The "ould man's pub"

Fr_Fitzexactly

To me the ould man's pub is a quintessential part of Irish culture and should be preserved as long as possible. Its sad to see these places lose their character when they are revamped into places that supposedly cater for a younger crowd. My own pet hate is fruit machines inside in pubs and massive TV's on the wall. To me a TV in a pub should be a small yoke no bigger than 15" placed in an area where the 2 or 3 people wanting to watch the news can see it and the volume not too loud, only when there is a GAA match on should they bring in a bigger telly.

A good pub should have at least 2 different types of stout on tap and Smithwicks. owned by a local down to earth pair who will tell you all the nooze in the aree and have a chat with you and know what drink to give you without you asking for it. The walls should be covered with oldschool advertising and depictions of what life was life back in the day like a b&w photo of a farmer with a cap on trying to start a Lister diesel engine or cutting turf with a slean. No mobile phone coverage inside except for one window where everyone puts their phone and none ever get robbed. Dim warm coloured lighting none of this fancy LED stuff only oil lamps and carbon filament bulbs.

On a cold night the fire should be lit and people sitting closest to it should have to throw in the logs or turf and coal themselves. All the furniture should be old style and well worn.

None of this fancy schmancy €10+ cock tail bars with smarmy young upstarts working and drinking in there, blaring music and funny coloured bright lights and bright furniture everywhere and randomers who call you a creep if you dare to talk to them. Feck that sh1t like. Worst are the "mock nightclub" pubs where you can hardly hear yourself think.

IM0

denied. next.

A pub should be welcoming and friendly, a place you can go and relax and have a few drinks.
There is no need for the "old world" stuff, that's for the American tourists.
The best ones are usually those that haven't been "restyled" in recent years and retain their character & locals, they may even be grotty, but the locals like it all the same.

FloatingVoter

It should also have a wall out the back for pissing against. The women can use the posh toilets in the chipper.
Food should be Taytos cheese and onion. You have onion and cheese if you prefer.
Coffee and tea will be served at half past never on Judgement Day.
Opening hours are at the discretion of management.

B0jangles

That awkward moment when you're sitting in a nice cosy corner in a strange pub and realise that there are 4 aul fellas glaring at you from the bar because you're sitting in their spot...

bgrizzley

Formica counters only please, bonus points for worn white patches on it.

RikkFlair

Neachtains pub in Galway, my kinda pub.

Fr_Fitzexactly

Deleted User wrote: »

A pub should be welcoming and friendly, a place you can go and relax and have a few drinks.
There is no need for the "old world" stuff, that's for the American tourists.
The best ones are usually those that haven't been "restyled" in recent years and retain their character & locals, they may even be grotty, but the locals like it all the same.

I have been in ould man's pubs that have probably never seen an American tourist in their lives. It does add to the character. I'd say its more for the benefit of the ould fellas than the yanks tbh

The Backwards Man

A pub where when you ask for a glass of whiskey or a half of whiskey they know what you are talking about.

deconduo

Fr_Fitzexactly wrote: »

To me the ould man's pub is a quintessential part of Irish culture and should be preserved as long as possible. Its sad to see these places lose their character when they are revamped into places that supposedly cater for a younger crowd. My own pet hate is fruit machines inside in pubs and massive TV's on the wall. To me a TV in a pub should be a small yoke no bigger than 15" placed in an area where the 2 or 3 people wanting to watch the news can see it and the volume not too loud, only when there is a GAA match on should they bring in a bigger telly.

A good pub should have at least 2 different types of stout on tap and Smithwicks. owned by a local down to earth pair who will tell you all the nooze in the aree and have a chat with you and know what drink to give you without you asking for it. The walls should be covered with oldschool advertising and depictions of what life was life back in the day like a b&w photo of a farmer with a cap on trying to start a Lister diesel engine or cutting turf with a slean. No mobile phone coverage inside except for one window where everyone puts their phone and none ever get robbed. Dim warm coloured lighting none of this fancy LED stuff only oil lamps and carbon filament bulbs.

On a cold night the fire should be lit and people sitting closest to it should have to throw in the logs or turf and coal themselves. All the furniture should be old style and well worn.

None of this fancy schmancy €10+ cock tail bars with smarmy young upstarts working and drinking in there, blaring music and funny coloured bright lights and bright furniture everywhere and randomers who call you a creep if you dare to talk to them. Feck that sh1t like. Worst are the "mock nightclub" pubs where you can hardly hear yourself think.

What?

Fr_Fitzexactly

deconduo wrote: »

What?

