What was the dodgiest pub you have been to?

BraziliaNZ · 12-08-2009 10:51am

Itsdacraic wrote: »

In Ireland, a place called The Ramble Inn at the back of a housing estate in Killester Dublin. Seriously dodgy spot, the locals reckoned we were cops and followed me into the jacks anytime I went. There was a fella shot dead outside it a week later.

lol that place is grand, i am in there sometimes i have friends that live nearby, just full of old people having sing songs etc, that shooting was a one off and the guy lived around the corner, nice guy but involved with the wrong people. If that's your idea of dodgy you must be from Foxrock or something!
Best pint of Guinness I know of too!

JupiterKid · 12-08-2009 11:30am

I've been in a few. Finches in Clondalkin - very dodgy place and very uncomfortable every second I was in there.

Some dive on O'Connell Street in Sligo town - a total kip and full of dog rough regulars.

I've heard about the Lough Inn - is it really as bad is it's rumoured to be?

DigiGal · 12-08-2009 11:44am

White_Feather wrote: »

didnt get your joke.....!
i havent been there in years either, your right it is full of kids!

Told ya...:)

Should take this discussion to the Scoring LC results girls thread...might be helpful to em

booboobear · 12-08-2009 11:48am

I was in an early house in edinburgh before. Was scary. A lot of heroin addicts.

Duckjob · 12-08-2009 11:51am

Some dodgy pub in NewCastle. Think it was called the "Queens Head". Had characters that looked just like "Begbie" from Trainspotting. Locals playing pool were "playfully" intimidating people sitting at the bar with pool cues, and the barmen calling on them to "ah come on and settle down lads".

Joliegood · 12-08-2009 12:07pm

JupiterKid wrote: »

I've heard about the Lough Inn - is it really as bad is it's rumoured to be?

Oh yea. Heavily tattoed, muscle bulging, teeth missing customers.

And that's just the females:eek:

lala stone · 12-08-2009 12:15pm

booboobear wrote: »

I was in an early house in edinburgh before. Was scary. A lot of heroin addicts.

PENNY BLACK??

stovelid · 12-08-2009 12:21pm

Can't believe some of the pubs that are being passed of as dangerous here.

Morlar · 12-08-2009 12:25pm

Jonniealan wrote: »

The old Chinaman in town somewhere some say it never actually existed, that it was an urban myth.

Unfortunately it did indeed exsist, from what I remember the beer was like water and almost as cheap.

Been to some crappy ones in london too, stockwell, brixton etc but one of the worst was in portsmouth, cant remember the name of it but basically had to argue with the bouncers first of all in order to be let in, they copped the Irish accent and said words to the effect of 'you won't like it, it's not for you'. Then once inside the bouncers kept popping the door open every few minutes to make sure we werent getting our heads kicked in. It was like one of those movie scenes (think three amigos only not so much fun) where somone walks in and the entire bar stops, turns around and stares and keeps staring for the duration. Thing is though the worst trouble I have seen has normally been in bars which felt completely safe. I think the 'rougher places' have a reputation and people generally behave in them though you wouldn't want to rely on that.

funnyname · 12-08-2009 12:27pm

Mary Joe's and the hatchet, both in Ennistymon.

BDubliner · 12-08-2009 12:32pm

Widow Scanlons on Pearse street. Remember having a pint there years back and it was the kind of kip where if you didnt have an Eire tattoo or a I love ma tattoo you'd be considered a freak. Real IRA sympathisers pub, few shootings there as well if my memory serves me correct. Think its been knocked now.

stovelid · 12-08-2009 12:35pm

BDubliner wrote: »

few shootings there as well if my memory serves me correct.

Loyalists killed a door man there in the 90s IIRC.

Morlar · 12-08-2009 12:54pm

stovelid wrote: »

Loyalists killed a door man there in the 90s IIRC.

The UVF (martin cahill's buddies) tried to blow it up one night. From what I remember the doorman was shot dead while stopping them from getting inside.

Cupcake_Crisis · 12-08-2009 1:45pm

mikemac wrote: »

Lisburn Rd I believe, could be wrong.
Just off Sandy Row

Went with a mate mid week to see a football match, was working in the city at the time.

