Brogan’s

Not a fan at all sadly.
Following my Monday night drinks around town where we frequent a different pub, this week took us to Brogans. From the moment I stepped in I’m sad to say I didn’t like it. A fairly large bar, it lacked any sort of atmosphere in terms of feeling warm, comfortable or inviting. A huge TV in the back was blaring and was actually difficult to have a conversation at various points. Staff seemed oblivious to this.
Afraid to say not somewhere i would be heading back to anytime soon

Great spot. Good mix of locals and tourists. Cash only. Minimal liquor selection. Excellent service and friendly bartender. Bathrooms need a little love. Would recommend and will be back

What a nice little pub right on Dame Street. They have some good beer on draft. Guy behind the bar was very nice. I do not think they serve food here, just a bar. definitely recommend the place if you are looking for a pint or two.

A pint of Guinness to die for. Real old fashioned kinda feeling to it. Great staff and very reasonable prices.

A very traditional pub in the heart of Dame St just beside the Olympia.
Patrons tend to be regulars or locals, I was probably the only non-​Irish person there… half of the pints ordered there are Guinness with vintage posters memorabilia on the walls.
Not quite a four-​star for me as I would have preferred a selection of Irish craft beers, instead of the usual Heineken/​Carlsberg stuff!

I used to visit Brogans a lot when I worked nearby on the late 90s. It was a real local bar in the centre of the city. We were all dining nearby in Toscana– very nice by the way– and we decided to pop into Brogans for some local ambiance.
I think it’s been done up a bit since my lady visit all those years ago. It was half full and we got a seat no problem. We chatted and enjoyed it so much we stayed for a couple more drinks. The barman was on by himself but he was well able to cope. There seemed to be regulars propping up the bar having a good laugh.
I liked the feel of Brogans and I will be bank. I think they have an outside smoking area upstairs too.

I ran across this place one night recently and loved it. It’s not touristy and had a local vibe to it. I talked with John the bartender and had a great conversation about Irish ways and Dublin. This place is great for meeting local people and experiencing how Dubliners enjoy a pint and conversation.

Great little pub in the heart of the city that doesn’t overcharge for their drink. Granted, all city centre pubs are more expensive than those on the outskirts or in the suburbs but this is not the worst! It’s a great local pub feel to it in a place that’s surrounded by the false tourist imagery of Irish-​ness & seedy nightclubs. Always a good atmosphere, not a bad pint but can get a little overcrowded if there’s ever anything on in the Olympia due to it being so close!

This was a perfect little pub for us. We wanted a non-​touristy place to have a couple pints and relax after walking around Dublin for hours. Enter Brogan’s. I feel like everyone in here was a local, and the staff didn’t mess around — pints only, take your jaegger bombs and shove them.
Old guys sitting at the bar, a cantankerous on the outside but actually pretty nice bartender pouring pints, a dirty floor, plenty of room for standing to watch a game, and dark corner booths. This is what Brogan’s is about. If you want flash, or pizazz, go somewhere else. We really liked it here!

Quick glance:
+ quiet pint
+ traditional Irish pub experience
+ soak up the atmosphere
+ Guinness art lines the wall
Full review:
So you’re in Dublin and you want a pint of Guinness somewhere warm and quiet, then Brogan’s Bar is for you. The staff was neither rude nor friendly, just doing their job. The pub is relatively quiet and spacious, so you can perch in the corner, or by the bar, and have a long conversation with your friends while enjoying your drinks in the warmth. Just think of it as the everyday Irish experience (ie. none of that loud music, dancing, modern décor) and enjoy yourself!

Wow, its been over 3 years since someone has written a review of this place? I felt like I should give them some love.
After spending 30 minutes in the Temple Bar, we knew that wasn’t where we wanted to spend our time pub crawling, we kept asking the locals and taxi drivers where they suggest we go to get a drink away from the tourists, basically where the locals go. We kept being directed to the tourist traps like O’Neill’s, etc. We stumbled across Brogans while walking around and decided to give it a go. When we walked in, it was like a scene out of a movie, silence, crickets, everyone stared at us. We then noticed it was only men in the bar. Yikes, was this a men’s only bar? I politely walked across the bar to the restroom and left my friend to fiend for herself and figure out the situation. Well, he already had a beer in hand, so I guess that means we are allowed in the club!
The bar was adorned with Guinness paraphernalia, and every TV had a football game on, and that was pretty much what all the guys were there for. It wasn’t busy, maybe 10 or so locals hanging out, we got to talking with Ben the bartender, he was a nice fella who made me really good Baileys & coffee and I got a kick out of watching a grown man eating cookies and milk behind the bar. Our new bar friends told us they stop here after work to get a little liquored up before going home to their wives/​girlfriends.
This bar totally fit the bill of being off the beaten tourist path.

True modern Irish pub. Without the tourist crap

Remembering which Guinness came from which pub is a little like trying to remember the names of the seven dwarves. I’m pretty sure that I was in Brogan’s when I had the most delicious of my Guinnesses, courtesy of Annie L. For that, Brogan’s earns an eternal place in my heart.

