Doheny & Nesbitt on Baggot Street Lower in Dublin has been the Leinster House crowd's pub since 1828, Victorian partitions and the Doheny Snug at the front.
Tip: The Doheny Snug at the front is the original confessional-style booth, ask the bar staff if it is free, it is the room you want for two.
Address: 5 Baggot Street Lower, Dublin 2, D02 F592
Kehoe's on South Anne Street in Dublin has been pulling pints since 1803, with stained-glass doors, mahogany snugs and a 19th-century interior kept like a museum.
Tip: The upstairs lounge is the old proprietor's living room kept as a bar, ask the staff if it is open, it is the prize seat.
Mulligan's on Poolbeg Street has poured pints in the same Dublin building since 1854, drank in by James Joyce and John F. Kennedy, an unspoiled Trinity-side dive.
Tip: Order a stout at the back bar, the Joyce Room snug holds two at a push and is named for the Counterparts arm-wrestle scene set there.
The Stag's Head on Dame Court in Dublin is the 1895 A.J. McLoughlin Victorian pub James Joyce drank at, with stag-themed stained glass and carved wood snugs.
Tip: Walk down the alley off Dame Lane, the back entrance avoids the front pavement crowd. The upstairs cabaret hall hosts comedy most nights.
Index Dublin moved into the former Opium Rooms on Middle Abbey Street and is now the city's serious techno and house room with Glitterbox residencies.
Tip: Doors hard close around 01:00 on the busy nights, get there before midnight or queue the rest of the set out on Abbey Street.
The Workman's Club on Wellington Quay in Dublin runs the 1888 working men's hall as a live music room with the Vintage Room basement programming club nights.
Tip: Buy your gig ticket and you stay in for the late club room, do not waste the cover by leaving at 23:00 like the tourists do.
Bow Lane on Aungier Street in Dublin is the late cocktail bar and dance room with a DJ programme that runs disco and house until well after 02:00 most nights.
Tip: The bottomless brunch crowd peaks at 15:00, walk in then for a table or after 21:00 once the dance floor takes over.