Oh the foul looks I recieved not to mention the questions on "you're not local, are ya?" from the barman.
Hard to disguise my bogger midlands accent

Maybe he didn't want my business.......
I wasn't welcome anyway.
And then my friend said not to use the toilets in the pub, I'd be jumped (attacked I mean before you assume something else)
The guy was from Belfast, I suppose he knew what he was talking about

But it's supposed to be a student pub???

I had some great nights in Auntie Annies when i was living up there. I was always with locals and never had any bother, great craic altogether, its gone quite alternative!

Gyalist · 12-08-2009 2:09pm

Jonniealan wrote: »

The old Chinaman in town somewhere some say it never actually existed, that it was an urban myth. But no i was in it about 17 at the time. Does anyone remember the Dublin Punk band paranoid visions well the lead singer was in there at the time and he decided to throw a shoe at me.

The most bizzare pub/place i have ever been too. Almost put me off booze if im honest.

It did exist. Used to be at the corner of Golden Lane & Great Ship Street at the back of Dublin Castle. It was knocked down when Woodchester Bank/GE Capital developed the site for their offices.

Salvelinus · 12-08-2009 2:12pm

Seaneh wrote: »

I'm gonna thrump anything mentioned before with one sentence.

The Keg, The Olde Oak, Steven Kelly's Carey's and Pat Man's all in Athlone, OMFG!

You must be a softie, been those places a few times and they were fine. Heard Kellys is bad if you're an outsider though.

prazeres · 12-08-2009 2:40pm

Full of cocaine heads who think they are great should be shot!

Jaysoose · 12-08-2009 2:44pm

mikemac wrote: »

Lisburn Rd I believe, could be wrong.
Just off Sandy Row

Went with a mate mid week to see a football match, was working in the city at the time.

Oh the foul looks I recieved not to mention the questions on "you're not local, are ya?" from the barman.
Hard to disguise my bogger midlands accent

Maybe he didn't want my business.......
I wasn't welcome anyway.
And then my friend said not to use the toilets in the pub, I'd be jumped (attacked I mean before you assume something else)
The guy was from Belfast, I suppose he knew what he was talking about

But it's supposed to be a student pub???

You are making this up, have drank in annies countless times and brought 6 lads from dublin with before and nobody batted an eyelid.

If you think Annies is rough you should stay in and drink.:P

YFlyer · 12-08-2009 2:53pm

yupyup7up wrote: »

Either The Steering Wheel, O'Riadas or the Olympic Arms in Limerick. and Im from Limerick so I can say it

Molly O'Riadas is not so bad.

Try Nolan's Bar in Nicholas Street Limerick, well dodgy. Another bar up the road from there with the nick name 'Stab Inn'

johnny_knoxvile · 12-08-2009 3:07pm

Doctor Rob wrote: »

Bruxelles just off Grafton St. Dublin. The downstairs area was full of smelly, long-haired homosexuals with hearing problems.

(Not that there's anything wrong with that, just not my scene!)

you obviously thought that "girl" with the beard had hormonal problems when you hit on "her"

Xavi6 · 12-08-2009 4:05pm

brayblue24 wrote: »

Two spring to mind, both in Manchester. The first was called "The Nag's Head" but there were no cheerful cockneys in this version, just a load of malnourished Mancunians who looked like extras from a Michael Jackson video.

The other is directly opposite Eastlands (Man. City for the uninitiated), Mary D's I think it's called and apparently it's a United pub the rest of the week. Went in there for the first ever match at Eastlands about 6 years ago. Should have known what type of place I was in when, at midday, I got my pint in a McDonald's type carton, not even your regular plastic one. They uesd to charge a pound just to go upstairs. One of the lads got mugged at the cigarette machine INSIDE the pub. Thankfully there were police everywhere outside but they disappeared about 6 o'clock. I asked a local why so many of them and he replied it was because someone had been murdered there the night before-exit stage left.

(should have taken the cue earlier when the landlord told us taxis didn't even go there).

Lol been there myself. A crazy spot alright. Plastic cups all the way (if even that) and Stone Roses/Oasis/Happy Monday blaring. Quality! :pac:

Other ropey joints include the A1 in Artane and The Shanty in D15.

joseph brand · 12-08-2009 4:25pm

xzanti wrote: »

The Peacock on Cathal Brugha Street, it's gone now afaik.. That was some dive. :eek:

That pub had no windows, just like Finches in Neilstown, Clondalkin. Both utter kips. The locals seem to revel in that style of pub.

