Brannigans

You'll find this spot tucked just off O'Connell Street, where Cathedral Street meets the kind of Dublin that hasn't been sanitised for the guidebooks. The crowd here is refreshingly mixed – office workers from the surrounding businesses, locals who've been coming for decades, and the odd tourist who's wandered off the beaten track and discovered what a proper Dublin pub actually feels like. The pints are pulled right, the prices won't leave you questioning your life choices, and the atmosphere strikes that perfect balance between welcoming and unpretentious. It's the kind of place where you can settle in for one and somehow find yourself still there three hours later, deep in conversation with someone you've never met before. No frills, no fuss, just solid pub fundamentals done well.