The shop-pubs and the trad: a night out in Dingle

Dingle has a famous concentration of pubs for a town of its size, and a night out here is one of the genuine reasons to come. Two things set the town's pubs apart: the surviving shop-pubs, where a bar shares its premises with a working shop, and the trad music, which runs most nights of the week and is taken seriously.

The shop-pubs

Dick Mack's, on Green Street opposite the church, is the most famous. It has served since 1899, with a bar on one side and a working leather and boot shop on the other, and the pavement outside is set with brass stars for the famous drinkers who have passed through. The Brewhouse opposite makes the pub's own beer year-round, with food trucks and brewery tours. It is the busiest and most visited of the lot, but the leather counter is real. Foxy John's on Main Street is the other great one: a hardware shop and bicycle workshop by day, a pub by night, with two counters running the length of the room, drinks on one side, tools and bike parts on the other. Curran's, also on Main Street, has kept the old drapery and grocery shelves behind the bar and is one of the most genuine surviving shop-pubs in the country, snugs and all.

Where to find the session

For trad music most nights of the week, the dependable rooms are An Droichead Beag (the Small Bridge) on Lower Main Street, which has nightly sessions from around nine in season; O'Flaherty's on Bridge Street, a music institution run by the musician Fergus O'Flaherty with the walls covered in Dingle memorabilia; and John Benny's on Strand Street, run by the trad musician John Benny Moriarty, which also does good seafood, so you can eat and stay for the music. Sessions are informal: musicians turn up, play, and the room arranges itself around them. Come early on a busy night if you want a seat.

Other Voices

For one weekend, usually in early December, the town hosts Other Voices, an intimate music festival recorded in the tiny St James' Church and broadcast on RTÉ. Established and emerging acts play to a few dozen people in the candlelit church for the recording. The church sessions are ticketed by lottery and almost impossible to get into, but the real experience for most visitors is the free music and screenings that fill the pubs and venues around the town for the weekend. Dates and the line-up are announced closer to the time, so check the festival site before planning a trip around it.

How to do it

The pubs are close together in the small centre, so a night out is a short walk between them. There is no need to plan a crawl; wander, follow the music out of an open door, and let the evening find its own shape. A pint, a session and a bit of chat is the whole point, and it is the kind of thing the town does without trying. Pace yourself: the music often goes late.