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Dublin By Pub
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  • Agnes Brown’s: Thomas St.
  • Arthur’s: Thomas St.
  • The Back Page: Phibsborough Road
  • Bar Rua: Clarerndon Street.
  • Becky Morgan’s: Grand Canal Street Lower
  • The Beer Market: High St.
  • The Bernard Shaw: Richmond St. South
  • The Black Sheep: Capel St.
  • The Bohemian (McGeough’s): 66 Phibsborough Road
  • Brannigan’s: Cathedral St.
  • The Bridge Tavern: Summerhill Parade
  • Briody’s: Marlborough St.
  • Brogan’s: Dame St.
  • Cassidy’s: Camden St.
  • The Celt: Talbot St.
  • The Chancery Inn: Inns Quay
  • Chaplin’s: Hawkins’ St.
  • Clarke’s City Arms: Prussia St.
  • Clarke’s Phibsborough House: Phibsborough Road
  • ​The Clock: Thomas St.
  • The Cobblestone: King St.
  • The Confession Box: Marlborough St
  • Cumiskey’s: Dominick St.
  • ​The Dawson Lounge: Dawson St.
  • The Deer’s Head: Parnell St.
  • Delaney’s: King St.
  • Devitt’s: Camden St.
  • Doheny & Nesbitt’s: Baggot St.
  • The Dominick Inn: Dominick St.
  • Doyle’s: College St.
  • Doyle’s Corner: Phibsborough Road
  • The Duke: Duke Street.
  • The Duke: Duke Street.
  • East Side Tavern: Leeson St. Lower
  • Fallon’s: The Coombe
  • The Ferryman: Sir John Rogerson’s Quay
  • Fibber Magee’s
  • Fitzgerald’s: Aston Quay
  • The Flowing Tide: Abbey St.
  • Frank Ryan’s: Queen St.
  • The George: George’s St.
  • ​The Ginger Man: Fenian St.
  • ​The Glimmer Man: Stoneybatter
  • Grainger’s: Talbot St.
  • Grogan’s: South William St.
  • Hanlon’s: Hanlon’s Corner
  • Ha’Penny Bridge Inn: Wellington Quay
  • Hartigan’s: Leeson St.
  • The Hut: Phibsborough Road.
  • Hyne’s: Prussia St.
  • The International Bar: Wicklow St.
  • J.M Cleary’s – Amiens St.
  • J O’Connell’s: South Richmond St.
  • J.W Sweetman
  • Jimmy Rabbitte’s: Camden St.
  • J.J. Smyth’s: Aungier St.
  • John Kavanagh (The Gravediggers’): Prospect Avenue
  • Kavanagh’s: Aughrim St.
  • Kehoe’s: South Anne St.
  • Kennedy’s: Westland Row
  • Kimchi Hophouse: Parnell St.
  • L. Mulligan Grocer: Stoneybatter.
  • The Lamplighter: The Coombe
  • Lannigan’s: Eden Quay
  • The Liberty Belle: Francis St.
  • Lloyd’s: Amiens St.
  • The Long Hall: George’s Street
  • The Long Stone: Townsend St.
  • The Lord Edward: Christchurch Place.
  • The Lower Deck: Portobello Harbour
  • Lowry’s: Summerhill Parade.
  • M Hughes: Chancery St.
  • Madigan’s : Abbey St.
  • Madigan’s: North Earl St.
  • Madigan’s: O’Connell St.
  • McCann’s: James’ St.
  • McDaids: Harry St.
  • McGettigan’s: Queen St.
  • McGrattan’s: Fitzwilliam Lane
  • Molloy’s: Talbot St.
  • O Donoghue’s: Suffolk St.
  • O Neill’s: Suffolk St.
  • O Reilly’s: Tara St. Station.
  • The Oak: Dame St.
  • The Old Royal Oak: Kilmainham Lane
  • The Old Storehouse – Crown Alley
    (A Pint with Shane MacGowan)
  • The Open Gate Brewery – Thomas St.
  • The Oval: Middle Abbey St.
  • The Palace Bar: Fleet St.
  • Peadar Brown’s: Clanbrassil St.
  • Peadar Kearney’s: Dame St.
  • Peter’s Pub: Johnson Place
  • Piper’s Corner: Marlborough St.
  • Ruin Bar: Tara St
  • Ryan’s: Store St.
  • Shanahan’s The Coombe
  • Sheehan’s: Chatham St.
  • The Silver Penny: Abbey St
  • The Snug: Stephen Street
  • The Sunset House: Summerhill Parade.
  • The Swan: Aungier St.
  • T O’Brennan’s: Upper Dominick St.
  • T.P. Smith’s: Jervis St.
  • The Lincoln’s Inn: Lincoln Place.
  • The Patriot’s Inn: Kilmainham
  • The Thomas House: Thomas St.
  • Tom Kennedy’s: Thomas St.
  • Tommy O Gara’s: Stoneybatter
  • Toner’s: Baggot St:
  • Walsh’s: Stoneybatter
  • The Wiley Fox: Eden Quay

