Dublin · Nightlife

Family-run trad pub on the corner of King Street North and Red Cow Lane in Smithfield, going 35 years. Sessions run every day — 6.30pm Mondays, 4.30pm Tuesday to Thursday, from early afternoon at weekends — and the front bar is for listening rather than talking over. Open to 11.30pm midweek, 12.30am Fri–Sat.

Three rooms of live music at 25 Wexford Street with something on seven nights a week; main-room tickets typically run €5–€20. The Front Bar needs no ticket and runs to 1.30am midweek and 2.30am Fri–Sat, with silent discos and karaoke upstairs at 11pm on some weeknights.

Former workingmen's club at 10 Wellington Quay, now several rooms of gigs and club nights plus Craic Den comedy running seven nights, over-18s. It is the practical alternative to Temple Bar if you want a late one on the south quays.

Dublin's long-running gay bar and nightclub at 89 South Great George's Street, with drag, DJs and live acts through the week — Win Lose or Drag on Mondays, Saturgays at the weekend. Mixed crowd; expect a cover charge on the busy nights.

Pub on South William Street with no music and no TV, where the kitchen extends to a toasted cheese-and-ham sandwich. It suits an early evening of conversation, and the outside tables go first on any dry day.