We were thinking recently about the level of Irish spoken in the pub and that we rarely, if ever, hear it. Surely there must be some demand for an Irish speaking or Irish friendly pub? We went looking for a few pubs that might have some members of staff with reasonably good Irish, and others who are making an attempt at using it.
Club Chonradh na Gaeilge
Some of you might not have heard of this place. It’s a bar in a basement (although it does have a nice outdoor area too) on Harcourt street. It’s a completely Irish speaking bar and any attempt at practising your Irish is usually encouraged.
Bar Rua
Some Gaeilgeoirí friends of ours went into Bar Rua to check it. As the bar has an Irish name, they wondered if there would be any attempt made at speaking the language. The member of staff who served them had fluent Irish and was able to converse. This might not be the case for every member of staff, but it’s nice to know that there’s at least one.
The Gingerman
One of the same friends told us that The Gingerman is a hangout for Raidío na Life staff and they’ve been teaching some of the bar staff cúpla focal.
The Duke
The Duke also apparently has a high number of Irish speakers on staff according to Aonghus O hAlmhain (@aonghusoha) on twitter.
The Cobblestone
When looking around for pubs with some standard of Irish we though immediately of The Cobblestone. Owner Tom Mulligan is fluent, and Dominic would ‘hold his own’.
Generator
We should say that you might not get to talk to someone in Irish in this bar, but they do make a significant contribution to the language. Osgur, the general manager, is a fluent Gaeilgóir and has a hand in bringing some Irish language events to the bar. They play host to ‘Reic’, a spoken word and performance art night in Irish. They’ve also held a joint Irish-Welsh language night, and they frequently tweet in Irish.
That’s all the info we could find for now. If you know of any pubs with some Irish speakers on staff, please let us know and we’ll add them to the list.
Honorable mentions:
Lincolns Inn
Hmm, Ba mhaith. Lincoln’s @publinie
Sibh le moladh as Gaeilge a úsáid. pic.twitter.com/qkJ4l3zo4S— John (@Beachtaire) April 20, 2016
Lincolns Inn had this nice temporary sign out the front.
Grogans
Grogans and a few others have these stickers up in the toilets, although they didn’t put them there themsevles. ‘Learn on the loo, Gaeilge while you poo’. A list of handy phrases in Irish for your night out.
BuIochas le Peter Kavanagh agus Osgur O Ciardha le hadhaidh an eolas sa article seo.