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dublinbypub

🇮🇪 A modern Irish drinking odyssey
📝 Documenting Dublin pubs in opinion & anecdote.
📸 All photos our own
📅 Est. 2016
🔖 #dublinbypub
Consider, if you will, the following couplet. . “There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in” . Taken from Canadian crooner, Leonard Cohen’s back catalogue – these much quoted and poignant lines have many different meanings to many different people. Some think redemption, and some reckon resurrection are the abiding themes to which Laughing Lenny’s words refer. But us, we have our own interpretation, namely that Leonard Cohen is obviously a man who’s never been to Frank Ryan’s. Presumably named after the republican veteran of Irish and Spanish conflicts – we’d be comfortable enough in labelling Frank Ryan’s as the darkest pub in the city of Dublin, perhaps even the entire country. And as you find yourself rubbing ointment into your bloodied shins of a morning after being there, you will surely agree that there’s neither crack nor light to be found in this Smithfield bar. Sorry Len! . A seemingly traditional pub beneath all the darkness, it makes use of wood as its primary material and is relatively narrow upon entrance. Becoming partially divided twice along its length, it eventually steps down a foot or two at the back opening somewhat to reveal a pool table. Feeble light that is afforded to patrons of the pub tends to be by means of tea and fairy light, mostly hued in shades of red. Along the walls and hung from the ceiling, should you manage catch a glimpse, you’ll find any amount of paraphernalia scattered around - the overarching theme of which seems to lean mostly toward music. But, that said, there’s plenty of drink themed bric-a-brac and license plates filling in the gaps between. [1/2 Cont'd. In Comments]
Ha’Penny Bridge Inn: Wellington Quay. Though th Ha’Penny Bridge Inn: Wellington Quay. Though there's no smoky haze or abundance of black faces, and still without the bourbon stink or distant cricket hiss you can still close your eyes and immerse into the hollering and the bawling of man and instrument. And in the rhythm of that juke joint rattle you can cast the Liffey as your Mississippi, and Martin Dunleavy as Blind Willie McTell and just, nearly, reach a state of transcendence. But then it all shatters with a sharp tug on your coat sleeve and the piercing screech from the reddened face barking violently and abrupt toward you... ‘DRINK! DRINK!’ he screams it into my baffled face as I struggle to muster a response. “DRINK!” he screams louder again. And just as I begin to utter a response, he clarifies the matter - 'Buy a drink! This music isn’t free”. He's a manager... or the owner. I've been in the pub for no more than 40 seconds. You could say that my first experience of the Ha’Penny Bridge Inn was a bit unusual, well that was what I had assumed until I’d come to realise that finding yourself at the receiving end of the ire of this particular barman was not an unusual occurrence. Dozens of people have too relayed to me, their stories of being howled at in this particular pub. I even seem to remember @lankumdublin recounting a similar tale onstage to a sell-out crowd in Vicar St one night. A grown man certainly shouldn’t shout at people like this, but you might forgive me on this occasion for endorsing this man’s penchant toward tirade. Allow me to frame it in terms of Bang-Bang. Bang- Bang, Thomas Dudley to his mother, was a Dublin character of old and is rightly revered for the break from mundanity he provided to ordinary Dubliners of his era. But, an inescapable fact of the matter is that there were almost certainly persons who departed from an encounter with him in a less than a positive mood solely for the reason that he didn’t conform to the status quo. For better or for worse, this shouty barman is a character, and you’ll certainly leave the pub with a good story if you happen to trigger his vocal cords, which is eternally better than leaving with no story at all. [1/2 Contd. In Comments]
The Patriot's Inn: Kilmainham. . "This old pub sta The Patriot's Inn: Kilmainham. . "This old pub standeth on sacred ground, surrounded by the high walls of the Royal Kilmainham Hospital, by the ancient cemetary of Bully's Acre and the dungeons of Kilmainham Jail. The Patriots Inn has been closer to the pulse of Irish history than any other contemporary pub." . So says the signage sitting at the entrance to the Patriots Inn pub in Kilmainham. Now far be it from us to stand here today and call this pub's historical bona-fides into question, but can we just ask you whether you might agree with us that the sense of historical significance that may well be afforded to this pub just happens to get even a little bit diluted when you factor in the fact that that sitting just atop the pub is Dublin 8's most authentic, lively Italian dining emporium - La Dolce Vita. I mean, pizze di Napoli, fettuccine alla carbonara and spaghetti al pomodoro, don’t exactly scream saoirse na hÉireann now do they? Maybe it qualifies under ‘our gallant allies in Europe’. I don’t know. It's probably just me. But when I first pushed back the door of the bar in The Patriots Inn of a November evening, the first thing to grace