The folks came to town to visit yours truly and I treated them to dinner as repayment for my life. Hanging out with the pair of them is like hanging out with a pair of teenagers, they wear me out. They wanted to go on a pub crawl — of course.
‘OK Annso where’s the next pub?’ asks Dad.
‘Can we just sit still for awhile? I’ve work in the morning.
Ah what feckin age are yah?
Lets go to Brogans, I always go there with the girls when we meet in town,’ piped up Mam.
‘Never been.
What do yah mean you’ve never been?
I’ve never been Mam!
And you are supposed to know Dublin.
Jaysus Mam take it easy.
What’s the pub like?’ asks Dad.
‘It’s lovely. Very arty.
Oh jaysus you know I can’t handle those arty farty types,’ moans Dad.
‘Oh would you ever shut-​up.‘
OK so I don’t know what Mam was smoking with the ‘girls’ but I did not see the artistic flavour. What I saw was a practically empty spot with students watching the soccer on a blaring TV. I mean it really did nothing for me, but in light of all the great reviews I will give it another go.
Oh and Dad and myself did not like the Guinness, the bartender had a fag outside whilst we waited for them… He left them for too long.
Maybe I need to hang out with Mam and her Dublin girls next time… Probably end up dancing in the Palace because it’s so ‘artistic’.

Brogan’s is why people from all over the world love Irish pubs. The whole point of it is pint drinking. It is not supposed to be Celtic Tiger comfortable because as every pint drinker knows straight backs and bar stools facilitate a good session. Sinking into a comfy seat is great with a coffee or a glass of wine but in a pint drinking Dublin pub like Brogan’s austere seating is the order of the day.
Few stools on the floor allow the crowd to build to the point that you have to squeeze past people to get to the toilet. Perfect situation to get some banter going and line up some shots with your new best mate before you head back to your seat and call another round of pints.
If you like sitting in a stuffy, carefully designed bar rooms, avoiding eye contact with people, laughing joylessly, drinking crap white wine from a little bottle, looking as cool as possible and all that nonsense, don’t go to Brogans. If you like to drink pints, talk shit, take the piss out of yourself and other and generally embrace how brilliant it is to be from Dublin go in on a friday afternoon with 2 or 3 mates, stake out the bar and a session will find you. It’s a beautiful thing. Actually, feck it, I’m going to Brogan’s tomorrow. I love this city!!!

Brogans is one of those pubs that doesn’t cater to the masses. There’s no laser card machine, there’s no food, unless you want crisps and depending on what’s on in the Olympia that night there will probably be no seats left.
But what it lacks for the people passing through on their way to the next pub it makes up in leaps in bounds for the people that keep coming back.
The staff are very friendly and many nights have been spent at the bar chatting into the wee hours. It’s a great place for football or rugby matches as not being the biggest pub, it’s very easy to build up a great atmosphere!
The walls are adorned with tons of old Guinness pictures and advertisements that almost make it look like a shrine to local stout made down the road.
Definitely not a modern, chic bar; give it a bit of time and Brogans will pay you back many times over!

Brogan’s is a bit of a shabby bar but it’s good fun all the same. It’s a great place to have a pint in before you go to a gig in the Olympia. In fact I remember going to see Ryan Adams years ago with two friends and he was so crap (he was warbling painfully and writing songs while on stage!) me and one of the girls ran out to Brogan’s to have a drink, leaving the other one of us inside mooning over Ryan.
I was here more recently to watch a soccer match. I noticed that the staff were great ’cause one of our party left something behind her and they called her the next day to let her know they were holding it safely for it until she could collect it. That’s service for you! Good pints of Guinness too by the way.

It can be hard to find a seat if there is a gig going on at the Olympia Theatre next door, but if you don’t mind standing or budging up to a stranger, then the craic can be mighty.
Also, the stars who are performing often pop in for a pint après show and because of the crowds, they are not able to make a swift escape. Therefore, they are prime targets for autograph hunters and those of us with camera phones hoping to get a photo in Heat magazine’s Spotted section.
I’m not sure what’s happening with the smoking area/​beer garden at the moment — they used to have bar stools and tables but now you just get crates and wires and a sense of unease that you have wandered into a restricted area. It’s a bit like being in a giant game of Mousetrap.

An absolute must-​see during any visit to Dublin is the interior of Brogans bar. The walls are a shrine to the nation’s most popular stout, and the ads here are some of the best odes to Guinness I’ve ever seen.
My particular favourites are the Alice In Wonderland varieties, where the characters (mad as they are already) make themselves sound even madder by discussing the unique qualities of Guinness. Make sure you still have your head screwed on when you hit up this place, or the magic will be lost on you. And also ensure you are with some patient company — it never impresses on a first date if you spend half the evening looking at pictures on the walls.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to read as many as you can, your life will be all the better for it, I assure you!
Other than my fetish for the walls at Brogans, I enjoy hanging out in this pub because it always has such a relaxed vibe and cool array of punters. Due to its proximity to the Olympia Theatre, Brogans is often frequented by the actor crowd, but more often than not you’ll find entire families in this joint, out for a nightcap after a refined family meal.
Great pub, great atmosphere, and did I mention great wall decos?

Located on Dame Street, Brogan’s is a good pub to kick off or end a night of bar hopping in Dublin.
The atmosphere of this hot bar (by hot I mean temperature not people) is laid back. The wooden walls are adorned with Guinness memorabilia and that alone made me love the watering hole.
Brogans offers the typical drinking hours 7-​days a week and the price of a pint are just about the same as other various pubs in this part of Dublin.
The staff at Brogans couldn’t be nicer. The bartender that my friends and I hung out near was the usual Irish bartender. He had a quick wit, a story to tell and poured a perfect Guinness.
Although I did not check it out, there is also a downstairs area that plays more of a younger style of music (hip hop or dance on weekend nights), but I prefer hanging out with the Irish tunes when in the Emerald Isle.