I remember walking into The Peacock, back in 1998, and the whole place just stared at all eight of us. Granted we were a good sized group. Omeone must have gotten hold of a few dozen Ben Sherman shirts, cos the place was like a rainbow of pink, lime, yellow and sky blue shirts. Which contrasted with the dark interior starved of natural light.

Also, I think The Peacock is a russian pub now?? Its beside that multi storey car park.

Chips Lovell · 12-08-2009 4:34pm

joseph brand wrote: »

Also, I think The Peacock is a russian pub now?? Its beside that multi storey car park.

It was. Now it's something nautically themed... I think.

soundbyte · 12-08-2009 4:51pm

Someone mentioned The Headline on Sth Circular Road. What???

Eh, you probably meant The Glimmerman just around the corner from it (can't remember what the name of the Bridge is)??

Pure IRA pub in the 1990s. Only Guinness and Carlsberg on tap. Went in for a pint oneday for the laugh, got stared out of it by the locals. Yer man picked up a filthy pint glass from behind the bar, popped it into a basin of filthy water and then pulled the Carlsberg. Tasted worse than it looked, but I drank it.

Bob Z · 12-08-2009 5:18pm

El Siglo wrote: »

It might have been mentioned but the Hatfield Inn on the Ormeau Road, Belfast is by and far one of the roughest pubs I've been. It's a Republican pub that's literally 10 yards from a loyalist pub. I remember one night there was the usual clientele with one fella out of his head rolling around in a wheel chair to music, then, Garth Brooks; "I got friends in low places" comes on, and the fella leaps out of the chair and starts dancing with the barman threatening to tell his mother that he's claiming insurance when he shouldn't, and thus he promptly returned to his seat... in his wheel chair!

The barman threaten to tell someones mother hes making a false insurance claim? That incident doesnt sound too bad

Salvelinus · 12-08-2009 5:22pm

Bit off topic but is there a bar in the North Inner City that is male only?

wudangclan · 12-08-2009 5:23pm

Salvelinus wrote: »

Bit off topic but is there a bar in the North Inner City that is male only?

gubu

Sizzler · 12-08-2009 5:31pm

Xavi6 wrote: »

Lol been there myself. A crazy spot alright. Plastic cups all the way (if even that) and Stone Roses/Oasis/Happy Monday blaring. Quality! :pac:

Other ropey joints include the A1 in Artane and The Shanty in D15.

The A1 in Artane? Because a bloke was shot in it a few years back? Sure that can happen anywhere! Its grand

Sizzler · 12-08-2009 5:32pm

Salvelinus wrote: »

Bit off topic but is there a bar in the North Inner City that is male only?

I was going to say The George but damn you thats on the southside :P

ART6 · 12-08-2009 5:35pm

Many years ago when serving an apprenticeship in a Glasgow shipyard, near the yard gates was a "wine bar". They had a zinc bath filled with cheap sherry, which they would scoop out with jugs and sell for pennies to the winos among the yard workers. In the Gorbals area of the city city there were bars that wouldn't allow women inside, had sawdust floors like the Wild West, and where saying "hello" to another drinker always earned the response "Did ye come here to drink or to blather?" Fights were considered a recreational passtime.

The best low dive, however, had to be a tin shack in the Iranian desert near the Shat El Arab waterway in the days of the Shah. There an Iranian sold cans of beer out of a clapped out American fridge. Oil tanker crews would go there for a few beers and always there would be war between Norwegians, English, Americans, etc etc. Still, it was an area not unaccustomed to wars.:D

AnimalRights · 12-08-2009 5:37pm

Jonniealan wrote: »

The old Chinaman in town somewhere some say it never actually existed, that it was an urban myth. But no i was in it about 17 at the time. Does anyone remember the Dublin Punk band paranoid visions well the lead singer was in there at the time and he decided to throw a shoe at me.

The most bizzare pub/place i have ever been too. Almost put me off booze if im honest.