the olfactory plains of my internal workings was the pungent bouquet of basil, garlic and tomato. All fine things in their own right and great in the appropriate time and place, but when a man has the desire for porter, he need not be enticed by certain aromas and these are certainly included with those. I, and others, have been known to leave pubs for less. But this night, it would take more than the smell of decent Italian gnosh to move me and my companions as we were there to get this pub well and truly ticked from our list. Making our way to the bar we hastily retrieved a few pints and set about getting a table. Finding our way to a free table toward the back we listened a while to the music which emanated from the lounge before tucking into the pints before us. While the enjoyment of these was impacted by the smell of food, it was agreed that they were of an acceptable standard and a decent price too. (€4.80 in November 2018... we don't often get the chance to get out to Kilmainham). [1/2 Contd. In Comments]
Snapped this picture of The Boar’s Head on a qui Snapped this picture of The Boar’s Head on a quiet New Year’s Day. Had some lovely pints in this pub over the Christmas. It’s a pub which, at that time of year, is the very definition of cosiness. But don’t be going in there in or around September expecting anything akin to relaxation – it’s said to be one of the main headquarters of the All Ireland winning Dublin team, who are known to make good use of the pub’s early license of the Monday after the final. . . . . . . . . . #architecture #cityphotography #discoverdublin #discoverireland #dublin #dublinbypub #dublincity #dublinpub #irishliterature #ihavethisthingwithpints #dublinstreets #guardiancities #guinness #igersdublin #ireland #irish #irishwhiskeyl #lovedublin #loveireland #publichouse #dubliners #streetscape #travel #visitdublin #visitireland
Well that’s another one gone. 2019 has been an i Well that’s another one gone. 2019 has been an interesting year as far as the Dublin pub landscape is concerned. There were plenty of downs – the Long Stone being levelled, the Bernard Shaw moving to the northside, the further encroachment of Wetherspoons into the market. But we’ve had an up or two as well, most notably the reopening of The Sacker. 2020 should be an interesting one, at least. We’ve had a few new pubs opened lately in the capital and there’s a few more nearly open too. With the further hotelification of Dublin and the gentrification of The Liberties we’re probably bracing ourselves for a few casualties in the year ahead but we’ll keep hopeful that the more beloved haunts will remain unaffected. We’d also just like to take the opportunity to convey our hope that Christmas was a good one for you and yours and to wish you all a very happy new year. We’re ever grateful for your engagement on this platform and though our output has certainly slowed in the last while due to our own committments, we look forward to continuing to charter the boozers of this town with your input into the future. So have a good one tonight. Be sure to throw us a tag and let us know where you’re ringing in the new decade. All the best, catch yis in 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . #dublincity #igersdublin #architecture #discoverdublin #discoverireland #dublin #dublinbypub #dublinireland #guinness #ihavethisthingwithpints #ireland #irish #irlanda #kilmainham #lovedublin #pintman #templebar #travelblogger #visitdublin #visitireland
The Old Royal Oak: Kilmainham Lane. Dublin! It’ The Old Royal Oak: Kilmainham Lane. Dublin! It’s a city, if the annals of internet comment sections are to be believed, that divides opinion. And while pub-dwellers prone to over-romanticisation, such as ourselves, are ten a penny - there's also a hefty cohort out there in the world who refuse to base their opinions of our native city on anything other than the darker end of the full spectrum. Though our official line is one attesting to the craic and beauty being in plentiful supply, we’re not so ignorant as to equate Dublin to some utopia and even we like to take the road out sometimes in search of an atmosphere where urbanity doesn’t abound. Where settings are a little, if not a lot, more rural. Thankfully when such pangs kick in and when time or money won’t allow – we can achieve something akin to a rural encounter without having to travel so far. Sometimes an experience bordering on bucolic can be had mere minutes from the city centre – we’re referring, of course, to a pub which rightly calls itself an authentic country pub in Kilmainham – The Old Royal Oak. In researching the name of this pub, I can’t say with any great degree of confidence that we’ve managed to establish its exact origin. Some say that there must be a tie with the nearby Royal Hospital given its inclusion of the word royal, but in the course of our research we've come to establish our own particular theory. We have previously touched upon the genesis of some modern pub names in our post about The Deer's Head and similar to that, we've found ourselves looking back toward our old colonial neighbour for answers. You see, it so happens that an abundance of pubs across in the UK have names containing any given permutation of the words royal, oak and old. And as you might imagine, there's a good reason for this. [1/3 Contd. In Comments]