You no espiko Ingleesh, mang??

Super-Rush

Wrong.

Pubs should be the local shop during the day and the local pub by night.

The only alcohol on tap is Guinness and everything else is in bottles.

The counter is only to be used to serve drinks at and not for drinking at because the owner couldn't be arsed moving things.

There are no tables just a few chairs scattered around the floor.

There is no tv unless the county makes it to the All Ireland final or Ireland make it to the World Cup.

The jacks and the smoking area are in the same place.

FloatingVoter

Super-Rush wrote: »

The jacks and the smoking area are in the same place.

Smoking area ? Whats that ? A man can smoke where and when he pleases.

wilkie2006

I just think that, y'know, making your way in the world this weather just takes everything you've got. For me, being able to take a break from all my worries really, really helps. A lot, actually. I just think, "I'd like to get away, where everyone knows me to see and they're always glad I turned up." I want to be where I can see that everyone's troubles are all the same. In short, I just want to go where everyone knows my name.

jaffacakesyum

I wish younger people liked old man pubs more Sick of going out with people my age and the usual pre-drinks + club with a busy pub in between if I'm lucky!

slavetothegrind

i would add to the op that the only food allowed would be the afore mentioned tayto, pink snacks, and toasted ham and cheese batch sambos done in the plastic mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Pints availible would be stout ( the ordinary kind none of your poncy icey cold stuff)
smithwicks
And Spaten, a decent lager from our German cousins because in fairness we never managed one in this country.

No telly at all.
A projector can be set up for important games only.

Good quality bar stools with footrests, they may swivel or not but should be comfortable for a minimum of 8 pints.

Trouble not tolerated at all, no complete arseholes.

Village idot abuse allowed as long as it's over his head and he is not harmed.

ceegee

Fr_Fitzexactly wrote: »

To me the ould man's pub is a quintessential part of Irish culture and should be preserved as long as possible. Its sad to see these places lose their character when they are revamped into places that supposedly cater for a younger crowd. My own pet hate is fruit machines inside in pubs and massive TV's on the wall. To me a TV in a pub should be a small yoke no bigger than 15" placed in an area where the 2 or 3 people wanting to watch the news can see it and the volume not too loud, only when there is a GAA match on should they bring in a bigger telly.

A good pub should have at least 2 different types of stout on tap and Smithwicks. owned by a local down to earth pair who will tell you all the nooze in the aree and have a chat with you and know what drink to give you without you asking for it. The walls should be covered with oldschool advertising and depictions of what life was life back in the day like a b&w photo of a farmer with a cap on trying to start a Lister diesel engine or cutting turf with a slean. No mobile phone coverage inside except for one window where everyone puts their phone and none ever get robbed. Dim warm coloured lighting none of this fancy LED stuff only oil lamps and carbon filament bulbs.

On a cold night the fire should be lit and people sitting closest to it should have to throw in the logs or turf and coal themselves. All the furniture should be old style and well worn.

None of this fancy schmancy €10+ cock tail bars with smarmy young upstarts working and drinking in there, blaring music and funny coloured bright lights and bright furniture everywhere and randomers who call you a creep if you dare to talk to them. Feck that sh1t like. Worst are the "mock nightclub" pubs where you can hardly hear yourself think.

Where in Ireland does your pet hate of fruit machines in pubs occur?

Shamozzle

Any "man" found to be wearing a pair of chinos is to be thrown into the open fire.

suicide_circus

The jacks should be dank and foul smelling with no soap, no mirror, no bogroll and no toiletseats and with dried scutter on the wall.

mikemac1

Rohans in Nenagh

So small you'd be struggling to fit two hurling teams in there

Lots of interesting phots on the wall.

No TV except if the GAA is on. No foreign games here!

Keg of Guinness is under the counter. Locals swear it's the best pint in town as the keg is so close to the tap. I dunno, probably just in their heads.

No Murphys as that's a Corkmans drink!

The urinal is a wall out the back

If you don't want to talk hurling during Championship season you can GTFO

Owned by the same family for three generations.

I think it's a wandering kip but the OP would be a fan

Prefer the old man's pub where you can actually sit down with a few mates and actually hear each other and have a laugh.

Nice Guinness and occasional live music and bobs your uncle.

osarusan

Here's the spot for you OP.

http://www.vfi.ie/Gallery/534-The-Blacksticks-Bar

About a 1 minute drive away from where I grew up. I remember my mother sometimes taking me there, ordering a pint of Guinness, and she'd drive home while I held it on a tray in the car for my father to drink at home.

