O'Brian holds a wide front on Calle del Príncipe, a short walk from Puerta del Sol, on a street that runs thick with pubs and tapas counters. Read it through the room first: two floors, deep sofas, a big screen and the kind of Irish-pub fit-out that pulls a crowd in for a long match and keeps it for the next.
The pub leans on space, which is rare this close to Sol. Tripadvisor reviewers single out the scale, a large two-floor room with proper decor and plenty of seating, and more than one names it the best sports bar in central Madrid.
The room runs the full Irish-pub register. Dark wood and brass, a long serving bar, cozy sofa corners for an early pint and an atmospheric big-screen setup downstairs for the marquee fixtures. It is built to hold a group through ninety minutes without anyone perched on a stool.
What to order starts at the tap. A pint of Guinness is the house measure, with a guest stout or an Irish red for the next round, and the kitchen turns out pub plates to keep a long match fed. Come for the draught and the screens rather than a fine-dining sit-down.
On the sport, O'Brian carries football across the major leagues plus the bigger one-off nights, and the downstairs screen draws the committed crowd. Live music fills the gaps between fixtures, so a quiet midweek pint can turn into a session.
Who is it for. Visitors who want a roomy English-language match-day pub steps from Sol, groups who need seats rather than standing room, and anyone who likes a big screen with a settled pint in hand. Skip it for a quiet date; this is a pub built for volume and the match.
Best time to go is an hour before a big kickoff, when the doors are open from 1pm and the downstairs seats with a clean view fill quickly. A weekday afternoon upstairs is the calmer option for a slow pint.
The location does the rest. Calle del Príncipe runs between Sol and the theatre district, lined with bars, so O'Brian folds into a wider crawl without a long walk between rounds. The Sol and Sevilla metro stops sit minutes away.
One tip ties it together. For a big fixture, head straight downstairs to the big-screen room and claim a sofa early, then keep a tab running rather than fighting the bar at half-time. The pub is built for the long match, and the seats with a clean sightline are the prize worth arriving for.
The crowd runs international, with English and Irish visitors filling the downstairs room for a Premier League fixture and a Spanish contingent holding the upstairs bar. The two floors let the pub absorb a big night without anyone feeling boxed out. That space is the quiet reason it tops so many central-Madrid lists.
One practical note. The downstairs big-screen room is the prize on a marquee night and empties fast onto the street between fixtures, so timing the arrival matters more than at a single-room pub. Come early, settle in, and let the upstairs bar handle the quieter pints before kickoff.
For more of the city's screens, our best sports bars in Madrid guide ranks the Sol options together, and the Madrid bar guide maps the wider night. Plan a match day with our guide to watching the game in Madrid, or compare cities in the global sports bars collection.
Sources: O'Brian on Tripadvisor Madrid (Restaurant Review d14161528, 2026); Yelp Madrid Irish-pub listings, Calle del Príncipe 12; O'Brian official Facebook and Instagram (@obrianmadrid).
