Downstairs in The Oak, off Dame Street, is ok sometimes. The Village or Crawdaddy can be decent at times too. Not too sure about many pubs though.

one of my favourite spots for a chill out pint is upstairs in Nealons, just off Capel St bridge, perfect spot for a low-key start to the night. the mezz is decent and lively. thomas reeds/the oak. i like the sounds in the village but the lack of seating/tables sucks, despite the disappointing ratios i'd prefer whelans for the last stop. where's kamara?

karma used to be called Handels (as far as i know), it overlooks Christ Church, if you coming down Capel St (from Dame St) take a left at the Turks head and keep on walking, cant miss it, they usually have good tunes, (although last time i was there they were s**te!) all other drinks are 3.50 too which is nice, i must check out the oak, and lack of seats in the village does suck,

hmmm, I do like a pint in the Oak myself, others I frequent would be Bruxelles on Harry St (upstaris), never at the weekend though as you cant get a seat. Hogans on Georges St. is good, I'd go there more often if they had a late bar. O'Neills on Suffolx St. is grand for a chat, nice & relaxed, no music either ! The Village can be alright some nights, its really pot luck, Ive been in there some nights and the music is dreadful altogether. thats it really, I dont go into town much myself these days unless its for a gig though.

The Palace on fleet st and Mulligans of Poolbeg st are old reliables. Pravda is always a good laugh and the portherhouse north in phibsboro isn't too bad and close to home. I have stayed away from the odeon group (4 dame lane, dakota, sin and the odeon) since I got dropped from djing in dame lane for being too alternative. The owner told me that the music policy should be music for middle class people and he didn't recognise anything I played and that I would never work in this town again. I told him to f**k himself so they never paid me for my last gig.

Stinger on that one Sweetie!! Brogans, it's cool for a pint and chat, gets crowded before a show at the Olympia but clears out then. The Globe, good craic and then you can head on into RíRá's then afterwards - for people who like seats, you may not want to go here because it's full of young people who don't mind standing. Hogans is good for a pint and then head on somewhere afterwards. The Village is ok, but no great, it's a bit like a Bob Dylan gig, hit and miss! Whelans - ok. Last time I was there the music had actually improved, but I think the best craic is to be had in the smoking room, even if you don't smoke most people seem to be out here!! Mulligans is good for a pint during the week or a weekend day, other than that it's full of work people or tourists!!

fair play sweetie, dame lane's bollix. ye, Handels i know and was actually in a few months ago, decent spot, the attempted Japanese touches they got going doesn't work though, music around the bar area was a bit load too...sorry i just hate pubs with very load music, you're there to chat not to scream.

Agree on the smoking space in Whelans. I don't smoke but if I've there (and that's rare) I only leave that area to go the bar/jacks. 4 Dame Lane is indeed s**te.

Nobody's mentioned Anseo,Camden St I see. I like it, it's fairly crap looking inside but they pull the shades down and the musics usually pretty eclectic. (Now that I think of it, the music in Sin E is all over the place and all the better for it - it's a bit of a walk from everywhere else though.) Anseo gets my vote. Carnival's not bad either and it's got a fairly big beer garden, smoky place. Karma? Puh-lease! (See what I did there?)

For new york cool that doesn't really try too hard ( I'm looking at you Sin E ) give Solas a go. They even have their own brand of beer ( Solas Lite - Get it? ), Really good sounds and really good food and the athmos at about 6 or 7 is the best in the city. Anseo is a musical melting pot and it can get quite hectic in there. It's a haven for DJ's and the like so if you're into that sort of thing it's perfect. The bar doesn't look 'crap' as above but it's quite basic. But when the shades are down and the beats are chilled it's a great spot to just kinda hide away in. The Village is an absolute horror. AVOID. Relying solely on it's position and ability to generate a Q outside it's actually a pretty depressing place with such a music policy that doesn't know where it is, trying to be everything to everyone etc.. Don't even think about venturing in on a Fri or Sat. Whelans is still the bomb. It's faded glory is charming in a way and any attempt to change it must be opposed. I see they've removed the tables from the bottom of the pub at the end of the bar. More standing space would be welcomed by those who've been near crushed before, but alas, more standing space won't mean more space, just more people. Music is getting a tad stale and while still very much 'indie rock ' a bit of diversification might actually help. Hogans. Never been able to spend a whole night here for whatever reason. Maybe the cultureclash between the downstairs and Upstairs is too great. maybe it's not. Maybe I'd rather be across the road in the Long Hall... But then wouldn't it, it is the best bar in Dublin

I second Solas. The Dice Bar coming in a close 2nd favourite.

hamunaptra

Would that have been Eamonn Sweeney of hot press. I think he does sundays in the village now. What annoys me is how hard it is to get a regular gig in any of those places. I've played whelans a few times and got on well and played after the last splash gig in the village last year but the promoter seems to favour irish musicians who need a few extra quid. It's also a bit dispiriting when you dj after a gig and everyone leaves the place to go somewhere else. Maybe that happened after babyshambles and the dj didn't give a s**t. I only dj as a hobby but know I can do a better job than most of the alternative djs I've heard in dublin. I'm not sure if the venues in the village and tbmc are ideal locations to have djs playing anyhow. What do ye think?

being a DJ is a nightmare in dublin. you can't be too alternative, cos the venue give out, you can't be too mainstream cos you'd be the same as everywhere else, and completely depending on the mix of the crowd they could hate you or love you, and if they love you they just dance or drink and if they heate you they leave, give out, or call you a w**ker. gah!

By the way, as DJs do you mind if someone comes up to the booth and asks you what something you played was? I know someone who was treated very rudely by a DJ recently.

I've always done my best within the parameters of what the music policy is, type of set and what is currently playing. Some people get annoyed if their tune isn't played instantly and sometimes you have to wait a while to work it in to the 'set if it does suit. For example; I was asked to play 'six underground by sneaker pimps just after at the drive in and it would have killed the dancefloor so I had to refuse. In my experience you generally need to keep the downbeat stuff for starting off the set. I had a row with a bouncer in the odeon a while back as he kept telling me what to play. my funniest experience was in the front lounge which I played without much notice. Towards the end I stuck on 'can't get you out of my head' and this guy turns around and goes 'finally! you're playing some of OUR music!'

Just to answer a few posts in one go; It wasn't Eamonn Sweeney and the place was pretty full so it couldn't have been that the DJ didn't give a s**t because of a lack of a crowd (Just to clarify this was in the bar part of the Village, not the live part). If a punter asks the name of a tune it never bother's me, in fact if it was a particulary good tune it'll make my night. I usually write down the name of the artist, the song and the album it's taken from for them. It's not just in Dublin that it's a nightmare been an indie DJ. It's the same every where. You have your muppets who just want to hear the Killers and the Frames all night, and who leave the floor when ever they hear anything that they don't already know and you have your real indie heads who are looking for obscure album tracks and who leave the floor when they hear anything popular. Then you have your metallers, your NME teeny boppers who want to hear whatever's new that week, you're Tom Dunne heads who just want to hear Irish bands all night and your retro heads who don't want to hear anything made after 1979. The trick in keeping a successful residency is trying to keep them all relatively happy by playing something for all of them. If DJing was really that easy then the pay wouldn't be as good as it is. But spare a thought for the rest of the people in the club/pub who are working longer hours for a fraction of the pay. When you're DJing you only have to deal with drunken a*sholes when they come up to make a request. The poor bar staff have to deal with drunken a*sholes all night.