The Dubliner Bar Guide

The Dubliner 100 Best Bars

"Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water." – WC Fields.

Welcome to the online edition of The Dubliner 100 Best Bars – essential reading for anyone who likes going out.

Edited by Paul Trainer and Eoin Higgins, the guide is now available to read for free online. If you would rather buy the print edition, just click here.

To use the guide, just click on one of the categories on the left, or simply search the alphabetical list below.

40 Foot
4 Dame Lane
The Angler's Rest
Anseo
Abbey Tavern
The Bailey
The Barge
The Bleeding Horse
The Blue Light
Bleu Note Club
Bodega
Bowes
Bruxelles
Café En Seine
Cassidys
Cinnabar Red Bar
The Cellar Bar
Centre Stage Café
The Chancery Inn
The Cobblestone
Conway's
Copper Face Jack's
Dakota
Davy Byrne's
The Dawson Lounge
Dice Bar
Doheny & Nesbitt's
The Dylan
Eno Wines
Fagan's
Finnegan's
Flannery's
Floridita
Gaffney's
The George
Gill's
The Gingerman
The Globe
The Goat
Grand Central
The Gravediggers
Gravity
Grogan's
The Halfway House
Harry Byrne's
Hartigan's
Hogan's
The Horseshoe Bar
Howl at the Moon
The Ice Bar
The International
Johnnie Fox's
Kehoe's
Kennedy's
Kiely's
The Leopardstown Inn
Lillie's Bordello
The Loft
The Long Hall
The Lotts
MacTurcaills
Mary Mac's
Market Bar
McCormack's
McSorley's
Messrs Maguire
The Mint Bar
Mother Reilly's
The Morgue
Mulligan's
Neary's
The Neptune Lounge
O'Brien's
The Oak
O'Loughlin's
Ocean
The Octagon
Odeon
The Old Stand
The Palace
The Pavilion
Peter's Pub
An Poitín Stil
Porterhouse North
Pravda
Quinns
Renards
Ron Black's
Ryan's
Searson's
Sin É
Slattery's
Smyth's
Solas
The South William
Spy
The Stag's Head
Strawberry Hall
The Temple Bar
Thomas House
Tonic
Tram
The Village
Walshe's
The Welcome Inn
Whelan's
The Yellow House
Wrights Findlater

O’Briens

Just regular guys
One of the best tests of a ‘legendary’ pub is whether the staff and regulars are sufficiently confident in the character of the place not to feel threatened by the arrival of those who do not fit its usual customer demographic – and maybe even make them feel welcome. O’Briens, previously known to me only as a watering hole for my parents’ friends, fared reasonably well on this premise. Although I wasn’t asked for my opinion on the management of KPMG, the menu at the French Paradox or other topics being discussed, I was able to enjoy my rather unusual suroundings without any disapproving stares. The bar has a ‘shebeen’ look going – tins of snuff are sold over the counter in a somewhat excessive show of authenticity. The lounge areas, upstairs and downstairs, are more modern in style and attract a younger after-work crowd, perhaps aspiring to one day have a place in the inner sanctum of the bar. A fine goal, though the occasional pint as a member of the uninitiated is enough for me. (P.S. This place is usually full of admen.)
8-9 Sussex Terrace, Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4. 676 2851, m-obriens.ie 

The Lord Edward

On the sidelines
Though it’s only two minutes from the centre of town, you are always guaranteed a seat and a quiet pint here. Downstairs is fairly basic – industrial-style lino floor that would make you think twice about taking off your coat – and most popular with hardened locals. The upstairs lounge is better suited to the genteel tastes of tourists and blow-ins, many of whom call in for drinks on the way to the wonderful seafood restaurant on the top floor. With an open fire, bay windows and wine red upholstery, it’s modelled on an 18th-century tavern. Prints of The United Irishmen and various proclamations clarify the identity of the eponymous lord for those whose Leaving Cert history escapes them. Although cosy, its open plan makes it a bit awkward for romantic encounters – best enjoyed with a group of friends.
28 Christ Church Place, Dublin 8. 454 2420, lordedward.ie

Sandymount House

Something for everyone
Every genre of bar bar room decoration is represented at Sandymount House: caricatures of gentlemen, local views, hunting scenes and military prints, mounted plates and shelves of toby jugs, tankards and other trinkets. Greater clarity has been shown in the overall layout of the pub, however. Glazed partitions create private corners without destroying the sense of community, and must be credited, in part, for Sandymount House’s enduring popularity with a motley clientele. On a recent visit, while the Champions League elicited ferocious responses from men in jerseys and work overalls, on the far side, two businessmen exchanged views on the collapse of the world economy, a group of British tourists gabbed loudly on the couches by the window, and in the snug, two girls in St John Ambulance uniforms were in fits of giggles. This is an exemplary local pub which well lives up to the primacy suggested by its address.
1 Sandymount Green, Dublin 4. 269 1612

Number three

How very Berlin

The owners of l’Gueuleton made some strange moves with the bar they opened above their restaurant on Fade Street in June. It doesn’t have a name. The only sign that there’s anything there at all is a sandwich board keeping the door open, and the word ‘bar’ scrawled in chalk. Hmmm. Post-modern. (We’re calling it Number Three because it’s open three nights a week, and the address is 3 Fade Street.)

However, situated as it is, across the road from the maddening din of the Market Bar, come Friday and Saturday night the wisdom of such discretion is clear to all who are in-the-know enough to have heard about this new watering-hole.

