Traditional Irish music pubs in Dublin, night by night: when the sessions start at the Cobblestone, the Brazen Head, O'Donoghue's, Darkey Kelly's and the Temple Bar pubs, and what the shows cost

💡 The Short Version: A session is an informal gathering of musicians playing traditional tunes, and sitting in is free. The Cobblestone in Smithfield, named by 6 of the 7 publishers counted, starts at 14:00 on Friday, 14:30 at the weekend, 16:30 from Tuesday to Thursday and 18:30 on Monday. The Brazen Head has music every night from 21:00. Darkey Kelly’s, The Old Storehouse and The Temple Bar Pub start in the afternoon. The Hooley Show at Johnnie Fox’s, in the Dublin Mountains, is ticketed: €70 to €75 with dinner. Or book a pub tour: the Dublin: Traditional Pubs Walking Tour with Local Guidead is from €27.50 for 3 hours.

📊 The evidence behind this guide. Nothing here is ranked on one visit. This pass read 8 pub lists from 7 publishers: three Irish (Ireland Before You Die, Lovin Dublin and The Irish Road Trip, whose two pages count once), three outside (Lonely Planet, Nomadic Mick and Time Out) and Visit Dublin, the official tourism guide. Counts are publishers, not pages. Listing sites and the unsigned Dublin-only sites are not counted. The session times are the pubs’ own. How the guides are made

⚠️ The Cobblestone serves no food, takes no table reservations and sends under-18s home at 21:00. Darkey Kelly’s takes walk-ins only. Johnnie Fox’s takes no drink-only bookings from Friday to Sunday.

When the music starts

The pubs

The Cobblestone

77 King Street North, Smithfield, D07 TP22 · sessions Monday from 18:30, Tuesday to Thursday from 16:30, Friday from 14:00, Saturday and Sunday from 14:30 · Cited by 6 sources (3 Irish, 2 outside, Visit Dublin) · cobblestonepub.ie

The pub on the corner of Red Cow Lane and King Street North, on the north side of Smithfield Square. The sessions run to closing time. The pub serves no food, takes no table reservations, and under-18s must leave by 21:00. The pub calls the Monday-night slot, led by members of a trad rock band, the rowdiest session of the week. Smithfield is on the Luas Red Line: see where to stay in Dublin.

The Brazen Head

20 Lower Bridge Street, Usher’s Quay, D08 WC64 · music every night from 21:00 · Cited by 4 sources (2 Irish, 1 outside, Visit Dublin) · brazenhead.com

A pub that dates itself to 1198, with a Sunday afternoon session as well as the nightly music. It is open every day from midday, and food is served until 21:00, when the music starts. Its claim to be the oldest is in oldest pubs in Dublin.

O’Donoghue’s

Merrion Row · music Monday to Thursday 20:00 to midnight, Friday from 18:30, Saturday from 17:30, Sunday all day · Cited by 3 sources (2 Irish, Visit Dublin) · odonoghues.ie

A bar, lounge and guesthouse on Merrion Row with live Irish music every night. The music starts earliest on Sunday, when it runs all day.

The front of O’Donoghue’s on Merrion Row. Photo: Robert Linsdell, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Darkey Kelly’s

Fishamble Street · open 11:30 to 23:30, Friday and Saturday to 00:30 · Cited by 3 sources (1 Irish, 1 outside, Visit Dublin) · darkeykellys.ie

The pub of the Harding Hotel, on Fishamble Street between Christ Church Cathedral and the Liffey. It takes walk-ins only and no bookings. The music is a weekly schedule, with sessions earlier in the evening and bands later:

The Old Storehouse

3 Crown Alley, Temple Bar, D02 CX67 · music Sunday to Thursday from 15:00, Friday and Saturday from 14:00 · Cited by 2 sources · theoldstorehouse.ie

A pub with a lively main bar, a quiet snug and two heated, covered beer gardens. The kitchen is open until 21:00 every day. The pub is open until midnight from Sunday to Thursday and until 02:00 on Friday and Saturday.

The Temple Bar Pub

47-48 Temple Bar, Dublin 2 · music from opening to closing · Cited by 2 sources · thetemplebarpub.com

Live traditional Irish music from opening time to closing. The kitchen opens at 10:30 on weekdays and Saturdays and at 12:30 on Sundays, and the pub is open to 01:30 from Monday to Wednesday and to 02:30 from Thursday to Sunday. A pint in Temple Bar costs far more than the national average: see Temple Bar.

Oliver St John Gogarty’s

Fleet Street and Anglesea Street, Temple Bar · Cited by 2 sources · gogartys.ie

Its music page says the music runs seven days a week with no cover charge.

The Oliver St John Gogarty on Fleet Street. Photo: Jo and Steve Turner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Celt

81 Talbot Street, D01 · Cited by 4 sources (2 Irish, 1 outside, Visit Dublin) · thecelt.ie

Live Irish music seven nights a week, with two bands playing at once in separate spaces on Friday and Saturday. The kitchen serves food until 22:00, and large screens show the major sports fixtures.

Johnnie Fox’s

Glencullen, Dublin Mountains, D18 X635 · Cited by 4 sources (2 Irish, 1 outside, Visit Dublin) · johnniefoxs.com

A pub in the hills south of the city, with a music schedule that runs every day.

The pub takes no drink-only bookings from Friday to Sunday, and drink-only bookings by email on Monday to Thursday. Ask for “near music” when booking a table. The ticketed Hooley Show, dinner with Irish dancing and music, is €70 to €75 for an adult, €40 to €45 for a child aged 5 to 12 and €65 to €70 for groups of 20 or more; children under 5 are not admitted. A 50% deposit is taken at booking. The shuttle bus, booked with the show, leaves the Hotel RIU Plaza The Gresham on O’Connell Street at 18:20 and stops at Westmoreland Street (18:30), the Shelbourne (18:35), the Merrion (18:45) and hotels on the south side, arriving at 19:30.

Johnnie Fox’s at Glencullen in the Dublin Mountains. Photo: Joe King, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Shows with tickets

The pub sessions are free. These shows are ticketed, with dinner or a dance lesson in some. The prices are GetYourGuide’s “from” prices.

The Arlington Hotel on Bachelors Walk runs its own show, Celtic Nights, under its roof: see hotels near Temple Bar.

Pub tours

A walking tour visits several pubs with a guide; one adds a musician.

The Traditional Irish Musical Pub Crawl is run by two professional musicians who play and tell the story of Irish music. It starts at 18:00 upstairs at the Ha’penny Bridge Inn in Temple Bar and finishes at 20:15 in Flanagan’s on O’Connell Street. It runs from March to October, Sunday to Friday, and costs €26 for an adult, €20 for a child and €84 for a family, plus a booking fee (musicalpubcrawl.com).

TradFest and the rest

TradFest runs from Wednesday 20 to Sunday 24 January 2027. Its ticketed concerts are at venues across Dublin, among them the National Stadium, where the gala is on 20 January, and St Patrick’s Cathedral. TradFest Extra puts free, un-ticketed performances in the pubs and hotels of Temple Bar every January (tradfest.com). Book a room early for those dates: see hotels near Temple Bar.

Next

For what a pint costs and the district’s pubs, see Temple Bar, and for the founding dates each pub claims, oldest pubs in Dublin. The meals are in where to eat in Dublin, and the Guinness Storehouse and the distilleries are in Guinness Storehouse tickets and Dublin whiskey distillery tours. 3 days in Dublin fits an evening session into the days.