’Donoghue’s is where world-famous folk group the Dubliners started off in the 1960s. On summer evenings a young, international crowd spills out into the courtyard beside the pub.
Bars
The following modern bars are Dublin’s current hot spots.
Anseo (Map;