What was the dodgiest pub you have been to?

fleet_admiral

the_monkey wrote: »

You're probably right, the guy who told me was a notorious spoofer.


A real Walter Mitty character - funny tho , I should start a thread about him someday.

He is definitely a tin roofer. If you want a rough dive of a pub in that area go to the Edenmore House. Or better still, dont

the_monkey

fleet_admiral wrote: »

He is definitely a tin roofer. If you want a rough dive of a pub in that area go to the Edenmore House. Or better still, dont

Think I've heard about that place, I remember once going to the Donaghmede Inn (about 15 years ago when I was a college student) and it wasn't that dodgy - but definetely felt out of place and stared out of it a bit - a real locals only place.

Don't have a clue what it's like now.

fleet_admiral

the_monkey wrote: »

Think I've heard about that place, I remember once going to the Donaghmede Inn (about 15 years ago when I was a college student) and it wasn't that dodgy - but definetely felt out of place and stared out of it a bit - a real locals only place.

Don't have a clue what it's like now.

The dusty bin is ok most of the time. Eugenes (Edenmore House) is a hole

farmchoice

Barirds in the east end of glasgow was fairly rough. the last time i was there it was full of people fencing stolen goods, stuff like 3 packs of sports socks, and nappies.
there used to be a kind of speek easy on the holloway road in london. it was behind a kebab shop called the red angus. it only opened late at night, on occasion it could be very rough. i saw 2 guys get glassed there one night.

The first place that came to mind was The George. I went there with a female friend and her gay best friend. It firmly demolishes all those stereotypes about gay men and style. The diviest of dive bars, and quite filthy, it smells vaguely of urine and magic markers (poppers, you see).

I did get chatted up by an elderly man in his 60s. None of the clientele were younger than 40, and the mood was hushed and tense. I suppose calling it dodgy is unfair, I thought it was more sad than dodgy, like a sorrowful relic of bygone days and gay men hiding in miserable little bars. There was nothing mischievous about it, unlike my next pub, Francis McKenna.

Francis McKenna is a dark, sinister-looking public house, adjacent to a scrap yard in Dublin 8. Somehow even the name seems more of a threat than a welcome.

Inside was bleak, and the customers were uneasy in the presence of my companion and I. A gaunt and deathly-pale old woman at the bar joked that we might be Guards.

A huddle of middle aged men stopped their conversation, and eyed us with knavish disapproval. Definitely had a provo air about the place. Would not return.

SlipperyPeople

There was nothing mischievous about it, unlike my next pub, Francis McKenna.

Francis McKenna is a dark, sinister-looking public house, adjacent to a scrap yard in Dublin 8. Somehow even the name seems more of a threat than a welcome.

Inside was bleak, and the customers were uneasy in the presence of my companion and I. A gaunt and deathly-pale old woman at the bar joked that we might be Guards.

A huddle of middle aged men stopped their conversation, and eyed us with knavish disapproval. Definitely had a provo air about the place. Would not return

think it's turned into a trendy cocktail type place now if I'm not mistaken?

Reiver

Long time follower, might as well chip in.

Unknown bar in Moshi town, Tanzania. We'd finished Kilimanjaro so decided to award ourselves a night on the razz.We decided to try, a little hole in the wall place that I'd seen in films like Blood Diamond. We ended up drinking with some Nigerian witch doctor and trying to ignore things like pangas around the place. The witch doctor got really into stroking my friend's leg and telling him they were friends. Door was locked and we freaked when trying to escape. Absolute hole of a place but the beer was good.

Bar in Zaldibar (I think thats the name), Basque country. Got brought there by a mate who warned me the town was a bit wild. Bit event function for Basque prisoners, not a copper in sight. Got loads of hostile stares for trying to speak bad Spanish and then English. Lots of intimidating lads coming up and asking in Euskerra where I was from. The transformation that came over them when they found out I was Irish. I was sorta mumbling into my drink and nodding sagely with phrases such as "Bobby Sands" which they all agreed with. The free drink didn't make up for being hoisted up on the bar and barked commands of "dance! dance!"

