Whats the fascination with Irish Bars abroad?

[eoinh]

Jesus, no way would i go to an Irish Bar abroad. Whats the flippin point?

If youre abroad, experience the foreign culture.

Im off to Germany monday - hope i dont come in contact with any irish people.

[soccerc]

You're showing your age there soccerc

Tell us the one about when you used to be able to get a 1/2 lb of Dolly mixtures for 1d

Not that old Peadar... but I can tell you around the time of decimalisation when an old shilling (twelve old pennies) became 5p (five new pennies).

You could buy 12 penny toffee bars for a shilling but only got ten if you used a 5p coin.

If anyone remembers golfball chewing gum, it was a similar story there. They cost an old ha'penny each so a shilling got you 24 but a 5p coin only got you 20.

Enterprising as I was a t such a young age I bought the goods in the old currency and sold them on to the lads in school in new money making a handy profit until the shopkeeper copped on and barred me.

[tiktok]

If anyone remembers golfball chewing gum.

Ah the memories, must have near choked to death fifty times.

You had one chewable, shove another one into your gob and start again

[strangeirish]

used to smoke john player special when i smoked,
classy black box with gold lettering,fags were ok too but pricey.

Used to smoke them meself when I was a young lad, just because of the box! Thought they were called John Player Blacks though. Could be wrong.

[eoinh]

Used to smoke them meself when I was a young lad, just because of the box! Thought they were called John Player Blacks though. Could be wrong.

I dont smoke at all but i rememeber them because they used to sponser the Lotus formula 1 team.

[Closed Account 2]

I agree Irish Pubs on the continent are much better than your average one in Blighty.

Dont really go to them except if im going to watch a match and need to sort tickets directions etc out...

Theyre good for emergencies too, like if your interrailing and turn up in a town without accomadation they can usually point u in the right direction.

Also some of them seem to be very popular with locals, so in a sense going gives you a good chance to meet friendly locals - this was certainly the case with the one in Dubrovnik. Incidently Dubrovnik and Seville are two of the most pro-Irish cities ive ever visited (even compared with Boston). A lot of the people I met in those places had come over to Ireland to learn English in a summer school... Some local in Seville Station started singing a soldiers song when I was waiting to get the train to Valencia...

Great people great places.

[Troy.McClure]

crap guinness and crusty barmen from Trinners or UCD working their holliers. loike!!
Really drives me nuts that does!!

Hey! I worked in an Irish pub in Strasbourg last year (lokie)!!!
Of the staff there, 1 was english, 1 yank, 3 Irish and 1 hatian (is that what you call someone from Hati?). All the regulars were ex-pats, the music was really good and our guinness wasnt crap (unless the yank pulled it ) It had a few pictures of Ireland on the walls alright and the old fashioned jugs and hurleys on the window, but it was a great bar with great atmosphere and a band on atleast once a week.

I do hate Oirish "Al' righf mate?" bars though, they should all be burned!

KOH

The Irish Arms in Krakow is a small side street boozer owned by a Clare bloke who'll let you drink all night and play whatever CDs you want. And there's an Irish Arms style pub in every city on the continent.

KOH

That guy is called Murice Morgan had hes one of the soundest guys around. Myself and a friend had a great few nights out with him and his buddies from Ireland working there when I was there a few years ago. Happy days!

[patsh]

I used to always think that too. Why go away and then look for the comforts of home - it's a bit like the archetypal English couple who complain that they can't get a fried breakfast and the coffeee comes in tiny cups...

But then tried the whole cafe thing, sitting in some bar in a foreign country smoking Turkish cigarettes, drinking a pastis and looking in vain for the telly, with about three strangers staring at you.

And now the Irish bar is the first thing I look for. Proper cigarettes imported from Ireland, drinks like cider, music in the background, proper drinkers in the bar, a chance to catch up on football on the telly, normal barmen who don't stare etc. etc. Of course, where those comforts already exist, like England, there is no excuse for going to an Irish bar. But on the continent...

You can take the man out of Kerry but you can't take the Kerry out of...............

[anto eile]

for the record i hate irish bars abroad. the worst was rocky o roeillys in prague last year. dearest beer in town.and no singing allowed!some bleeding irish pub alright..

on holiday in cyprus last july,i had 1 pint in an irish bar as they were showing a jimmy johnstone video at the time so i popped in to watch.that was that stayed away from them for the rest of the holiday.

re the tiny coffee complaint the english like to complain about as mentioned earlier in this thread id like to add my anger at the stupid stupid stupid tiny egg-cup-sized-cups of coffee you get in italy. even the mcdonalds in the ****hole town of venice didnt do an "american" coffee.all you could get was this miniscule poxy midget-sized "cup" of coffee. now wheres that bangh smiley?

as for looking for culture etc.. i love travelling but have no interest in museums and other boring ****e like that. yet i would never substitute an inter-rail trip for reading a travel book like "art of travel"

[Troy.McClure]

I don't know if travel is a great way to experience foreign culture. Alain de Botton's bestselling 'Art of Travel' makes the same point - you may actually find out a lot more about a country by staying at home and reading about its history and culture than you will by going and visiting sights recommended by Lonely Planet or Frommer. And if you don't visit those sights...well than you might as well be home.

So are you really saying that someone would be able to learn more about irish culture by going to their local Oirish pub than visiting Ireland?