{"id":157029,"date":"2025-11-24T12:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/157029\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T12:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:58:10","slug":"meet-the-kerryman-on-a-quest-to-visit-every-irish-pub-outside-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/157029\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Kerryman on a quest to visit every Irish pub outside Ireland \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Co Kerry<\/a>, Colm Dalton would often go to pubs with his musician parents playing in seisi\u00fans. But it wasn\u2019t until years later, when teaching English in London<\/a>, that the importance of the pub as a de facto ambassador for Irishness in every pocket of the world really hit him. <\/p>\n

His international students would \u201calways ask about pubs\u201d no matter where they were from and his idea to try to visit every Irish-themed hostelry in the world \u201cgrew and grew\u201d, he says. \u201cI had a student from Mongolia \u2013 he worked in Irish pub in [the capital] Ulaanbaatar. It\u2019s a lot of people\u2019s gateway into Irishness and into how Ireland\u2019s identity is different,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day a friend was back from Brazil where she was in Molly Malone\u2019s beach bar. I said \u2018I\u2019d love to go if I won the lottery.\u2019 She said, \u2018Just start now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And so in 2017 began Dalton\u2019s quest to visit every Irish pub across the world. It will be quite a challenge, as he estimates there are more than 6,000. <\/p>\n

The first Irish pub he documented on his blog <\/a>was one of his all-time favourites, The Wicklow Arms in Bilbao.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of an Irish cliche … But I met another guy in that pub called Colm from Kerry. It turns out that my dad was his postman. I thought that was a really good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far he\u2019s been to 150 Irish pubs in 50 countries from the Azores to Indonesia.<\/p>\n

Many of the \u201camazing\u201d Irish pubs are in London, he says, including his favourite, the \u201cperfect\u201d Auld Shillelagh in Stoke Newington, which is run by Roscommon natives. <\/p>\n

So what makes a great Irish pub in Dalton\u2019s eyes? \u201cThey have an authenticity in the level of detail … If they have a picture of the Mayo 2000 GAA<\/a> Team on the wall, that has a connection.\u201d While the Guinness has to be good, the key thing is atmosphere, which he believes staff can be trained to create in learning \u201chow to be friendly, knowing how to serve\u201d. <\/p>\n

Visits home for sessions in his home village of Fenit make him reflect: \u201cWhen you go back you realise how the pub is effortless. When people imitate it you realise what a gem of a cultural thing we have.\u201d He believes some should be given Unesco world heritage status. <\/p>\n

Another of his favourites is Patrick Foley\u2019s in Ghent, Belgium, with its Book of Kells mural and tiny snug. \u201cOutside it was an old town house beside a canal, but inside it was really authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ten of the best Dublin pubs in sunny weather: from beer gardens to pints by the seaOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Thanks to some diligent advance Googling, Dalton has sought out pubs in unusual corners. \u201cThe most random was in Jakarta [in Indonesia]. It took me an hour to guide the tuk-tuk driver to this shopping centre. Inside was a tiny little cottage and inside that was an Irish pub. You could have been anywhere. It was like a time travel portal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ColmColm Dalton outside The Tucan’s pub in Bergamo, Italy <\/p>\n

The quality and authenticity of the Irish pub experience varies. They don\u2019t have to be Irish-owned to be great, he says, like the Tucan pub in Bergamo, Italy. \u201cThey know what to do, a good pint of Guinness and the iconography.\u201d<\/p>\n

In contrast, he points to Harat\u2019s which claims to be the largest Irish pub chain in the world. It began in Russia in 2009 and boasts on its website of 100 pubs including many in Russia, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n

Dalton describes his visit to Viking-themed Harat\u2019s in Ljubljana as an \u201codd experience\u201d it was \u201cvery commercial\u201d with a lot of \u201cplatitudes\u201d on the walls. <\/p>\n

In his view: \u201cIt could pay homage to Ireland and Irishness, but it\u2019s just gone for a superficial level, exploiting the popularity of the Irish pub.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the one pub he\u2019d most like to get to? Just like his pub-visiting ambitions, his answer is lofty: \u201cIn Bolivia there\u2019s the highest pub in the world, the Lucky Llama, they have Guinness in cans,\u201d he says. At an altitude of 3,650m, the La Paz hostelry claims to be the world\u2019s highest. But this accolade is also claimed by the number one pub on Dalton\u2019s wishlist at 3,450m altitude on the route to Mount Everest. \u201cIn Namche Bazaar in Nepal in the foothills of the Himalayas there\u2019s a tiny Irish pub up the mountains where climbers go for a pint after,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s probably the dream. I\u2019m sure I will go there,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0A night in Dublin city centre: Is this a night-time economy or just a pub crawl capital?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Colm Dalton is from Kerry but has lived in London for the past 20 years where he works as a senior tutor in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). He blogs at publicanenemy.com<\/a> and is on Instagram @publicanenemy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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