SEPT 23 1989

The less natural light the better,infact no windows would be perfect

Chucken

osarusan wrote: »

Here's the spot for you OP.

http://www.vfi.ie/Gallery/534-The-Blacksticks-Bar

About a 1 minute drive away from where I grew up. I remember my mother sometimes taking me there, ordering a pint of Guinness, and she'd drive home while I held it on a tray in the car for my father to drink at home.

The Mills??

osarusan

Chucken wrote: »

The Mills??

Yeah, that's the place.

mikemac1

The VFI could fix that website.

I get broken links when I try to see where it is

crockholm

Cleanliness is optional,Stags head is nice and clean,my local (back home) isn't, but I love em both. I can just about tolerate a tv on during the day, but if it's sky sports news,i'm outta there.

My local, est.1798 (great year to go into business) has only guinness and harp on tap, everything else is in a small fridge or a bucket of ice mooched from the neighbouring pub.

Outhouse toilet/smoking area- easier to just piss in the lane, if it's a no.2, hold it. No lights in there,and thats not a bad thing.A bit of a competition to see who can get thier stubbie into the highest crack in the stone wall.

There are no womens toilets, so the very very seldom female must use the house toilets,though it is funny to send the non-local ladies out to the mens,just for sh!ts and giggles.

And where would you be without a weirdo/alc old barman. Any non-local woman that comes in gets asked for a lock of her hair, hence,at the whiskey shelf there is a row of locks of womens hair,what he does when he finishes(usually 2ish) I dont want to know.

Someone from HSE told him to stop selling groceries(it's one of those pubs) and bizzarely asked him to remove pictures(???),but did nothing about the toilet situation.

Ciderswigger

mikemac1 wrote: »

Rohans in Nenagh

I think it's a wandering kip but the OP would be a fan

Was just going to say Rohans.
And +1 on the kip bit. But each to their own.

Fr_Fitzexactly

ceegee wrote: »

Where in Ireland does your pet hate of fruit machines in pubs occur?

Feckers bringing them in from England and changing the coin mechanism to accept euros yet the screen still reads £ and pence

Cantona's Collars

suicide_circus wrote: »

The jacks should be dank and foul smelling with no soap, no mirror, no bogroll and no toiletseats and with dried scutter on the wall.

I know a pub like that and it's very popular with young wans.It's actually a great spot for a session,had a fair few in it.No telly,no draught beer and one toilet.

Fr_Fitzexactly

Fr_Fitzexactly wrote: »

Feckers bringing them in from England and changing the coin mechanism to accept euros yet the screen still reads £ and pence

Are you sure it's just not an old Irish (punts) one?

summerskin

Fr_Fitzexactly wrote: »

Feckers bringing them in from England and changing the coin mechanism to accept euros yet the screen still reads £ and pence

There's two in my local, I fûcking hate them.

Son Of A Vidic

Super-Rush wrote: »

Wrong.

Pubs should be the local shop during the day and the local pub by night.

The only alcohol on tap is Guinness and everything else is in bottles.

The counter is only to be used to serve drinks at and not for drinking at because the owner couldn't be arsed moving things.

There are no tables just a few chairs scattered around the floor.

There is no tv unless the county makes it to the All Ireland final or Ireland make it to the World Cup.

The jacks and the smoking area are in the same place.

Yes, yes and yes again.

Mr Benevolent

Fr_Fitzexactly wrote: »

To me the ould man's pub is a quintessential part of Irish culture and should be preserved as long as possible. Its sad to see these places lose their character when they are revamped into places that supposedly cater for a younger crowd. My own pet hate is fruit machines inside in pubs and massive TV's on the wall. To me a TV in a pub should be a small yoke no bigger than 15" placed in an area where the 2 or 3 people wanting to watch the news can see it and the volume not too loud, only when there is a GAA match on should they bring in a bigger telly.

A good pub should have at least 2 different types of stout on tap and Smithwicks. owned by a local down to earth pair who will tell you all the nooze in the aree and have a chat with you and know what drink to give you without you asking for it. The walls should be covered with oldschool advertising and depictions of what life was life back in the day like a b&w photo of a farmer with a cap on trying to start a Lister diesel engine or cutting turf with a slean. No mobile phone coverage inside except for one window where everyone puts their phone and none ever get robbed. Dim warm coloured lighting none of this fancy LED stuff only oil lamps and carbon filament bulbs.

On a cold night the fire should be lit and people sitting closest to it should have to throw in the logs or turf and coal themselves. All the furniture should be old style and well worn.

