Our featured Dublin pub this week is one that has been in the ‘much requested’ queue for some time. While we had to make it a flying visit, we finally got to The Cobblestone.
In many ways, it’s difficult to think of a more iconic Dublin pub. News of its possible closure or truncation for yet another identikit hotel caused protests, including a mock funeral, and the pub was given extensive press coverage during that period of threat, including a wonderful documentary. And although The Cobblestone today is best known as ‘the’ spot for trad music, it was not always the case.
Until a little over a decade ago, both before and after Smithfield’s redevelopment from a market into a mix of housing and offices, this was an early house, open at 7 am for the market traders and, later, shift workers. And as the number of early houses has continued to dwindle – even Slattery’s doesn’t always open so early these days – The Cobblestone has evolved as well. Music slowly became an integral part of the offering, along with things like Irish language and dance classes, meetups and the like. From what had been a few sessions a week, live music is now a daily part of festivities, but it’s still a very casual-yet-regular one most of the time.
It’s less a case of booking for a gig and more one of wandering into see who’s playing, and it’s one of the few options for the tourist who only has a few hours and wants to get in a bit of daytime trad at the weekend, as there’s nearly always something on. But unlike some pubs, this is by no means just a tourist hotspot – it’s a much-loved part of the community.
And while it can be a bit rough around the edges, likely needing a few coats of paint and some repairs here and there (not to mention having slightly-infamous toilets), that’s part of the charm. Yes, it would be nice if some of the derelict buildings surrounding The Cobblestone were used for, say, housing, but it really does feel like a landmark as-is.
It’s not the pub you’d go to for food or for a long chat over a pint (though there is, of course, plenty of Guinness, plus some representation from Four Provinces) – there’s music to be heard here, albeit not in the coach-tour-with Irish-dancing-and-a-meal sense – but for trad and a true mix of locals and mostly-respectful tourists, it’s a go-to.
Where: 77 King St N, Smithfield, Dublin, D07 TP22
Access from the city centre: Buses 37, 39, 39A, 70, 83, 83A, Red Line Luas, Green Line Luas, 30ish minute walk
Food: None
Sport: No
TVs: Not here
Music: This is your spot for trad (though see also Piper’s Corner)
Family-friendliness: Kids are welcome earlier in the evenings to listen to music, if that’s their jam; it will nearly always be crowded
Pub-crawl-ability: High – Bonobo is a short walk, with, The Belfry, The Glimmer Man, The Barber’s Bar, Walsh’s, Hynes’ Bar and L Mulligan, Grocer all in Stoneybatter – with another 10 minutes in the other direction to Underdog or down Capel Street
Local sites of note: Lighthouse Cinema, Collins Barracks, Four Courts, St Michan’s Church
Haunted: Does ‘haunting’ music count?
Other notes: The ‘could be tidier’ can sometimes apply to taplines, too – you may want to check a friend’s pint first
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.
This week, it’s another relatively rare visit into the more touristy part of town as we visit 
Kennedy’s is another pub I’ve walked past many times without entering, but I finally had a bit of free time in the area this week, so stopped in for a sneaky daytime glass after visiting the National Gallery. While not nearly as extensive a list of craft beer taps as nearby 
There’s a lovely tiled bar in the basement for live music and events, and this space as well as the terra cotta decoration on the pub’s exterior add unique touches, while the rest of the interior feels a bit more ‘standard Irish pub.’ All told, it’s probably more of a destination for those on literary walking tours than anything else, but it’s nice to find a spot in tourist-land with a few craft beers; it’s not necessarily a given in Dublin.