Deko photographed last week during PV gig.

admiralofthefleet · 12-08-2009 5:42pm

the four roads in crumlin.
i was going in one night and there was a telephone book on fire in the doorway, the barman was in no hurry to put it out. ace bookies next door has been held up 4 times in the last couple of weeks, the most recent being last night

Salvelinus · 12-08-2009 5:43pm

Sizzler wrote: »

I was going to say The George but damn you thats on the southside :P

There's always one. A friend told me about this place, not men only in a get to know each other better type way but it was just a unwritten rule that no wimmin were allowed.

camroc76 · 12-08-2009 5:45pm

Gary's In Portadown....it was a hangout for the "Kick the pope" bands at that time..my college room mate at the time though it would have being funny to drag me there..I was nearly afraid to breathe incase it sounded too Catholic !!:D

Kalashnikov_Kid · 12-08-2009 5:48pm

Im surprised the Headline is mentioned...while never exactly glamorous it always attracted a few students (myself included, back in the day)

admiralofthefleet · 12-08-2009 5:48pm

Salvelinus wrote: »

Bit off topic but is there a bar in the North Inner City that is male only?

isnt there a fruit market on capel street?

Iron Hide · 12-08-2009 5:53pm

Some gaff not far Upton Park in East London, the halberd inn if memory serves me well... Probably one of the only places in London where Irish are most unwelcome, went to the bar, asked for a Carlsberg, and the barman spouts " with that accent you'd best keep yer mouth shut in ere mate"..

Oh The Humanity · 12-08-2009 6:00pm

Anyone remember the Auld Chinaman back in the day!?

Real spit on the floor pub.....Pool, cans from behind the bar, decent jukebox, smokin hash till your brain fell out and constant raids where everyone patiently lined up outside till the cops fcuked off and everyone trooped back in again!

Rough as nuts but a great pub all the same! I spent many a golden afternoon in there!

razorblunt · 12-08-2009 6:12pm

The Usual Place in Youghal.

A group of us got set upon New Years Eve a few years back down there, found out afterwards its an absolute dump.

rossie1977 · 12-08-2009 11:26pm

pub in inverness, saw cheap lunch specials outside on a sign so we ventured in, once inside place we noticed quite a few very rough looking scotch boys, seats were all torn, windows broken and we were getting stares (probably due to the fact we had no scottish tattoos

), sat down for about 10 seconds and then legged it out

TorresDaLegend · 12-08-2009 11:34pm

The shanty in mulhudart, jesus that place had a niteclub too :eek: , remember this scumbags son ran outside to the carpark and just robbed a van :O , drove on down the street, couldnt have been older than 13.

That pub in kinsealy.Dump.Guy got shot outside it.

The Cabra House. Oul fella's smokin weed at the front door of it at 1 in the day. Place just looked a dump from the outside, dont think theres windows.

flickerx · 13-08-2009 8:35am

PK2008 wrote: »

Theres a bar in the train station in Bray , its called JD's I think, its an early house- absolute hole.

That place is great - the only early house open on Sunday mornings, none of them are allowed to open in Dublin city centre. I think there's another Sunday early house in Dun Laoghaire but I've never been to it.

The Chancery on the quays has some interesting characters in the mornings, and some people think its a bit rough, but I've never had any hassle there.

Grays in Newmarket Square (closed for a while after a shooting, might be open again) was pretty hardcore.
The BudaBar in Blanch, despite being brand new and posh looking, also attracted a rough crowd. It closed after someone was stabbed to death in the car park outside. Its now a gift and small furniture shop, IIRC.
The Ormond Print Works/Multi Media Centre on the quays was a bit crazy. Place was FULL of drugs but never any aggro - apart from the bouncers who were out of their minds on cocaine, speed, or steroids (or possibly all three) and quite happy to use physical violence at the drop of a hat (including with yours truly, who was slammed against a wall repeatedly by one individual).

But best/worst of all - there was a place on Moore Street years ago called the 'No Name' pub or the 'Looney Bin'. There was no sign outside to indicate what the pub was called. I was in there once before it was demolished. Its mentioned in that book by Kevin Kearns "Dublin Pub Life & Lore" (lots of interesting places long disappeared in there). That pub was INSANE. Sawdust on the floor with blood, skanky old school chairs, 2 litres on sale at the bar for drinking inside, guys who were real alcos, hassling you for money as soon as you walked into the place, snarling at you if you didnt cough up. They had a hatch out of the bar facing onto the street where they sold more 2-litres. Even Kearns (despite his eternal chirpiness in that book, calling day drinkers "jolly pintmen") hints that the place was slightly beyond the pale.

