Morten Andersen rates a pub by what it does on its busiest day, and The Barge passes the test the first warm afternoon of the year, when the Grand Canal bank outside fills before the bar inside does. It is a Dublin institution for the sunny pint, the live match and the late song.
The Barge stands at 42 Charlemont Street, on the corner where the Grand Canal cuts through Dublin 2 between Portobello and Ranelagh. The pub is run by the McCafferty's group, which added it to its portfolio and gave the three floors a full refurbishment (The Barge official site). The canalside setting is the draw, and on a dry day the lock outside becomes an overflow terrace that Dubliners treat as their own.
The room is bright and built for volume, three bars spread across three floors after the refit, with screens on the lower levels and a stage that turns over to live music as the week runs on. Visit Dublin lists it as one of the city's go-to canalside spots for a sunny day (Visit Dublin City), and the layout means a rugby crowd and a music crowd can share the building without treading on each other.
What to order is the canal-bank standard, poured well and priced for a local rather than a tourist trap. The Guinness is the lead, sitting around the six-euro mark common to this stretch, with a Rockshore or a Heineken on tap for the lager drinker and a decent kitchen running pub food across the week. Morten's note: take the stout, find a spot by the water for the first half, and move inside to a screen once the light goes.
Who it is for is the after-work crowd on a Friday, the supporter who wants a big fixture with a pint in the sun, and the group out for live music later on. It suits a summer session, a match day and a casual night out, and it is wrong for anyone after a quiet corner, because The Barge trades on energy not calm. For the rest of the city, our guide to the best sports bars in Dublin covers the screen-first alternatives.
Best time to go is a dry Friday from five, when the canal bank fills and the after-work trade takes over, or any weekend afternoon with a major fixture on. The live music nights are the other reason to come, and our round-up of Dublin live music bars places The Barge among the canal-side options. Six Nations weekends and Premier League afternoons are the busiest of all, so arrive early and claim a screen before kickoff if a big match is on. Avoid a wet Tuesday if you want the famous terrace, because the whole appeal moves indoors when the weather turns.
Reviewers consistently flag the sunny-day terrace and the canal setting as the reason to choose The Barge over a standard city-centre pub, with the Dublin Publopedia noting its long standing as a Charlemont fixture (The Dublin Publopedia). The refurbishment kept the canal-bank character while widening the room for sport and music, which is the balance a venue like this needs.
The Barge is the canalside Dublin pub that gets the simple things right, a sunny pint by the water, a big match on the screen and a song later on. For a warm-day session on the Grand Canal, it is the obvious call. For the wider city, start with our Dublin bar guide, and for another match-day option see The Back Page in Phibsborough.
Sources: The Barge official site; Visit Dublin City; The Dublin Publopedia.
