Regular readers know that we tend to keep north of the Liffey, or else head more toward The Liberties when we must cross the river. However, we had occasion to be in the area on a weekday afternoon, and so finally made it a priority to call in to O’Donoghue’s – a pub we’ve had a few requests to cover.
Now, while it’s been on the list for a while, we’ve not made it in for a few reasons – not just our general laziness when it comes to heading south. We tend to avoid the more ‘touristy’ areas of town, not only because of the price of a pint in them (though we’re not quite talking Temple Bar pricing here), but because there also tends to be less going on in terms of food and beer selection in a lot of the pubs that pop up on the usual tourist trail recommendation lists. Add in live trad to the equation, and it can be a potent mix that signals ‘tourists only!’ – a combination most keenly felt in many of the pubs in Temple Bar, but that also applies to places like The Brazen Head. And on a recent walk past, the specific tunes and crowd spilling out of O’Donoghue’s that evening seemed to be, well, that.
However, our midweek daytime visit was quite a different affair, and all to the good. Both the interior and the large beer garden were calm, though not empty – as we write this, it is Cheltenham week, and that tends to mean fairly full Old Man Pubs – the resulting crowd was a good mix of locals and visiting Yorkshiremen, most with an interest in the racing. It was also encouraging to see Lucky Pale Ale from Trouble on tap; so many of the ‘must-visit’ pubs here in Dublin – notably Toner’s, just across the street – only have Guinness and/or Heineken products, so seeing at least one local independent beer makes things much more interesting for us.
And the music heritage at O’Donoghue’s is a very real aspect of the appeal; The Dubliners are forever associated with it, and they are looking at you from a range of portraits and photos around the pub. The dark, scuffed (but not uncomfortable) wooden furniture adds to the atmosphere, and while it’s not as large and maze-like as its neighbour across the street, it’s still a much larger pub than you’d guess from the outside. And although the building may not be quite as old as claimed, it’s certainly in the general Georgian ballpark. But it’s the pub’s association with trad music over the last half century that makes it unique. And, like The Cobblestone, it still has a reputation for drawing trad musicians and fans from near and far – it’s not the frequently diddley-eye mix of tunes aimed only at tourists you get in certain quarters.
That said, we are more likely to take ourselves to The Cobblestone or Dudley’s if we’re in the mood for music and pints, but that’s more a function of proximity (and beer selection) than anything else. We can certainly see why O’Donoghue’s is still a real destination for trad, for visitors and locals alike, even if we don’t get down that way particularly often.
No Temple Bar vibes here!
Where: 15 Merrion Row, Dublin
Access from the city centre: Stephen’s Green is just around the corner
Food: Crisps
Sport: Rugby, horse racing, etc…
TVs: Screens both inside and out for the sport
Music: Live trad every night
Family-friendliness: More of a grownup spot, but children/families are welcome to stay in the guest rooms – no kids after 9 pm in the bar area, though, as standard elsewhere
Pub-crawl-ability: Medium-High – Toner’s, McGrattan's, Kennedy's and Doheny & Nesbitt are all very close, though we like to head further on up toward Tapped, Cassidy’s, Bowes or The Palace Bar
Local sites of note: Huguenot Cemetery, Little Museum of Dublin, St Stephen's Green, Merrion Square, Fitzwilliam Square, Royal Hibernian Academy, Oireachtas, National Library of Ireland, National Museum of Ireland (Archaeology and The Dead Zoo), National Gallery of Ireland…etc.
Haunted: A strange lack of spooky tales…
Other notes: Main floor toilets
Socials: Instagram, Facebook
It’s March, and while we wouldn’t dream of taking on the subject of ‘what’s the best pub in Dublin for Paddy’s Day?’ we are, nonetheless, aware that there are many additional out-of-town guests here over that weekend/bank holiday, and that most of them are looking for Guinness…as well as other stouts, given how synonymous the holiday and the beer style have become in the global public consciousness.
Although much – if not most – independently-brewed Irish stout ends up on tap in France or Italy, there are a number of places in Dublin to give some a try. Sister pubs 
Other local stouts to keep an eye out for include Four Provinces Dublin Dubh – definitely available at their own pub in Kimmage, but frequently on tap at pubs such as 
And for the stout completist, there are a number of pubs that will allow you to try the big-brewery trinity of Guinness, Beamish and Murphy’s side-by-side; you can even set yourself up for a blind tasting if you’re feeling adventurous, and at some, you can add an independent option for good measure. For this type of experiment, we are fans of 
Finally, it’s worth noting that a pint of Guinness is only €6.30 at 
Back in the 1990s – before Trainspotting, as it happens – Robert Carlyle and Shirley Henderson starred in Hamish Macbeth, a vastly-underrated Scottish cosy crime comedy-drama, with a bit of quirky/folksy paranormal goodness thrown in here and there for good measure. In the show, Carlyle played the titular Macbeth, a police constable with an adorable Westie, a fondness for the odd herbal cigarette and a work ethic that isn’t overly-dedicated to solving crimes, but who, nonetheless, keeps his small, eccentric village in good order. Shirley Henderson’s character starts off as a relatively conventional love interest (this was, after all, the 1990s), but as with all the characters in this excellent show, we discover much more as we go along.