Little bar in Silesia, Poland. 24hour and called Bar Wojciech. Smells of piss and always the same crowd glaring at you when you enter. Big tattooed feckers who drink their own vodka from their bags and sniff in disgust when they see you ordering beer. Come to think of it, I've been in a few scary bars in Poland.

Berserker

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

The first place that came to mind was The George. I went there with a female friend and her gay best friend. It firmly demolishes all those stereotypes about gay men and style. The diviest of dive bars, and quite filthy, it smells vaguely of urine and magic markers (poppers, you see).

Never been in it myself but a friend of mine was telling me that it is as safe as houses and the clientèle in there come from the younger age category. I always considered the place to be rather seedy for some reason.

Spanish Eyes

I am a gurrll so I am always being brought to nice places lol.

But of course there is always the one occasion....

Think Mullingar. Yep that lovely town in the midlands with a statue to Joe Dolan. That's the one.

Stop off on the way home from Sligo after visiting OH parents. Had a nice meal there alright in a good restaurant. Then decided to have one for the road. OH driving so just me so.... Anyway, walking up from the restaurant, saw this ok looking pub and went in.

Now sorry, I don't remember the name but it was on the left as you passed by Joe's statue up the road a bit.

Traveller pub. Atmosphere a bit tense. My oh has a short haircut and looks like a cop. He isn't. Silence. We braved it, but legged it pdq. No trouble or attacks or anything, but just the atmosphere was menacing. Never again.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Is the Players Lounge in Fairview open these days?

CINCLANTFLT

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Is the Players Lounge in Fairview open these days?

Go on my son!

tipptom

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Is the Players Lounge in Fairview open these days?

Wasn't it burned down?

DEFTLEFTHAND

tipptom wrote: »

Wasn't it burned down?

Yeah that was 3,4 years back. I thought I heard somewhere that it had been refurbished.

tipptom

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Yeah that was 3,4 years back. I thought I heard somewhere that it had been refurbished.

Hope they put in Kevlar windows in the re-fit.

Grayson

Greyhound in blanch. It's clientèle weren't too rough but by god that place was a kip.

harry Bailey esq

Grayson wrote: »

Greyhound in blanch. It's clientèle weren't too rough but by god that place was a kip.

The greyhound is just an everyday local.Never seen anything remotely dodgy happening there.

Aidric

When I lived in Prague I visited a couple of rough hernas looking for an early drink but never any trouble.

What's the name of that bar close to Thomond Park on the corner of the traffic lights? That place definitely had an atmosphere about it.

dpofloinn

One place in particular has stayed with me.Not exactly dodge in the strictest sense

A pub in what used to be East Berlin, on the outside looked pleasant enough, hanging baskets drinks board signs in English and German. So myself and the missus go in. The pub was the size of a small terraced house and bar was literally an old fitted kitchen cut down to fit with one beer tap. The usual clientele were all sat at the bar clad from head to toe in stone washed denim (denim jeans , denim shirts, denim jackets both male and female ) watching winter Olympics on a small portable at the end of the bar.They immediately stopped what they were doing when we entered the bar, and stared at us like we were lepers.

So herself goes and finds a table and I go to the bar, and a woman in her 60's comes to serve me. I call a beer and a vodka and coke. At this point laughter breaks out amongst the locals at the bar the, the notion of a vodka and coke was completely alien to them it was very much a case of '' look at the stupid 'Brit ' '' ( just to clarify I am Irish and speak German).

