The Big Romance on Parnell Street opened in 2018 as Dublin's first dedicated audiophile bar, with a custom vinyl-only system and a bartenders-as-selectors policy.
Tip: Sit at the bar in front of the speakers, the booths at the back are for conversation rather than listening. Bartenders take vinyl requests if you bring records.
Address: 98 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, D01 T2T3
Fidelity Bar & Studio in Smithfield Dublin is the 2024 audiophile listening room from The Big Romance and Whiplash, with custom speakers and Sister7 small plates.
Tip: Programming shifts from balearic and jazz early to house and disco late, book the booth in Fidelity Studio for a semi-private listening table.
Grogan's Castle Lounge on South William Street has been Dublin's literary refuge since the 1970s when Paddy Kavanagh and Flann O'Brien drank here. No music, no TV.
Tip: Order the cheese toastie, it is the entire kitchen and it is excellent. The art on the walls is for sale, ask the bar staff if you spot one.
The Long Hall on South Great George's Street in Dublin is the Victorian-refurbished 1881 pub backing onto Dublin Castle, with carved partitions and a long snug.
Tip: Order a Guinness at the front bar, the back room with the chandeliers is the photograph everyone takes. No food, no music, no nonsense.
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.
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.