Oldschoolsocks wrote:Any pub in donnybrook will do you just fine
Actually Doonybrook is not what it was - Kielys can be very quiet these days but on the plus side does reasonable food and is set up to show games - no chance of having to persuade them to put the games on
The old Longs pub in Donnybrook (now called Athur Mayne's) is not so great for watching games - the whole set up is almost restaurant-ish. However they have some good food - ideal spot for a bite to eat if you were thinking of going to the Legends game in Donnybrook(
http://www.irishrugby.ie/irfu/charitable/3301.php) - which looks fun and a decent warm up for the next day.
If you weren't going to that, I don't think I'd suggest going to Donnybrook. Ballsbridge has a series of pubs - including "The Bridge" (owned by some of the Leinster team) - but it is a little suburban (though not far out). Slightly closer to town but still close by the Aviva (actually down the other end of the stadium - so handy to scout out for the next day) are a group of three pubs together - Beggars Bush pub, Slatterys (
http://www.slatterysd4.ie/) and The Chop House (
http://thechophouse.ie/). Heard the food at The Chop House is great.
A short walk up (10 mins?) from Slatterys is Upper Baggot Street - again slightly out from the centre but that's not a bad thing. This are will also be hopping before and after the game so you can scout out a few spots - The 51 Bar (
http://www.the51bar.ie), Waterloo Bar (
http://www.thewaterloobar.ie/). All of these are classic rugby pubs btw
Ranelagh as mentioned has quite a lot of pubs and places to eat - google maps will give you all the places - don't think you could go wrong and even if you did you can walk out of one pub and into the next
However if you are looking to stay central and want to avoid taxis - i would start at Grafton Street and pubs off Grafton Street (tend to be tradtional well known pubs around here) - obvious ones are Kehoes (
http://www.dublinks.com/dublin-pubs-bars/kehoes-pub.php), McDaids (
http://publin.ie/2011/mcdaids-2/), The Old Stand (
http://www.theoldstandpub.com/), O'Neills (
http://www.oneillsbar.com/) .... these are all within 5 mins of each other and I have left out dozens. Every person you ask will have a different list of names for pubs around Grafton St - you could just wander the little streets off Grafton St and drop into one that catches your eye
If you wanted to be adventurous and walk a further 10 mins, there are pubs like The Long Hall, The Stag's Head, O'Donoghue's, Doheny & Nesbit (google them) which are all favourites for folk. You may want to just pick an area of town that suits you and find yourself a local pub there - so Donnybrook if you want to go to the Legends game on Sat, Ballsbridge or Beggars Bush if you want to hang out close to the stadium or one of the other areas if you want to just wander around
Hope it helps - and cue everyone nit-picking the particular pubs I mentioned
I like your right leg. A lovely leg for the role.
I've got nothing against your right leg.
The trouble is ... neither have you