Any way your one serving me lands two shot classes on front of me and pours vodka into them, and looks at me and says that will be 4 euro. I said to her I wanted a beer and vodka and coke. She says to me don't think I have coke and disappears into her living room and brings back a bottle of coke from her kitchen and hands it to me. I says to her then can I have a class to put the vodka and coke into? This causes more laughter at the bar (shes talking to the locals about me not knowing I could understand everything they were saying and it was not pleasant ) She then starts rummaging through the presses in the bar and pulls out 2 dusty whiskey tumblers, blows on them rubs them with a cloth and hands them to me. That'll be 4 euro ( at this stage I gave up on getting the beer)

Grand I take out my wallet and my hotel card key falls out, and she says to me '' we don't accept those here''

To shorten this story myself and the missus drank our drinks and got the feck out of there, because I somehow got the feeling we were not welcome

Dorethy

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Francis McKenna is a dark, sinister-looking public house, adjacent to a scrap yard in Dublin 8. Somehow even the name seems more of a threat than a welcome.

Inside was bleak, and the customers were uneasy in the presence of my companion and I. A gaunt and deathly-pale old woman at the bar joked that we might be Guards.

A huddle of middle aged men stopped their conversation, and eyed us with knavish disapproval. Definitely had a provo air about the place. Would not return.

LOL! Had a similar experience in The Four Provinces in Ranelagh!

Mesrine65

Molly Heffernan's in Tallaght is a very closed, clan-ish shop if you're not known.

kidcash

Was doing a pub crawl down barracks street in Cork city and wandered into Tom Lynchs...I forgot I was wearing a tshirt with the Who on it, which also has a large Union Jack in the background. Anyone that knows cork will tell you this was a bad decision!

Bogwoppit

Went to a bar in a township in South Africa once, there was a sign on the door saying no weapons allowed!
Walked in and they were all sitting on milk crates against the walls.
Went to the bar and as I was obviously not a local the girl said "welcome to our shebeen". I explained that was an Irish word, next thing I knew I had the whole place surrounding me explaining how it's an Irish word.
Ended up having mighty craic and wobbled out a good few hours later.
I was even given some of the local brew which the women make by chewing up something or other, spitting it in a pot and letting it ferment, wasn't as bad as I'd expected.
Got back to where I was staying and everyone was freaking out as I'd only gone down to get a few take away beers, everyone thought I'd been kidnapped or worse.

Dorethy

Mesrine65 wrote: »

Molly Heffernan's in Tallaght is a very closed, clan-ish shop if you're not known.

So is Delaneys on Aungier Street... a stones throw from "town".

r93kaey5p2izun

The only kind of dodgy pub I've ever been in is Finches in Neilstown. It's very dark and dingy but it's grand really.

I was in The Celt in Talbot Street once with an American boyfriend. It has live trad music and lots of tourists but some of the Republican stuff on the walls is a bit OTT tbh - more than you get in the usual token Irishy pubs (ETA flags etc). I really didn't feel comfortable, though not in terms of safety obviously since it was largely full of tourists really.

baron von something

I was taking a leak in a pub in prague and they guy in the next cubicle was using it as his "office" to sell drugs

A heavy metal bar I was at in Paris had the filthiest toilets I have ever seen in my life...and they were unisex toilets too. The wife nearly dropped dead when she had to use them

Bogwoppit

baron von something wrote: »

I was taking a leak in a pub in prague and they guy in the next cubicle was using it as his "office" to sell drugs

A heavy metal bar I was at in Paris had the filthiest toilets I have ever seen in my life...and they were unisex toilets too. The wife nearly dropped dead when she had to use them

Welcome to Paris, pretty standard there.

Mesrine65

^ Le Black Dog per chance?

Billy86

Mesrine65 wrote: »

Molly Heffernan's in Tallaght is a very closed, clan-ish shop if you're not known.

Is there anything more pathetic that a bunch of fully grow adults acting like children in their tree house in this way? Might as well put a sign up outside reading "no HomerS" outside. It really is mind boggling.

Billy86

Mesrine65 wrote: »

^ Le Black Dog per chance?

The Black Irish Dog would be a brilliant name for a pub in England, actually!! :pac:

Berserker

kidcash wrote: »

I forgot I was wearing a tshirt with the Who on it, which also has a large Union Jack in the background. Anyone that knows cork will tell you this was a bad decision!

Is it? Lived there for a few years and never got that impression. A Dublin top or jersey would be worse.