In 2024, Dublin craft beer OG Against the Grain closed abruptly, not long after a renovation. What had been a friendly and welcoming Galway Bay pub with an excellent tap lineup of own-brand and guest beers was replaced by the wildly-underwhelming 
Although initial chatter was the Barebone would be ‘just a restaurant,’ we’re happy to report that it does still feel like a neighbourhood pub – but one that also happens to do quite good food. Yes, the décor has been upgraded even a smidgeon more – lots of dark tiles, mirrors and subtle brass fittings (including very handy coat/bag hooks, which we don’t see enough) – but it’s all thoroughly welcoming, both for the person stopping in for a quick (or not-so-quick) drink and their more relaxed-dinner counterpart. While the taplist isn’t quite as extensive as it was during the Galway Bay days, there were independent options from Hope, Whiplash and Trouble, as well as more ciders than one usually sees, both on tap and in bottles. The cocktail list is interesting, and the only especially ‘expensive’ drink was Beavertown’s Neck Oil, which you can skip nowadays in any event. And there’s both Guinness and Beamish for the stout-comparing person in your life.
Food was fantastic – it’s not just your typical bar food – and it looks like a great spot for nibbles with a group, too, with a variety of options. The only major change to the layout is the addition of a DJ booth and some well-placed speakers – this is now another spot catering to the music enthusiast, in the vein of 
And so while it’s true that we didn’t need to quite go to the extremes the townspeople of Lochdubh did, we're thrilled that the place that replaced the place that replaced Against the Grain is a worthy successor. And if you haven’t binged Hamish Macbeth yet, what are you waiting for?
BrewDog is, once again, back 
Inside, the look is straight out of 
Nowadays, we are rarely in this part of town, and if we were looking for pre-show drinks, we’d be more likely to hit up 
We have no insights into ‘what will happen’ with BrewDog’s uncertain future (though it’s difficult to imagine a space of this size continuing without global private equity money). In our ideal world, this would continue as an independent tap room and community space with the same staff, but we also know that’s highly unlikely. It’s also possible a buyer will swoop in and continue running BrewDog’s portfolio as-is (for good and ill), but as of this writing, it’s all guesswork.
We admit we are stretching the boundaries of the blog this week, as our profiled location is neither a pub, nor, in any meaningful way in Dublin. The clue, indeed, is in the name: we headed a long way out of town to visit 
First, though, the practicalities and context: it’s a good 90+ minutes on the bus (or train and bus) from Dublin city centre out to the industrial estate that houses Wicklow Wolf’s production brewery and taproom. The occasion in this instance was a 
Once there, we got the usual friendly brewery tour, made a little more in-depth and interesting as we could skip over a lot of the basics that one might get on a more general brewery tour for The Normals (which they absolutely do – the tour after ours was a knees-up for a local women’s rugby team). Instead, we could get some fairly obscure technical questions answered, and go deep on the merits of the brewhouse and the sustainability efforts of the brewery. And then it was on to the tasting, at one of the smaller, private bars that overlooks the brewing floor – your fair scribe was thrilled to see Locavore 2025, a fresh-hopped ESB still on tap (it appeared in cans around town just before the holidays, and as one of a very few bitters available in Ireland, it’s always most welcome to see), but trying the core range of Wicklow Wolf beers was more instructive than expected. We must confess that in general, we don’t gravitate toward Wicklow Wolf’s core range when we see it around town, but the massive difference in quality on-site more than suggested that we’re often not getting it in the best shape elsewhere. Now, to be clear, it’s never been off, but it does make one wish that more pubs looked after their independent lines as lovingly as they do their Diageo and Heineken ones – the beer here was all top-notch.
And beyond a great day out, with some really lovely beers, what was our biggest takeaway?
Although Dublin has no shortage of pubs 
We’ll start 
There’s a folk club upstairs at 
And if you’re looking for up-and-coming local bands or established touring acts, there are plenty of pubs that also serve as music venues. Whelan’s, 
Another unusual feature of this pub is that 
In any event, the food, drink selection (minus the absent Full Sail, on this occasion) and service are all on point; we’re still disappointed with recent visits to 
It’s hard to beat 
Finally, we’re left to ponder why it seems that Dublin’s dive bars (see also: 
This week, we remain on the south side of Dublin with a visit to 
And it was a very pleasant discovery indeed – the Dark Arts was as fresh as promised, but there were other independent offerings as well, notably Sullivan’s Black Marble Stout from Kilkenny. There were several Changing Times beers, and while we 
It’s a very ‘pubby’ pub, with the usual dark woods and a lovely decorative ceiling. The atmosphere was very calming, certainly a change from the post-holiday shopping and pizza lines outside. It wasn’t quite full 
Rather like 
Welcome to 2026!
