Before Denmark had a Superliga, it had the Shamrock Inn. Opened in 1989, this is the country's original Irish bar, and it has been screening sport ever since.
The pub stands at Jernbanegade 7, on the short street that connects Tivoli with Rådhuspladsen, two doors from its original site in the old Scala building. Central Station is five minutes away on foot, which makes it one of the easiest sports bars in the city to reach with luggage in tow.
The Shamrock got in, as LiberoGuide puts it, "on the ground floor in the original Roligan days," when Danish fans were earning their reputation as the friendliest in Europe and the national league did not yet exist in its current form. Three and a half decades later the formula is intact: a separate big screen area, pool, darts, pinball and table football, with the match calendar built around the Six Nations, a full Premier League schedule and major internationals.
Rugby is the differentiator. Most rooms on our list of Copenhagen's best sports bars treat rugby as an afterthought; here the 6 Nations is appointment viewing, and the crowd knows the laws of the game. Tripadvisor currently ranks the pub in the top 20 of more than 200 Copenhagen nightlife venues, and reviewers single out the welcome and the upstairs loft seating.
What to order: the bar pours roughly two dozen draught lines with a deliberate Irish lean. Guinness is the obvious anchor, but the smarter picks are O'Hara's Irish stout or a Kilkenny, and the rotating taps carry lesser-known Irish craft imports that rarely reach Denmark. Behind the counter sits a deep Irish whiskey shelf for after the final whistle.
Who it is for: rugby supporters above all, Premier League regulars who want a pub rather than a screen warehouse, and beer drinkers who care what is actually in the glass. Couples and small groups fit better here than stag parties, which tend to wash up at the louder rooms on Rådhuspladsen next door.
Best time to go: Six Nations weekends in February and March are the pub at full voice, and arriving 45 minutes before kick-off is the minimum. Friday opens at 12:30pm and Saturday at 1:30pm, both running to 4am. For midweek football the 3pm opening covers every European evening kick-off. More options sit in the Copenhagen city guide, the global sports bar collection and our guide to the best bars for watching the game.
Sources
The Shamrock Inn official site · LiberoGuide: 10 best football bars in Copenhagen · Tripadvisor