The Ferryman: Sir John Rogerson's Quay. Recently The Ferryman: Sir John Rogerson's Quay. Recently we were philosophising about what it is that brings that certain sense of je ne sais quoi to pints when they’re taken in enjoyable numbers of a Sunday. Having given due regard to theories of Old Ireland and The Sabbath, we came to look on the whole situation more generally and found some consensus that the sweetness derived from a Sunday session is most certainly directly proportional to its inherent risk. Riskiness, when you consider its intrinsic incalculability, is something that borders on the magical. And you don’t need to be an adrenaline junkie out on a tightrope or a high roller staking five grand a hand to get the endorphin rush that risk can deliver. All you need to do is put your next days’ wage or even your entire job on the line and get down to the boozer for a skinful on a Sunday. Fair warning though, I tossed these particular dice a few weeks ago and I lost. Thankfully this loss brought about no need to hightail it back to hatch number two or to pawn the family silver, the nature of my punishment this time around was to be more sensory than anything. With a humdinger of a hangover the next morning, I rushed queasily down the road to make the last Monday DART that would deliver me to work on time. Sufficiently sardined onto same, I made the horrifying discovery that I was headphoneless. And of course, it wasn't even a tiny moment after I'd made that realisation when two particular gentlemen, whom I could only describe as the type who would have been dealing with NAMA during the recession, boarded the train. Unfortunately, these boys had no inclination to keep as quiet as the rest of the passengers and set about letting the whole carriage hear their conversation which was convened entirely with the use of business buzz-word bollock-talk. You know the sort of stuff – acronym laden shite that you’d hear the minister for finance yammer on with when he’s speaking about citizens like financial commodities. Anyhow, it was these two gobshites and their overuse of the phrase Silicon Docks in referring to the Grand Canal area that had me thinking of The Ferryman. [1/3 Contd. In Comments]
The Gravediggers’: Glasnevin It’s early after The Gravediggers’: Glasnevin It’s early afternoon on a bitter February morning and I’m huddled around the graveside of Fenian Leader – Jeremiah O Donovan Rossa with another dozen cold persons on a guided tour of Glasnevin Cemetery. An actor in full Irish Volunteer regalia is in the throes of his re-enacting of Padraig Pearse’s famous graveside oration. The wind is whipping up in short frenzied bursts which are shaking the surrounding trees, strong trees – nourished on the since-decayed flesh of patriot dead. Haphazardly, this wind is spraying a pin-prick icy drizzle laterally toward my face, aiding it in its apparent attempt to render all exposed flesh numb. I’m entirely sure that February is a fine month for a great number of things, but even more certain am I that Saint Brigid herself would agree that this is no optimal month for traipsing about on consecrated grounds for prolonged periods in the frost. After an hour or so the otherwise enjoyable tour ends and before I can speak the reddened faces of my companions render moot the question I have in my head. We are all in telepathic agreement that the time has come to seek shelter from the cold – and our chosen location for such is another thing that Brigid would’ve probably been agreeable to, her being the patron saint of beer, and all. We are bound for Kavanagh’s, The Gravediggers. At this particular point in time our having never been to the pub is a shame we carry in secret. We fancy ourselves as knowing a thing or two about the most well-regarded pubs in Dublin and we’re repeatedly deflecting suggestions and changing subjects in order to try and conceal the awful truth. And with this comes the expectation, the hype. It’s not possible for this pub, good and all as we’re sure it will be, to live up to the standard our respective unconsciousness set for their waking counterparts. We find our way out of the cemetery and push back the heavy iron gate and proceed toward the battered wooden door. The world stops. It’s glorious. [1/3 Contd. In Comments]
Managed to nab a nicer shot of Sweetman's than pre Managed to nab a nicer shot of Sweetman's than previously uploaded there the other week. Anyhow, I wanted to ask you all about Halloween fancy dress etiquette. Should we have done our dressed up drinking last week, on account of it being the bank holiday weekend? Or is it still acceptable to be out on the lash in all your Halloween finery this weekend too? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #architecture #barsofinstagram #cityphotography #discoverdublin #discoverireland #dublin #dublinbypub #dublincity #dublinpub #dublinpubs #dublinstreets #guardiancities #guinness #igersdublin #ireland #irish #irishpub #irishwhiskey #lonelyplanet #lovedublin #loveireland #publichouse #publife #pubsofinstagram  #streetscape #travel #visitdublin #visitireland #ihavethisthingwithpints
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Latest News

