I am making the trip from the Colonies for Stones and vacation. I will be in Dublin on August 19 and London August 20. Can anyone recommend any good pubs or clubs for these areas? I will be traveling with my 18 year old son.

In Dublin - the mecca for pubs for tourists is the Temple Bar area on the south bank of the Liffey. The Temple Bar (name of the bar) and Gogarty's are always rife with rowdiness and are fun...but I would recommend The Bleeding Horse and The Brazen Head (oldest pub in Ireland, purportedly - originate in the 12th century)....but then again, there are about 1,000 pubs in the city to choose from....

We're coming overseas from Chicago for the first time for these 2 very same shows!

What a way for these Honky Tonk Women to celebrate our 50th!!

Coming from SF to celebrate my 47th! F, I'm old!

largelingerie Wrote:
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> Coming from SF to celebrate my 47th! F, I'm old!

Hey now! I'm 46!

Have a great time!

I'm going there to celebrate my son's high school graduation, well that's the excuse to get me there to see the Stones, Actually, my trip was planned before the Stones announced this tour, things just worked out this way.

In London there are simply hundreds of excellent pubs to choose from. Rather than trying to point you at the best pubs, I'll point you at the right drink.

If you're in London, try out a pint of real ale at a traditional london pub - there are many of these on every street corner with beutiful ornate decorations. The first thing you should know is that you should try the real ales. These are pulled by a hand pump and served at cellar temperature - not too cold and not too fizzy. Fullers London Pride is a good starting guide for a tourist! But if you ask to try a couple then the landlord will generally pour you a couple of samples for free before you decide - as long as you don't take the piss.

If you're really stuck, camra is a UK organisation for people who enjoy good beer and they night have some suggestions, such as here... [www.camranorthlondon.org.uk]

If you're in central London, may I recommend the Bricklayers Arms on Gresse Street for a good cheap pint and cosy surroundings. It is just off of Tottenham Court Road and Denmark Street (also known as Tin Pan Alley).

For clubs, there are so many. But I never go clubbing in london so someone else can advise.

Sheesh....I am 48 next week, IMHO age is just a number!

See you in london for the O2 shows.



wineaux Wrote:
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> We're coming overseas from Chicago for the first
> time for these 2 very same shows!
>
> What a way for these Honky Tonk Women to celebrate
> our 50th!!

BluzDude Wrote:
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> I am making the trip from the Colonies for Stones
> and vacation. I will be in Dublin on August 19 and
> London August 20. Can anyone recommend any good
> pubs or clubs for these areas? I will be traveling
> with my 18 year old son.

okay - this isn't gonna be a club/pub that'll set your pulse racing, but if you want *probably* the most charming pub in Dublin, you can't go wrong with a boozer in north Dublin called 'Kavanaghs'.

Leave your accomodation, jump in a taxi, and ask the driver to bring you to 'The gravediggers' which is the name by which the place is known. It has, without doubt, the finest guinness on tap, and (assuming you go in the correct entrance) the most charming of old skool furnishings. Having spent a few nights there, i'm pretty sure they do something with the time/space continuum there, as the time seems to both stand still AND fly on by!

these folks seemed to like the place too!

[www.dublinpubscene.com]

textmonkey Wrote:
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> Leave your accomodation, jump in a taxi, and ask
> the driver to bring you to 'The gravediggers'
> which is the name by which the place is known. It
> has, without doubt, the finest guinness on tap,

Sounds good. Does the bus from Slane Castle stop there on its way back from the gig?

It does, if you pay the driver enough

Gazza Wrote:
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> It does, if you pay the driver enough

arf!

no - the bus won't be stopping there. at all. by the time the gig is over and your bus back in dublin, i'll wager you'll do well to find a 24 hour shop open!

Plenty of great pubs in London. Check out this site www.beerintheevening.com and you can pick and choose the best ones.

If you fancy a slightly different place to drink with more oddball characters, I recommend Camden.

If your going to Dublin don't go to bloody Temple Bar. Thousand of tourist and the prices are far to high there. Hardly any Irish go there, they hate it. I mean if you want to meet other tourist ok go there.

There are many nice pups around Grafton Street, St. Stephens Green Shopping Center. The Hairy Lemon is good, Market Place, Stag Heads etc. At the End of Henry Street (side street to O'Connell street) there is even a pup in a former church, very nice!

Close to the Liffey (at the Wellington key, south side of the Liffey) is the Clearance Hotel (which is owned by Bono and The Edge). They have a nice bar in there where they serve good drinks. Close to that spot is Porters House, a micor brewery with Fiddel Music etc. and lots of different beers.

Clubs: Sansibar on the North Side of the Liffey, Cafe En Seine, not far away from Graffton street also.

Cheers and enjoy your time in Dublin

Wizzard Wrote:
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>> There are many nice pups around Grafton Street,
> St. Stephens Green Shopping Center. The Hairy
> Lemon is good, Market Place, Stag Heads etc. At
> the End of Henry Street (side street to O'Connell
> street) there is even a pup in a former church,
> very nice!
>

If you are looking for a decent range of ales to try, you should check out The Harp which is just across the road from Charing X station or perhaps The Market Porter in London Bridge.

There is a problem in London at he moment though and that is the huge volume of bars which are opening and slowley destroying the proper pubs. It also seems to me that every traditional boozer that gets a make over heads in this trendy direction too.

sjs12 is right. London Pride is one hell of a beer. It's best tried at an actual Fullers pub though. Plenty of those in London!

Big Al Wrote:
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London Pride is one hell of a
> beer. It's best tried at an actual Fullers pub though.

you're correct- its a wonderful beer, though maybe a little too 'heavy'
to drink all night. Great towards the end of the evening when your palate is aclimatised.
I enjoy a 'light and pride'.
(half a pint of Pride, topped up to a pint, with a bottle of light ale)
lighter on the palate but still as enjoyable.

