Yes, it’s yet another new pub this week, replacing one more short-lived but much-loved Dublin spot – we venture back to The Liberties to bid farewell to All My Friends, and to say hello to Lynott’s.
We never had a chance to write up All My Friends in its relatively short tenure, but we always heard good things about the LGBTQ+-friendly space* that was known as a great spot for local artists and other creatives to showcase their work. It was a relatively quick turnaround (by local standards) for the pivot to Lynott’s – yes, it namechecks one of Dublin’s most famous sons, but it also feels very much like a traditional neighbourhood pub that’s been there for ages.
Indeed, it seems to have hit the sweet spot between newly-opened Old Man Pub and modern-day venue for music of all sorts, with more comfortable and varied seating than you might get in a pub that’s been going for 50 or 100 years. The wood isn’t all dark, and the colours are a bit brighter, with a small stage near the front for the regularly-planned tunes. There is a mix of old-school horse racing-inspired art and a fair few portraits of Phil himself, many by local artists.
Beer-wise, it’s mostly the usual suspects, but we were pleased to see that in addition to a Rye River tap, there is now also one for Trouble, so local independent beer is getting a look-in (plus some cocktails). With so many pubs in such a small area, it’s hard not to feel spoiled for choice in The Liberties, so it’s important that pubs here do have their own distinctive feel and offering. There’s likely a bit of settling in yet to be done here (food is still on its way, as of this writing), but it’s clear there’s an emphasis on supporting local musicians, so that’s a nice hook (see what we did there?).
And while we couldn’t find any direct connection between Phil Lynott and pubs in this part of town – it would be a bit of a walk to The Long Hall, where he famously filmed the video for Old Town, or his childhood home in Crumlin – it seems the kind of spot he’d have enjoyed. As to whether we’re pronouncing it the way he did or the way most people seem to, the jury’s out…we heard both versions whilst out and about.
We’ll need to revisit once the food is A Thing, but again, given so many pubs in the area, it’s easy to put together a nice Liberties pub crawl.
Where: 61-63 Meath St, The Liberties, Dublin 8, D08 H2NE
Access from the city centre: Buses C4, G1/G2, 13, 23, 24, 27, 56A, 73, 77A, 80, 150, 15ish minute walk
Food: Coming soon
Sport: Horse racing, football, rugby (not just men’s, which was nice), etc
TVs: All around
Music: Regular live music – check the socials
Family-friendliness: A fair few kids in during the afternoon
Pub-crawl-ability: High – Lucky’s, Drop Dead Twice, Dudley’s, Arthur’s, Swift, Love Tempo (still closed, post-fire, as of this writing), Guinness Open Gate Brewery, The Thomas House, The Lord Edward, The Bull & Castle and Thomas Read’s/The Oak are all within a short walk; The Brazen Head is also not far, if you’re feeling touristy
Local sites of note: Guinness Storehouse, Vicar Street, Olympia Theatre, Christchurch Cathedral, Dublinia, St Audoen’s Church
Haunted: The Liberties is crying out for more pub ghost stories – someone supply some!
Other notes: There’s a lot of interesting history on Meath Street, if you know where to look
Socials: Instagram, Facebook
*FWIW, we wouldn’t go anywhere that wasn’t LGBTQ+-friendly, but obviously, some pubs are more specifically aimed at the community than others…something that probably needs its own list at some point.
It must be New Pub Season – everything around Dublin seems to be 
What is it with certain parts of Dublin and lovely places Going On Fire?
The ‘bumblebee’ yellow-and-black paint job outside has been replaced with a more plain black exterior, though still with yellow lettering, but it looks ever-so-slightly more sombre (or, perhaps, sophisticated?). Inside, it’s still got a bit of an under-construction feel, with the sense that more decoration is coming, but what’s there now is a mix of darker hues of blue, black and red, and to good effect. The stage area toward the rear looks like it will soon be back in action, and there is a comfortable mix of different seating options.
Where: 18/19 Francis St, The Liberties, Dublin, D08 EK06
It’s time for another pub re-brand, but this one does seem to be purely a name swap and a bit of a paint job, rather than anything more drastic. We speak, of course, of 
The Read family did run their business from what is now 
In truth, beyond some more sober colour choices and nods to both the Read family and a portrait of Michael Collins, little has changed – but this is no bad thing. The more recent trend around Dublin has been for pubs to remove their independent beer taps when they renovate, but happily, Thomas Read’s remains a Galway Bay Brewing pub, so there is the usual range of their beers and a few guests, although there are, perhaps, a few more Guinness and Heineken taps than there used to be. 
And it’s a change that makes sense from a tourism point of view: if we’re being honest, 
We are back in action this week, now that the Paddy’s Day crowds have moved on, and, as so often, we find ourselves in 
With one recent glorious afternoon of sun, however, making the most of it was a moral imperative – and so, we repaired to Lucky’s. The main pull was their large and well-appointed 
As a sister bar to 
Beer-wise, there’s a nice, rotating mix of local independent options from Whiplash, Rascals and Hopfully (among others recently on tap), along with the usual Guinness; bottles of flavoured cider seemed to be the thing the Young People were going for. Rather unusually, there’s also Hoegaarden, plus a range of cocktails and non-alcoholic options.
Regular readers know that we tend to keep 
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 
That said, we are more likely to take ourselves to
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?