Christ, this list could go on for ever. So many places to get your head kicked in.

mirwillbeback · 13-08-2009 9:55am

The Lough Inn is a bit of a ****hole alright, but most of the people in there are sound once you know them and living locally I'd know most.
Having said that, I wouldn't be playing pool as traditionally pool is a short cut to a pub fight. I do remember back in the 90s some lad having his hand chopped off in the there with a machete, and if rumours are correct being shot a few weeks later in retaliation.
Growing up Ziggys niteclub was a great mad spot. It was at Baker's Corner in Deansgrange.
Every week there would be fights, normally between the gangs from Ballybrack, Monkstown, Dun Laoghaire, Shankill and Sallynoggin. I'd be asked to back them up and had it down to a fine art, leave at 1.50am, home before the trouble and then as they were usually mass brawls just claim the following week to have been in the middle of it, no one knew different.
I remember a fella trying to rip a can in half one night to attack another chap and he just cut half his own finger off. There was a fella murdered one night outside, the lads who killed him were jumping off a 3 foot wall onto his head. Madness.
Other honourable mentions have to be the Ramblers, that pub in Bray mentioned above is crazy, and the old Smiths in Dun Laoghaire, the social centre for bullies.

Degsy · 13-08-2009 10:08am

flickerx wrote: »

But best/worst of all - there was a place on Moore Street years ago called the 'No Name' pub or the 'Looney Bin'. There was no sign outside to indicate what the pub was called. I was in there once before it was demolished. Its mentioned in that book by Kevin Kearns "Dublin Pub Life & Lore" (lots of interesting places long disappeared in there). That pub was INSANE. Sawdust on the floor with blood, skanky old school chairs, 2 litres on sale at the bar for drinking inside, guys who were real alcos, hassling you for money as soon as you walked into the place, snarling at you if you didnt cough up. They had a hatch out of the bar facing onto the street where they sold more 2-litres. Even Kearns (despite his eternal chirpiness in that book, calling day drinkers "jolly pintmen") hints that the place was slightly beyond the pale.

I remember that place well..it was owned by some bloke from South armagh and always stank of feet.
We used to call the off-licence "one eyed willies" because your man who worked there was called Willy and only had one eye.
I used to live in capel st and was just after ordering my flagons when some bloke came up and tried to sell me a bike..all well and good except i was already on one at the time.

bobbyjoe · 13-08-2009 10:29am

Was drinking in Bratislava once and asked some local guys where to get a late drink. They took us down all these back alleys to a basement club. A guy passed us on the way in holding his broken nose. Head in up to the bar and look around. The place was full of Nazi skinheads with swastika tattoos on their necks. Bloke comes over to us asks us where we are from. "Irish ok you can stay, just don't look at the girls". Had one and got the hell out of there.

furrysnookerbal · 13-08-2009 11:40am

try reilly's in corbally, limerick at weekends - full of knackers and scobes

yupyup7up · 13-08-2009 11:46am

grenache wrote: »

O'Riarda's in Catherine St, Limerick.

Rough as fcuk

Ill second that, full of scum. went in there once to use the jacks and some young fella of about 19 threw his shoulder into me. I was about to put him through a wall until I looked around and seen about 20 of his scumbag friends with pool cues. Awful place... amazingly, even after all the talk of it, ive never been in a dodgy pub in dublin(apparently the wicked wolf or somthing in blackrock is meant to be dodgy but it was pure normal!) I suppose its hard to find worse than the steering wheel... :eek:

truecrippler · 13-08-2009 11:53am

flickerx wrote: »

That place is great - the only early house open on Sunday mornings, none of them are allowed to open in Dublin city centre. I think there's another Sunday early house in Dun Laoghaire but I've never been to it.

There is indeed one in Dun Laoghaire

.

Birdie086 · 13-08-2009 12:01pm

sioda wrote: »

Was wondering when the Mucky Duck would turn up worst pub on the planet by a country mile. No smoking ban in ther though it has to be said

the smoking ban or regular closing hours are not heeded here. the place is obviously a dive, no sink in the ladies and the women who frequent the place dont seem to avail of the toilet just go int the bathroom and squat!!!! I wasnt there long and have never been back. crazy place with scary peoples in it(and thats just the women)

Steviewonder · 13-08-2009 12:44pm

razorblunt wrote: »

The Usual Place in Youghal.

A group of us got set upon New Years Eve a few years back down there, found out afterwards its an absolute dump.

Really? sorry to hear about that.. Im actually from Youghal,the town is rough

What was the dodgiest pub you have been to?

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