Harbour Bar

Love the harbour bar! I’ve been a few times recently and it never disappoints. The bar is cozy and the bar service was excellent. I really like the quirky interior. It’s great for live music in the evening (either local bands or some more chilled out trad music) and is also nice for a quiet drink after a walk along the seafront.

Good pub, large but with several different rooms/​areas so it actually feels quite cosy. Seems to be a popular hangout — both times I’ve been here have been Saturdays and it’s been really busy. There’s a large covered outdoor area out front (with the pub’s resident cats nonchalantly mingling with the drinkers), and inside there’s a small bar room, a conservatory area, and a bigger room with bands playing. There’s a good selection of beers and it doesn’t take too long to get served even when it’s busy. The Big Dog’s Galley serves up snacks from the pub’s outdoor seating area.

Great live music, varied craft beer selection and really friendly staff. Always lots going on and buzzing. Best bar in the world!

Harbour Bar has an awesome patio (that includes a comfy and enclosed octagonal room in the middle), and a good selection of local brews. The inside is super eclectic, and although a little on the dark/​dingy side, is somehow just real, so both my wife and I really enjoyed it. Friendly servers. Super minimal menu (a couple types of sandwiches), but there is a «restaurant» on the patio (out of shipping container) — we didn’t order any food, but it looked good!

It’s been a while that I’ve been here but recently I went again.
As it was a lovely sunny day /​evening we sat outside in their beer garden. And that is just great. Big. lively, sheltered with glass walls and quiet due to not much traffic going this way.
The staff managed the crowds very well and friendly so it was a perfect night out and being close to the dart helped as well.

So I came back for pints of an evening and I’m so impressed I’ll just have to raise my review to a five-​star!
There was a match playing on one side of the pub and music on the other – we were here for a chat so we picked the match side, which was quite calm and pleasant. Because everyone was glued to the screen, we were able to sneak back to the «sitting room» area of the pub, and had the whole room to ourselves with the couch and cosy fire. No cats to be seen this time around which was disappointing but the bartenders are lovely as usual and it’s just a great place to chill out in the evening.

It’s not only Temple Bar pubs. Getting the train and go to Bray could be a great experience on a Friday or a Saturday night. I arrived there without any expectations, Somebody was waiting for me at the rail station. Even it was a rainy day, I asked her, where can we go? is it far away from here? so we crossed the train station and we walked as quickly as we could. We arrived there, the place was cool, people were very friendly, two bands were playing live music, I really enjoyed the atmosphere of this great pub in a cozy and not touristic place. If you want to discover new venues outside the pop culture you should go there, grab a drink, listen to good indie bands, talk with people around, and have a great night. God exist outside the city and Temple Bar.

Awesome deco, love the bathroom wall, plus they have a very cool beer garden, its near to the dart and beach, they have 2 diferent types of live music if you don’t fancy irish music u can go to the bar next door, listen to rock, reggae or what ever they playing that night, plus they are just besides a little hot dog place in case u get munchies

Well situated by the ocean, this place is perfectly cozy and welcoming. There is something very accessible about the mish-​mash homeliness of the décor, and the nautical ornaments under red lights only add to the vibe. Beers are cheap too. Brilliant pub.

Can’t say enough about how great this bar was; fire in the fireplace, comfy chairs, crazy crap all over the walls and ceilings. We were here one afternoon, and enjoyed a pint in the almost empty pub. Just one other guy and the bartender. Both were very friendly and we had a great chat. I also get the impression that this place would be awesome on a Saturday night. If you are looking for a great experience, take the DART to Bray, walk along the beach, and then have a few pints at the Harbour Bar.

My local! Shabby chic :) loves it. Cheap and great atmosphere

This is my favourite pub in the world and the reason I bought my house in Bray!
There are 3 sections: the bar, the middle bar and the lounge. There is live music in the lounge every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. A lot of well known bands began here. There is also trad music in the bar every Saturday night.
The walls are adorned with props from Ardmore film studios. Including a moose’s head that was donated by actor Peter O’Toole. The furniture is a mixture of armchairs and couches salvaged from skips and friends’ homes. Candles are usually dotted about the place too.
The clientele range from members of the sailing club opposite, goths, punks and rockers and everything in between.

Lovely big beer garden for pints on a summer’s afternoon, very far away from Raheny, though.
And a strange thing that happened a couple of years ago: two friends and I retired to the Harbour Bar to wet our respective whistles. The barman asked us all for our IDs. You may think that this is commendable behaviour, and for a number of reasons, it is. And I suppose that two of us were only nineteen, one of whom only looked about fifteen and a half (if he’s reading this, he’ll recognise himself). But the third member of our group was twenty-​three and hadn’t been asked for ID for the better part of three years, and didn’t always carry one. Luckily, he happened to have his driver’s licence, but it would have fairly marred the day if he hadn’t.
Strangely strict IDing policy, otherwise v good.

A tatty, iconic, marvelous pub in Bray. I often take the train down to have a pint or two here. The crowd is wildly mixed — everyone from well-​to-​do Wicklow landowners to backpackers to goth rockers come here to be merry. There are two bars, generally some sort of music (trad or modern) and a big outdoor seating area. The drinks are usual pub fare — don’t expect cocktails! The décor is amazing and looks like is was constructed in about 1880 and not renovated or cleaned since. All sorts of unusual stuff stuck to the walls here! Can get quite busy later on a Friday and Saturday. The back bar I have also seen get slightly rough and untidy towards closing time but that all adds to the charm. If you plan on sitting outside bring a jacket — the sea breeze can be quite chilly even on a nice day.

If you like your pubs atmospheric and odd, then The Harbour Bar in Bray (40 minutes south of Dublin city centre by DART) is just the place for you. The furnishing and decoration is a mish-​mash of irregularities — the walls are adorned with anything from plush antiques and ancient, yellowed advertisements to sacrilegious relics. Rickety furniture that might well have been swiped from your great-aunt’s living room compliments the decidedly kooky ambiance. The bohemian fantasy is completed with a dimly-​lit open space for live music, often jazz, indie and alternative, and open mic nights. The lounge area is supplemented by two small ‘old man’s pubs’ that host a traditional music session every month as well as offering a lively buzz every weekend.
The crowd is diverse, although ‘the beautiful people’ might feel slightly out of place, and the atmosphere is mellow, even when the hoards descend on a Saturday night. Harbour Bar offers an antidote to the sterile atmosphere of some modern pubs however it is a little ‘rough and ready’. Not for the faint hearted, or those allergic to dust or cats!
It can be a bit lonely on a mid-​week night, particularly during the winter, but I would recommend it for a few drinks at the weekend. Last orders are at 12.30am at the weekend but if you wander down along the promenade, you will find plenty more watering holes willing to quench your thirst!