Dublin: Pubs/Music in Dun Laoghaire area?
 

Dear fodorites - I don't get to post nearly as much as I used to, but I still hope the likes of Siobhan and some of the other Dubliners are around... work is calling me to Dublin next week for several days, specifically the Dun Laoghaire area, and after being in a windowless room with piles of terrifyingly technical documents and a nasty deadline I would like to know if anyone could suggest a nice pub or two in the area (music of whatever kind a plus). I'm staying at the Royal Marine, which I hear has a nice pub, but having never been to this fair city I'm game for venturing out, walking distance a plus, metro/taxis considered. Can anyone lend a hand?
Thanks!

The Purty Loft is a good music pub, a bit of a walk (or a short taxi) from the Royal Marine and has the plus of a decent seafood menu if you fancy some grub. Not a huge fan of the Royal Marine bar myself.

The forty foot bar is just around the corner from the Royal Marine, recently reopened with a reasonable pub grub menu. It's upstairs beside the Pavillion theatre and if nothing else you'll get a good view from the balcony outside it.

The Harbour bar across the road from the Royal Marine also has a reasonable atmosphere, it's going for the Gastropub theme, it has a more English than Irish feel. Both of those would have a reasonably good atmosphere but are unlikely to have any live music.

One of my favourite restaurants Hartleys is just by the seafront in the old railway building. Another pub at the back of the Royal Marine (Walters), on Dun Laoghaire main street but down the Glasthule end, does decent enough tapas and you can usually sit at the bar if you feel like mingling.

There's a good pub in Glasthule, the next village down in the opposite direction from town / Monkstown (with an Indian restaurant above it) and the sign of an eagle above the door. I can't think of the name but it's probably called the Eagle :-)

Many thanks, littlejane - this is great! Thank you!

Just as a follow-up, littlejane, I had a v nice meal at Hartley's - lovely fish after competent calamari starter - and another night some colleagues and I ate at a place by the water called Oliveto's (sp?) - nice chianti, decent carpaccio, and fabulous lamb. Thanks again for your help!

Ah great glad you liked it.

must check out oliveto's - it's new, I think it has a wood burning oven (?), the lamb sounds great. we end up in dun laoghaire most weekends so it's nice to have new places on the list. Thanks for the feedback.