Alternatively try the wonderful Kentish beer, 'Spitfire'
- another one of my favourires.

I appreciate your responses, I will print this thread and take it with me!

Think I'll check out the pup while I'm in Dublin - it looks very nice indeed.

Pubs are all over the place in London. If you see one that boasts sales of real ale or bitter, try it. Avoid lager. We are not good at making it. But as Big Al says, try London Pride. Or any of the others. We are best at brewing ale. Summer time sees an increase of lighter ales. As opposed to the heavier ales drunk in winter. If you take your beer seriously checkout CAMRA. Cambden Town is very bohemian. Great place to catch some live sounds. Good luck.

Wizzard Wrote:
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> If your going to Dublin don't go to bloody Temple
> Bar. Thousand of tourist and the prices are far to
> high there. Hardly any Irish go there, they hate
> it. I mean if you want to meet other tourist ok go
> there.

in general i agree, although the guinness prices aren't really that much outta line with dublin prices in general. but, sometimes tourists just wanna do the tourist thing....like here in SF - all out-of-towners seem to migrate to the Wharf - where not a single living San Franciscan has EVER been....

and I still say Gogarty's is pretty fun. But, he Hairy Lemon is a must-go place - have the tshirt that i proudly wear still....

StonesTod, is the Buena Vista (I think that what it is called) strictly for tourists or do locals go there?

good question - technically it's not ON THE WHARF, and I believe many locals go for the irish coffees...never been myself, although my buddy went a few years ago and had no idea what it was famous for and ordered a beer and then peered around at the packed house and noticed EVERYONE had irish coffees and he thought to himself, "WTF is going on here?" Lately i read about some ruckus with the clientele because the owners stopped importing their own dedicated supply or irish whiskey in favor of tullamore dew - folks were PISSED!

StonesTod Wrote:
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> Wizzard Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If your going to Dublin don't go to bloody
> Temple
> > Bar. Thousand of tourist and the prices are far
> to
> > high there. Hardly any Irish go there, they
> hate
> > it. I mean if you want to meet other tourist ok
> go
> > there.
>
> in general i agree, although the guinness prices
> aren't really that much outta line with dublin
> prices in general. but, sometimes tourists just
> wanna do the tourist thing....like here in SF -
> all out-of-towners seem to migrate to the Wharf -
> where not a single living San Franciscan has EVER
> been....
>
> and I still say Gogarty's is pretty fun. But, he
> Hairy Lemon is a must-go place - have the tshirt
> that i proudly wear still....


Gogarty's is excellent, The "Auld Dubliner" next door to it used to be an occasional haunt of a certain locally-based, spikey-haired, paintbrush-wielding guitarist

unfortunately it's damned near impossible to find any decent, authentic trad in dublin anymore....

i'll be in ireland later this fall - and we're timing our trip this time for the annual Ennis Music Festival - where the trad and guinness flow freely for five days....

Big Al and everyone else is right, try the London Pride. If you who don't like heavy beer, try a Shandy, beer and lemonade (7UP). For those of you from 'the colonies' who have heard UK food is horrible, not true. There are so many 'ethnic' eateries that you can find plenty good food. But with the dollar to the pound at an all time low, be prepared for sticker shock. My suggestion is to also pick up an MNE before leaving and check out the local music scene. If Wilko Johnson (ex Dr. Feelgood guitarist) is playing, go see him. He plays a 'grab chords by the handful' style of playing, kinda like Keith.

Scotty,
Irvine, CA

Everyone, please don't butcher me for the Wilko/Keith comparison.

If anyone pollutes a decent pint of beer with 7up or lemonade I will personally come and pour that pint over their head!

London Pride is not heavy, it is fairly light compared with many others. However, there are lighter beers available such as Summer Lightning and IPA if that's your thing (although I'm not too keen). There are also some much heavier beers available and those are worth a try. But London Pride is a good starting point for tourists because it's easy to find and is normally kept fairly well.

By the way, "real ale" is a live drink in that it goes through a secondary fermentation in the cask. This means that if the barrel isn't used within a couple of days of being tapped, it goes off. Some (bad) pubs keep the beer on for a little too long so if you try it and don't like it, maybe you should try it somewhere else just to make sure - you can always ask for a free taster.

The bottled versions of London Pride taste nothing like the cask pulled version so don't even bother trying them unless you are really stuck!

Deuchars IPA is another beer worth sampling.


[www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk]

Although the gigs won't be in on, um, 'sarf Lahndan' this time around, it's always worth checking out any Youngs pubs (altho' i see they've undergone some class of amalgamation recently). Anyhoo, another nice light beer is Youngs Ordinary and, for the more adventurous, on a nice sunny day, you really simply can't beat sitting out of doors watching the world go by and enjoying a nice pint of Waggledance.

Mind you, if you hit the 'one over the eight' mark of it, you'll end up not being able to pronounce it. Or remember what it's called - bless the staff of the White Cross in Richmond - I asked the awfully cute barmaid for two pints of WankleSpank at ten minutes to chucking out time and she still served me...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-07-19 13:48 by textmonkey.

Adrian-L Wrote:
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>> Alternatively try the wonderful Kentish beer,
> 'Spitfire'
> - another one of my favourires.

Yep, Spitfire is a fine beer too. I live in Kent, so Sheperd Neame pubs are plentiful.

Spekled Hen is another favourite, as is Bombardier.

I'm not a Wetherspoons fan as such, but anyone travelling to London and wanting to sample a range of ales served in near-perfect condition should check them out.

It's funny me going on about ales and how I like them (which I genuinly do), as most of the time I drink Guinness or, er, Stella (