Have we found Dublin’s darkest pub?
While the exterior of Frank Ryan’s Pub is bright-ish candy colours of pink and yellow, the interior is more None More Black. The smell of incense and the nod toward illumination with a string of fairy lights adds to the student-squat vibe, but this is a student squat for someone who takes their music collection (vinyl, presumably) quite seriously.
And while the music is a shared interest with Fidelity, just across the street, the look and feel could not be a greater contrast: Fidelity is all large windows and polished metal, while Frank Ryan’s is more found furniture and inherited memorabilia everywhere. And yet, there is a significant crossover in the Venn diagram of pub-goers: it is not at all unusual to see people shuttling between the two pubs. No doubt some of this is down to the pizza offering at Frank Ryan’s – the food at Fidelity Studio is wonderful, but it can seem more of a ‘special occasion’ meal (indeed, you may need a reservation), while the pizza can be a more affordable handy mid-session snack or meal.
While we wouldn’t quite put the pizza in the same class as MeMa’s or The Morris Bar (not to mention Rascals, which is next-level), it is tasty. The beer offerings are a bit more pedestrian than some in the area – the O’Hara’s and Hopefully taps seemed a bit tired – but the Carlsberg was quite lively, and there’s always the Guinness. Again, though, there’s a world of options just across the street at Fidelity on the beer front, and with such proximity, there’s no need to choose just the one type of establishment. And sometimes, there’s nothing better to pair with a pizza than a fresh Carlsberg.
There is some light to be found toward the front and back of Frank Ryan’s (if you’re the sort of person who prefers to see your pizza or pint), and there’s even a seating area at the rear that splits the difference between a small beer garden and a Pavement Pints setup; we’ll allow arguments either way.
All told, though, the vibe at Frank Ryan’s is extremely laid-back, and it can be a respite from the sun on a hot day; it’s not the sort of pub that’s going to be to everyone’s taste, but with so many in the broader Smithfield/Stoneybatter area, there’s a pub for nearly everyone.
Just remember to have the light on your phone handy here.
Where: 5 Queen St, Smithfield, Dublin 7, D07 T227
Access from the city centre: Buses C1, C2, C3, C4, 37, 39, 39A, 70, 83, 83A, Red Line Luas, 20ish minute walk
Food: Pizza
Sport: Not likely
TVs: If they are there, they are hidden in the dark
Music: Eclectic mix of jazz, Afrobeats and other good stuff; live jazz on Thursdays
Family-friendliness: Saw a few mid-size small folk getting pizza
Pub-crawl-ability: High – Fidelity is right across the street, and Bonobo, The Cobblestone, The Belfry, The Brazen Head, The Barber’s Bar, Walsh’s, Hynes’ Bar and L Mulligan, Grocer are all within a few minutes' walk – and that's just getting started
Local sites of note: Lighthouse Cinema, Collins Barracks, Four Courts, St Michan’s Church, St Audoen’s Church, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublinia, Guinness Storehouse
Haunted: I mean, it *is* dark…
Other notes: The women’s toilet is hidden behind the ‘gents’ sign and neither seems especially accessible; dogs welcome
Socials: Instagram, Facebook
Dublin excels at 
There’s a warm welcome, and not one, but two local independent beers offerings: Hope and O’Hara’s are always well-kept here. The bar serves two separate sections, each with their own respective snugs and other seating, and there are lots of little corners to duck into if you’re looking for that quiet solo pint. And it’s interesting to note that while everything you see now is very much hearkening back to the late 19th century, this is, in fact, an older pub – the original building(s) is/are Georgian, and its first license 
Our one knock on many Old Man Pubs is that they rarely offer any beers beyond the usual Guinness and Heineken (though to be fair, it’s usually an excellent Guinness from scrupulously clean tap lines), but as mentioned above, at Gaffney’s, there is good support for other choices, plus Beamish as another stout option. This beer selection, combined with the attractive interior, might just make it the perfect Dublin Old Man Pub.
