It’s the big one, the one they all want , many are called but few are chosen; the Best of the Best. In 2023, over 12 Pubs were visited in locales as exotic as Rome, Corsica, Sofia and Tottenham. This year was an all time high I reckon, aided by the re-discovery of several London gems , and the absolute folly of trying to visit every single one in Rome in a day, the most ambitious Roman conquest since yerman and his elephants.

Trying to visit heaps of pubs in one day gave a useful insight into quickly getting a feel for a decent Irish Pub, as they came thick and fast through the Roman heat. You just had to amble in and try to establish a sense of them as places in a short time- a combination of a sixth sense and/or feng shui/vibe check. By comparison, when judging a restaurant, it doesn’t matter if it’s a roadside shack with frogs on a stick being grilled over an overturned shopping trolley (have tried – would recommend), if the food’s good, you’ll tolerate it. With a pub, though, it is all about the feel of the place – is it a place you can come to celebrate births/deaths/reincarnations/Success of a Polar expeditions ? Can you have, if one desires, an evening of quiet contemplation or conversely bacchanalian revelry or preferably both within a 2 hr window ? Without further ado, for your delectation, these are the 10 Best Irish pubs of the year 2023

Honorable mentions go to ; Scholar’s Lounge , Rome, The Devonshire, Soho, Feeneys, (home of the best pint), The Irish Times Bologna ( for best pub art) , Flan O’ Briens in Bath,

No. 10. J.J. MURPHYS, SOFIA, BULGARIA;

A long way from home but so realistically Irish I thought I had been transported back to Tralee circa 2007 , disorientating but not without it’s charms . You can read more here:

No. 9 : DUFFY’S, KRAKOW:

Definitely Krakow’s best, Duffy’s immediately passes the Proper pub test by: a. Having a load of GAA jesrseys on the wall ; b. having that smell of a million guinnesses soaked into the carpet and c. being tucked away from the tourist traps in the old town in the atmospheric quarter of Kaziemerz . Read on here, why don’t ya?

No.8 MANNION’S , TOTTENHAM:

You can never be disappointed if you have zero expectations, as my Grandpa used to say. And that’s why he was fired from his job as Motivational Speaker. And yet, I went to Mannions on a whim, finding it on Google maps not 10 minutes from my home in Walthamstow but never once on my radar in 20 years of London life. We chanced it on the day Ireland beat South Africa in the rugby, and what an evening was had. Let’s start with the art; a painting of the owner and his wife on a black horse, the eyes of a massive Samuel Beckett staring at you from below the TV and behind the bar a Tayto based anti-sectarian fresco. Then the barman , not happy with the keg he’d just changed , asked if we wanted about 6 pulled pints on the house . We stayed for a lock in and played pool with the barman in between him serving the regulars. All of this on our first visit. It twas as if a fever dream. Perhaps if we were to return, all we would find is a derelict building and and a black and white photo of us all at the bar, dated 1921. So yeah, pretty good this one.

No. 7. THE CELTIC DRUID:

Sometimes, when abroad , you just wanta basecamp to take stock and sup a pint to plan your next move. Why not try the Irish pub , you reason, but with this is the worry that you will encounter loads of sunburnt lads from Tipperary absolutely hammered singing the Fields of Athenry watching a Nottingham forest versus Crystal Palace 0-0 draw at 14:00 in the afteroon. The Celtic Druid is an Irish Pub in the heart of Bologna which despite really looking like an Irish Pub had zero Irish people in it. And I am fine with that.

No: 6 MC & SONs

Located near Southwark in South London, Mc and Sons caters for all your spiritual needs in a faithful recreated old style Irish pub. I celebrated my birthday in their snug, where an affable barman fed us loads of pints through a hatch as we cocooned ourselves from the rest of the world and played a classic bar ring toss game that is infinitely more enteraining than you are imagining. What more could you want? Thai food. Really really good Thai food on top of a cracking pint. Commendable work by Mc and indeed all his sons, wife, extended family and employees.

No. 5 : SKEHANS:

Usually, I travel a fair few miles in search of a good pub, but with the caveat that I will be in a better place; fine wines, cool summer breezes and plentiful meats and spices of the orient. This time I did travel at least an hour only to end up in South London , and Skehans. But Skehans , despite it’s geographical handicap , did not disappoint. It’s undoubtedly Irish without being eyepiercingly ‘Oirish‘, which is a neat balancing act. How would you know it’s Irish? Because it’s such a decent pub – it just has all the nice little features that set it apart; lovely outside area festooned with flowers, a good pint poured with cheery efficency , and fantastic raucous music nights. All of these elements are essential to making a good Irish pub; easy to list but hard to get the alchemy right. Which Skehans does. London’s Best pub is Irish .

NO.4 THE CLURICAUNE, BOLOGNA:

Bologna knows how to design everything, from ragu and tortelloni, to Ferrari engines, alcoves , medieval Skyscrapers and not excluding Irish pubs . The CLURICAUNE is one of the most beautiful Irish pubs, and in this citadel of Knowledge and Learning, they have extended that same design expertise to their Irish pubs. Just look at those pillars . Interestingly, a Clurichaun is an ‘annoying little man measuring 6 in (150 mm)in height, who haunts the wine cellars, drinking everything in sight and scrapping with the servants . He has twinkling eyes and a nose that is red and purple from heavy drinking. He wears ridiculously oustentatious clothing; a red nightcap, a short leather apron, light blue stockings, and shoes with large silver buckles’ . Sounds like a less irriating ,less racist Connor McGregor .

No.3 THE SHAMROCK, ROMA:

Nestled in the heart of Rome , a mere Javelin’s throw from the Colluseum , is the Shamrock Pub . A football pub, they have the scarves of all the visitors that have passed by adorning the roof of the pub. A classy classy joint, with arguably one of the finest pints in the Eternal City. And a half pint is called a Piccolo Guinness, which is a bonus. A beauty.

No. 2 THE FIDDLER’S ELBOW , ROMA

One of the greatest things about Rome’s pubs, is in order to preserve the magesty of the city, you have to keep the building facades low key, hence, the Fiddler’s Elbow is a mere hole in the wall up a Roman side street. I must admit that for me a smaller pub always trumps a Super-Pub scenario, hence why this ranks higher than let’s say the Scholars Lounge and other Roman Irish Arenas. Fiddler’s is the type of place that only two people can pass through the corridors at the same time, but its deceptively cavernous with its low walls and narrow corridors . It was the last one on a 6 hr crawl as well which may have swayed the decision. Bonus as well for having Rome’s only source of taytos . The height of Roman Civilisation.

No.1 : PATRICK FOLEY’S , GHENT!

Ghent, the thinkingman’s Brugge, is a city of fine art, heritage and serious drinking. In order to align an Irish Pub with the image of this city, you’d have to design an absolute beaut that would be noble, yet welcoming. Which is exactly what they have done. Usually when you walk into an Irish pub you’d just look at some bike on the wall and at some faux vintage metal Guinness ads bought at a car boot sale that your dad might have in his garage, and say ” looks ok”. But with Patrick Foleys, clearly they have spent some time putting it together as you stroll out to the lush illumination of a giant Book of Kells mural, a nod to the high point of Celtic art. It’s rare that you’d walk into an Irish pub and be impressed, but so it was with Patrick Foleys. A worthy winner in my book !!

Thanks to some very sound people for helping plug the website in 2023- the excellent “A Life in Dublin ” podcast ; Conor Paterson who was the first person to help promote it and the legend of the Irish pub game @girldrinksguinness.

Special thanks go to Dr Bella Day who has become something of an expert herself on this subject due to her abundant tolerance of chicanery . X