None of this fancy schmancy €10+ cock tail bars with smarmy young upstarts working and drinking in there, blaring music and funny coloured bright lights and bright furniture everywhere and randomers who call you a creep if you dare to talk to them. Feck that sh1t like. Worst are the "mock nightclub" pubs where you can hardly hear yourself think.

The Bloody Stream, Howth. That is all.

Fr_Fitzexactly

Mr Benevolent wrote: »

The Bloody Stream, Howth. That is all.

Dicey aree. Too many Healy Rae redge cars and property tax payers around. Ideally the pub should be up the mountain accessible only by a dirt track unfit for any vee-hee-hickle in the Garda fleet

Steve O

There should also be a man with a pet lamb inside.

Tombo2001

there is a place called The Long Stone in Dublin city centre.

There was a bar there before it became the Long Stone.....that bar was bought, and it was gutted and then a modern oirish bar was put in....

I remember we went down the night it opened, there was some cheap pints deal.......I remember some 'aul lads from the locality showed up to see what had become of their beloved 'local'.

I remember the sheer look of disgust on their faces.....and bewilderment............they didnt even stay for the cheap pint.

Red Kev

JJ Smyths in Aungier St was grand until they put in some huge fcuk off TV. Totally ruined the place. Often went in there, has a few pints downstairs, you could hear the music coming through the floor, if it was any good you'd head up there for a few as well. Great spot for a gig.

Sergeant

A lot of the well-known 'old man' pubs in Dublin are the type of place that any self-respecting grumpy old shíte wouldn't be seen dead in. Full of fúcking hipsters being ironic.

Cienciano

I think a small tv screen is acceptable. But it has to be a CRT screen, have terrible sound and show nothing but horse racing.

This place has to be seen to be believed. The pub time forgot.
This one is a great auld spot too.
In Dublin, this is a good one, hipster and tourist free.

crockholm

Sergeant wrote: »

A lot of the well-known 'old man' pubs in Dublin are the type of place that any self-respecting grumpy old shíte wouldn't be seen dead in. Full of fúcking hipsters being ironic.

I don't think the hipsters would last in the old man rural pubs, a unisex outhouse with a bang of piss from 50 yards and the village"character" eyeballing them and muttering away to himself, maybe someone coming in to buy calf nuts.:D

harry Bailey esq

one place i always have a scoop in is the ha'penny bridge inn.the place hasn't changed since the 80s,its the same fellas sitting in the same seats drinking the same drinks served by the same barman.i wouldn't change it for the world.attracts some arty types as upstairs there is a space that they use for comedy nights,jazz gigs etc so the arty crowd normally just stay for the one drink.heard a girl ask one day could she see the bar menu,the old guy looked at her bemused,and politely told her they sold sandwiches. 'is that all?' she said.another bemused look from the oul lad, well we also have toasties...classic.someone earlier also mentioned pink snack bars,the ha'penny is the only boozer i know that still sells them.

Sergeant

crockholm wrote: »

I don't think the hipsters would last in the old man rural pubs, a unisex outhouse with a bang of piss from 50 yards and the village"character" eyeballing them and muttering away to himself, maybe someone coming in to buy calf nuts.:D

Sorry, I meant more the places in Dublin. Grogans, The Long Hall, O'Donoghue's etc.

April O Neill

osarusan wrote: »

Here's the spot for you OP.

http://www.vfi.ie/Gallery/534-The-Blacksticks-Bar

About a 1 minute drive away from where I grew up. I remember my mother sometimes taking me there, ordering a pint of Guinness, and she'd drive home while I held it on a tray in the car for my father to drink at home.

That is class.

April O Neill

Sergeant wrote: »

A lot of the well-known 'old man' pubs in Dublin are the type of place that any self-respecting grumpy old shíte wouldn't be seen dead in. Full of fúcking hipsters being ironic.

Kehoe's et al.

crockholm

Sergeant wrote: »

Sorry, I meant more the places in Dublin. Grogans, The Long Hall, O'Donoghue's etc.

I know, but I would like too see how far they would go for irony's sake in a little piss pot of a pub.

Haven't been to Grogans or Long Hall in a while,but last I was in O'Donoghues they had the small telly showing sky sports news:mad: Saw many the tourist,alas no hipsters,thank god

bobin fudge

paddy murphys dominick street

smileyj1987

An old man pub is the best place in the world if you are on the beer all day sunday !

dd972

Grogan's Castle Lounge is a nice, relaxing spot as is Peter's Pub not too far away.

uch

Any Pub where there's no Gób****es

efb

If you are a young person in an old man pub- get out- you're ruining the ambience.