O'Reilly's has worked the corner of Place de la Bourse since 1994, and on a big match night it is the loudest, most cheerful room in central Brussels. Two floors, a wall of screens, and a proper pint of Guinness make it the default for anyone who came to watch and shout.
The pub wears its Irish credentials honestly. Dark wood paneling, framed Irish paintings, and a sprawling two-story floor plan give it the scale to swallow a full stadium crowd. The pub's own listing pegs it in the heart of the Bourse pedestrian zone, which is exactly why it fills on weekends.
Sport is the engine. Giant screens cover both floors for Premier League, rugby, Six Nations, and Champions League nights, and the room tilts toward whichever match is on. Arrive 30 minutes before kickoff on a derby weekend or you will watch from the back with a sightline to nothing.
The pour is the obvious one, with the staff calling it the best Guinness in town and backing it with a deep shelf of Irish whiskey and handcrafted cocktails (oreillys.com). The kitchen serves all day: fish and chips, beef and Guinness stew, and a full Irish breakfast that holds up at any hour. Pair the stew with a Guinness and you have the whole pub in one order.
The location keeps the room full. O'Reilly's faces the old stock exchange building on the Bourse, a few minutes' walk from Grand Place and the De Brouckere metro, which puts it squarely on the tourist track. That reach is why the pub draws a steady international crowd long before any match kicks off.
The two floors give the place a useful split. The ground floor stays close to the bar and the biggest screens, while the upper level holds the overflow on a packed match day and runs a shade calmer the rest of the week. Stake out the lower floor for a final, the upper one for a quiet pint.
The all-day breakfast is a quiet strength. A full Irish plate at noon is the move after a long night in the center, and it pairs better with a slow coffee than another pint. On music nights the room leans into traditional Irish sessions, which give the place a different, warmer energy than the match-day roar.
The mood swings with the calendar. Quiet weekday afternoons run on solo pints and after-work locals, match days turn into a packed, singing crowd, and weekend nights push late, with the doors holding to 4am on Friday and Saturday. Pub quizzes and live Irish sessions fill the off-nights.
Regulars rate it as the reliable sports anchor downtown, the place you can always find the match and a Guinness. Yelp reviewers, across roughly 47 posts, flag the same trade-off: brilliant on a match night, but loud and packed when you wanted a quiet pint.
Who it is for: a Premier League Saturday with a loud crowd, a tourist-friendly Guinness near Grand Place, and a late group night that runs past 2am. Who it is not for: a quiet date, a craft-cocktail tasting, or anyone who wants a calm seat during a big match.
O'Reilly's runs with the city's other big-night Irish and sports rooms. Chase the same energy at the James Joyce Pub Brussels, settle in for a pint at Kitty O'Shea's Brussels, and find another screen at Fat Boys Sports Pub Brussels.
O'Reilly's is the downtown sports default. See where it lands in our guide to the best sports bars in Brussels, plan an after-work pint with our Brussels after-work picks, and browse the full Brussels bar guide.