Spread throughout four beautifully proportioned rooms, the bar’s atmosphere is laid-back and intimate, with precious conversation and seat possibilities. Having such incongruous items as safes and soup terrines as part of the decor of a modern bar would ordinarily arouse suspicion, but here it’s discreet and, in fact, genuinely interesting.

Nevertheless, perhaps too much time has been spent on such aesthetic details to the detriment of more practical considerations. In particular, the small size of the bar area can make getting served difficult; a cause of annoyance and impatience among bar staff as well as customers. Open Thursday to Saturday from 8pm.

3 Fade Street, Dublin 2. 675 3708

The Ice Bar

As cold as...

They say fortunes are made and lost in this astringently decorated bar in the Four Seasons Hotel. We agree; the guts of €20 for a couple of G&Ts is probably the reason why. The crowd is sparse, preened and wondering who you are. We’re wondering the same thing.

It seems the Ice Bar’s time has come and passed, which is why we are excited about the rumour that it is to close soon for some nipping and tucking. There’s a lot of competition out there these days – one thinks of the Shelbourne or the Dylan before the trek to Simmonscourt Road.

Still, we loved the Ice Bar for about ten seconds in the spring of 2003. What it will be like after the refurb? Going by the economic forecast, we’re guessing it will be an Irish-themed bar with ex-web entrepreneurs serving Aftershock from cauldrons at €2 a pop.

Simmonscourt Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. 665 4000

The Halfway House

Mother’s Milk

“what can i get you love?” “Certainly, chicken.” “Thanks, pet.” If you’re ever feeling lonely, unloved or missing your Mammy, the Halfway House is for you. The women here are warm, tender, non-judgmental, and just the ticket for stressed heads seeking a bite to eat on the way to the M50.

The food is typical bar fare with a hint of ambition. We ordered a pair of ham, cheese, tomato and onion toasties – the mammy’s hug of bar food. They were lovely, comforting. Don’t expect a debonair crowd: quiet retirees, jaded business lunchers and a couple of old boys in flat caps discussing the racing form at the bar were all the cosmopolitans we found or sought.

Afterwards, take a stroll down by the Royal Canal and forget the traffic for a while.

Navan Road, Ashtown, Dublin 7. 838 3218

cassidy’s

What’s on the inside counts

The American sitting outside sipping a glass of de black stuff, cloaked in a massive map, does little to convince us that Westmoreland Street is where clued-in Dubliners should go for a pint. But Cassidy’s is not the twee tourist trap you expect.

The golden glow of the chandeliers tries a little too hard to imitate the effect of gaslight, but at least there are no antique bottles or tins of what-have-you in the glass cabinets. If anything, the tourists appear to have a positive influence, putting manners on the locals and keeping the staff uber-friendly.

The food menu, available from 11.30am to 9.30pm, includes such exotic fare as a vegetarian stir fry; our Bolognese with Italian sausage (€11.95) was not half bad. Cassidy’s may not rival of the likes of Hartigan’s and Grogan’s in terms of character, but it is certainly worthy of inclusion on any city-centre pub crawl.

27 Westmoreland Street, Dublin 2. 670 8604

Market Bar

Its grate

Vast. busy. fun! This converted sausage factory on Fade Street boasts high ceilings and a dashing redbrick and iron girder interior. Part bar, part cool and cosy restaurant, it’s the sort of place where party-people and suits don’t mind enduring one another’s company.

Grumpy neighbours put the kibosh on loud music, so you can actually hear your own witterings. In fact, once it’s full the open-place space really buzzes with conversation. Great place for groups looking for a quick, cheap, late-night stomach-liner, or anyone too hungry to wait in the street outside Le bloody Gueuleton.

Try to get one of the high tables or a long bench – there’s something in the physics of those restaurant tables that makes it impossible to sit comfortably. And ladies, beware of the grates by the bar: many a high heel has lost its life down there.

Fade Street, Dublin 2. 613 9094

Anseo

Smelly but fun

What is that whiff? Remember when the smoking ban came in and we were suddenly confronted with the myriad smells that come from drunken human beings, hitherto masked by Marlboro Light-flavoured clouds?

Well, somehow other pubs have managed to overcome this pong problem, but Anseo still struggles. And no, burning incense sticks behind the bar doesn’t help.

Smells aside, Anseo is one of the best little bars in the city. We like Fridays, when couriers dance happily beside pretty young ladies – indie and glam in equal measure – and there’s usually a musician or two hanging about.

Monkey Tennis provide the music: everything from LCD Soundsystem to Tina Turner, played loud. Get there early in the evening – after ten, things go mental. Head over to the pool hall when you’re kicked out at 1am.

18 Camden Street Lower, Dublin 2. 475 1321

Bodega

RO’CK on.

There’s a guy at the bar wearing a polo shirt (collars turned up) and a pair of designer sunglasses. It’s half nine at night and the sun has long since receded. He has a straight face.

His hair is a ridiculously shiny, quavering quiff. We feel compelled to go over and tell him that he has missed the comedic point at the heart of Ross O’Carroll Kelly.

“It was satire!” we want to shout. “It was taking the piss out of you, not celebrating you as a lifestyle!” We don’t think it’s worth our breath, and besides, we all need a tosser to glare at every now and then.

We go outside. Out there the air is balmy, an early summer. More thoughtful locals are chatting and seem to be enjoying the evening. After a while, the metal chairs become a little too chilly for our precious bums and we head back inside. The idiot in the sunglasses is still there. We leave.

Pavilion Centre, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin. 284 2982