The now closed The Towers in Ballymun was the standard bearer here.
There was a pub on High Street in Limerick that was dog rough at one stage. The name escapes me but “Johnny Fitz’s” is over the door now.
The West End on O’Curry Street wasn’t a place you’d settle into either.
Surely a few places on d’Island as well?
Where’s the Olympic Arms when you need it
We were drinking in the hideout before the all Ireland semi this year. I’d say that is fucking lawless
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A few pubs in Tipp Town that would educate you.
That’s Norbert’s, very imposing from the outside alright.
When my brother lived in Limerick he used to visit all the pubs, he’s just very interested in people, he’d have a pint, often by himself and toddle off home, he had a fondness for the west end as he lived nearby.
Many years ago a friend of mine from Cork organised his stag for Limerick, a couple of our pals including a quite camp RTÉ presenter got off the train early afternoon and went into the first pub they saw, Austins (the yellow road?),
I thought they’d be run out of it, it looks like a shithole but when a couple more of us arrived they were having a ball with the locals, you can’t judge a pub by the outside I suppose
I think there are zero pubs in Ireland where you couldn’t go in for a few pints perfectly safely in the middle of the day if you are just a normal fella. Obviously if you were drunk and mouthy it would be a different story.
@Bandage whats Heffernans like? Looks a dive from outside, but could be one of those old man pubs either.
Set off the beaten track and tucked away in a housing estate – a sign helpfully points it out, and newcomers will be granted a token ‘all righ’ by any seated sentinels outside the bar – a discreet rite of passage and surreptitious once-over, as if checking for wiretaps or tapes. Very local and close-knit but not unfriendly despite any exterior ominousness – an outsider will be accommodated but may not wish to ever return again. For a few months of the year, a certain Paul Stone hosts a Ballad Session every Sunday – preferable to the usual lousy karaoke that is the bane of many a spot come week’s end.
Steeper Flanagan’s (it has a new name now) across from side of Gerry Powers is where we went @Thomas_Brady.
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I think most places are like that. Most of them are full of the same sad fellas all week, only mad looking for a distraction from their normal day of drinking themselves silly
Austin’s is the finest.
was in it recently enough, ordered a coffee, it was maxwell house
its not that rough though
Finches in Neilstown is a good spot for a row. The Cabra House used to fascinate me driving to matches as a child so I went in for a pint one day. Proper old school Dublin pub but no malice.
Branskys/the Westside tavern in Galway was a truly bizarre spot. Not rough just full of quare hawks.
It’s like the pub in shameless.
We were there and this local fella comes over, rotten. Starts talking to a lad from home, a bit of an ape, also rotten.
Lad from home looks up sees all the flags out on the balcony, 32 county Ireland etc. thinks it’d be hilarious to start giving your man shit about Sinn Fein.
So he starts cutting SF, and your man joins in, the two of them cutting SF away. I don’t think either realised that one was cutting them because he’s FG and the other because he was probably in the INLA.
They aren’t doing enough says INLA man.
They are doing nothing at all sure says FG man.
And they both nodding along
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I drank a good few times in norberts in my early 20s. A friend of a friend was a regular and we would occasionally tip in around 7 or 8 on a Saturday morning after an all nighter.
You would meet some characters and wasters in there. Never any trouble, supposedly the clientele would put a stop to it before the bar man would. Was grand at the time for the last couple of wind down pints when in the form, but not a spot you would pop into for a pint either.
The famous Guinness Guru was in there a few weeks ago in the morning and was kindly told to fuck off with his camera. He’d a disclaimer video out later suggesting the morning clientele are often shift workers and not necessarily alcoholics.
Austins is an experience alright. The wallpaper behind the bar of the 1928 Bateman cup winning team is a great touch