It’s time for another one of our rare trips into Dublin city centre proper with a visit to McDaid’s, a pub with a fine literary heritage. Granted, there are many, many pubs here with similar claims to fame, but most do come by it quite honestly. There’s the requisite 
It would be interesting to do a deeper dive into the history of the building and previous pubs trading on this site…the ‘est 1779’ above the door has little to do with the current incarnation of the pub, which is a mid-20th century affair, and the building that houses it is 
The recent run of warm weather has led to prioritising pubs with lovely 
A recent BlueSky chat was a reminder that unlike the Neighbouring Island, we have few pubs that are a middle ground between Old Man Pubs, with a standard macro lineup (always Guinness, of course, plus Heineken or perhaps Carlsberg) and ‘hipster’ pubs with interesting craft beers…there’s no direct equivalent of a free house with a mix of standard macros, family brewery offerings on cask (sob) and local indies here in Ireland (with a very few exceptions – 
It’s also worth mentioning just how spacious Kodiak is – the main floor has two full bars, each with its own distinct feel (one darker, one brighter) and tap lineup, so for you beer nerds, check out both, and then there’s the large beer garden at the back. Then there’s even more upstairs (shuffleboard!) – hangout spaces that would be ideal for parties, and the well-designed toilets can be reached via lift or stairs. Indeed, simply by moving around different parts of the pub, you can switch up your experience of the place: start off with a chill solo pint in subdued lighting, then grab some sun 
It’s July, and that mean a happy birthday to 
Dudley’s
‘Foodie’ pubs with good craft beer options include 
Stoneybatter
And the attractions are many: great support for local independent beers from the likes of Hope, Kinnegar, Trouble and The White Hag, as well as a notable cocktail list. For the more ‘traditional’ drinker, it’s possible to get Guinness, Beamish and Murphy’s, so if you’re one of those who enjoys doing the blind taste test of all three, The Belfry has you sorted. There’s also a wonderful little beer garden, and plenty of events that are very much rooted in the local community. It was an absolute oasis for this year’s instalment of the always-busy-but-great-vibes 
Our only other ‘complaint’ is that The Belfry tends to open later than some other pubs, so it’s not always handy for a quick weekend lunchtime pint. All the more incentive, really, to get there as they open to secure a comfy leather chair and a refreshing beverage…
The staircase formerly connected floors in Trinity College, and the beer garden out back can even be heated when necessary (though as with so many of the more interior-feeling beer gardens in Dublin, it can tend toward feeling very smoky). All told, it feels very ‘pubby,’ but what strikes me is the very noticeable vibe shift when the tour groups leave. It took a few visits to realise that it wasn’t just the freeing up of part of the pub that made the real difference; rather, it was the music. When the groups are in, the music is not just trad (there is, after all, plenty of good trad out there), but full-on diddly-eye trad – the sort of music that might have been featured on an American PBS station 40+ years ago. But once they go, there’s a break – either no music, or a change to something a bit more current. Perhaps it’s coincidence, but it’s something we’ve noticed on multiple visits – and it’s no bad thing!
Now, this is not to say that some of the more touristy pubs are doing their customers a disservice in any way; to the contrary, they are doing a great job of catering to multiple demographics, and more power to them. And Nancy Hands also does a great job of supporting local writers – 
Inside, the look is all Old Man Pub, but with a more diverse clientele of all ages, genders and dog breeds. There’s also good support for local independent beer from Rye River, but they also get accolades a-plenty for the Guinness here. On our visit, the hurling was on (ironically, I was trying to get as far from 
It’s that time of year when we begin to get the ‘where should I go before Croke Park?’ question. The answers will depend on whether you’re pre- or post-gaming an actual game (and, of course, which sort of actual game – the occasional rugby crowd isn’t necessarily the same as the more usual GAA crowd) or a concert. Fortunately, as a household within the ‘so close to Croke Park we get free tickets to things* from time to time’ radius, we’ve got some educated opinions on which pubs to hit up before, say, Oasis. (I was going to say ‘before Oasis hit each other,’ but it was too lazy, so it’s parenthetical instead).
There are a few ways to approach the Croke Park Pubs question: proximity, food/drink options and, well, vibes. If wanting to be in the closest possible pub is your key consideration – and on a day when it’s 70,000 plus in attendance, it’s not unreasonable – your best bets are 
If combining food and drink is of paramount importance, casting a wider net can help, but you can still start quite close by. 
But all too often on recent visits, there are multiple taps out of service or perhaps not as fresh as they might be – a real contrast to years gone by when this was a destination for beer nerds for the variety and vibrancy of the beers on offer, both from Galway Bay itself as well as other independent brewers from near and far. And it does seem that Galway Bay are making some especially interesting seasonal, one-off and collaboration beers of late, so it’s a shame that they rarely seem to be highlighted here.
And to be clear, I haven’t had a bad experience here, but the pub does look and feel, well, tired. It’s possibly unfair to compare it to a brand-new Galway Bay pub like