  • Covid 19, The Pub-pocalypse and Dublin By Pub in The New York TimesMarch 18, 2020 - 9:45 pm

    So since we last posted the entire world has changed. I don’t need to tell you about the coronavirus, you’re likely to be getting that from all angles. But for those of you who have been living under a rock, all pubs in Dublin, and Ireland have closed in a bid to stop the spread […]

  • Google Pub Reviews: The Best HitsJanuary 8, 2020 - 8:02 pm

    In the usual January reeling from all of December’s excesses, I have come to find comfort and solace in the near constant scrolling through the volumes of reviews that people have published on Google Maps relating to Dublin’s pubs. Common complaints tend to relate to food, service and toilet facilities, but amongst all these there […]

  • Bring Back Pints Outside The Gravedigger’sAugust 6, 2019 - 8:19 pm

    Recently it was reported that An Garda Siochana had decided to notify the proprietors of John Kavanagh’s (AKA The Gravedigger’s) that they need to stop people from bringing their pints outside the pub and enjoying them on the green space to the front of the pub. Gravediggers calls time on enjoying a pint outside – […]

  • Irish Tatler Man – Autumn Edition.September 23, 2018 - 2:32 pm

    We’re back on the tactile medium of physical paper again, this September. We’ve opted to detail our thoughts on Kimchi Hophouse this time around. Do head out and grab yourself a copy!

  • CARA MagazineJuly 2, 2018 - 7:09 am

    Anyone heading off on their holliers in July? We’re thrilled to announce that Dublin By Pub is included as part of the Documenting Dublin feature of this month’s issue of the fantastic Aer Lingus inflight magazine, CARA. Make sure to have a thumb through and give it a read if you’re lucky enough to be […]

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