Last week, we asked whether 
The pub has been here since the 1850s, and in the Hedigan family since 1904, and you can’t miss their name in neon, either. Of course, like so many pubs along this route, it’s name-checked in Ulysses, and has a useful write-up 
Well, there have been proposals to 
We are back this week with a ‘request pub’ – one that’s much further north than our more common north-of-the-Liffey-but-still-pretty-central stomping grounds. We’re heading out of Dublin City proper to Howth; it’s an easy trip on the DART, but a bit of a pain if, for example, you needed Dublin Bus to deposit you to a nearby spot at a predetermined time. Dublin Bus is not always especially good at the concept of ‘on time’ (but it’s pretty great on ghost buses), so the journey in this general direction involved more taxis than I typically take in a 6-month period, but we got there in the end. Our (eventual) destination was 
I’d recently had an exchange on the socials lamenting the lack of railway station bars in Ireland, and while we have nothing here quite like the small-but-mighty 
We enjoyed excellent food and service when we stopped in, which isn’t necessarily a given in some pubs mid-week in the middle of the afternoon (hardly a fruitful time for most), so it was much appreciated. There is outdoor seating as well around both ends of the pub, but we kept to the more dimly-lit interior on a lovely sunny afternoon. Having offspring who actively avoid the sun may be odd to others, but hey, at least their vampiric ways are preventing long-term sun damage, and the pub interior really is lovely, all stone and dark wood.
While our stats here show that you seem to be extremely interested in 
Of course, Walsh’s is far from new, as it’s been trading on this corner since 1826, so it’s coming up on two centuries in business. One wonders if there is to be an epic celebration next year…but back to the pub itself. It’s got a beautiful mix of stained glass and dark wood, cosy nooks and a fantastic snug…really, it’s quite close to the Platonic ideal of a late-19th century Dublin pub (albeit with televisions for the footy), so its recent restoration work has been well-planned and executed. The look and feel is certainly closer to the end of the 19th century than the beginning, but that’s no critique. And while it is best-known for its Guinness, they also serve Beamish, and there are also fresh lines of Trouble’s Ambush and Kinnegar’s Scraggy Bay – it made an ideal stopping-off point for my traditional 
And Walsh’s has another point or two in its favour: it has the full-on Victorian pub splendour, without the crush of tourists you can get at The Long Hall, and it has more variety on offer, drinks-wise, than 
We kick off our 2025 pub-visiting endeavours with a stop off at 
Its more 
Some of that may also come from its beer selection; there’s the usual Guinness-and-macros lineup (plus Murphy’s), as well as two new taplines from 
This week’s pub isn’t especially Christmassy, nor is it one I frequent, but it is one that appeals to tourists and locals alike, so here we are. The Confession Box’s claim to be the smallest pub in Dublin may not be entirely accurate, but it does have historic bona fides; mixing a bit of fact and myth is almost par for the course in modern pub marketing (indeed, also in historic pub marketing), so we’ll consider it part of the furniture.
But The Confession Box didn’t start out as a pub, and its 
Given the concentration of pubs in this part of town (and easy proximity to the Luas), it’s a good shout to include for a pub crawl; for those not afraid of the north side of the Liffey, there’s something for everyone in this area of Dublin.
The Oval’s most recent refurbishment was only about a year or so ago, and while it feels fresh and tidy, there’s still enough of a patina to give it a feeling of the history of the place; the décor and grillwork have an authentic feel. The pub is divided up into multiple sections, with more of a dining-room feel upstairs, but even within the relatively small main bar area, there are distinct areas to sit and relax, either alone or to spread out with friends. And while you can, of course, have a Guinness and all the other usual big brands, The Oval has two house beers, a pale ale and lager, that are brewed for this and other 
Indeed, every time I’ve stopped it it’s been a good mix of people from all over, either enjoying a pint before heading on to a gig at The Academy or an after-work crowd catching up before catching buses. While it doesn’t have the selection of local independent beers that its neighbour 
It’s properly Halloween season, and that means we need to take in a pub with a better ghostlore pedigree…even if its other, more, er, brazen claims don’t really hold up. And so, to 
And so to the second issue – is it ‘Ireland’s oldest pub,’ here ‘since 1189?’ LOL, no. While 
Happily – at least for a