The Dubliners sits a two-minute walk from Puerta del Sol, on Calle de Espoz y Mina, the narrow run of pubs and tapas counters that fills the moment a kickoff lands on the calendar. Read it through the bar first: a settled pint of Guinness, a plate of fish and chips, and screens that carry whatever match the room came for.
The pub trades on a simple promise. When the Premier League, La Liga or an international fixture is on, this becomes football central, and Tripadvisor reviewers return to the same phrase, a proper Irish pub in the middle of Madrid.
The room runs warm and wooden. Dark timber, brass, a long serving bar and enough corners that a group can hold a table through ninety minutes plus stoppage time. It is the kind of place where the staff pull a stranger into the conversation by half-time.
What to order starts at the tap. The Guinness is the house measure, poured in two pours and left to settle, the test every Irish pub in the city is judged on. Pair it with the fish and chips, the order most reviewers name first, or a plate from the pub-grub board when a long match needs ballast.
On the sport, the screens carry the marquee fixtures across English, Spanish and European football, with rugby and the bigger one-off nights drawing their own crowd. This is a pub that takes the match seriously without turning the room into a wall of televisions.
Who is it for. Visitors who want a reliable English-language match-day room a stone's throw from Sol, groups after a long unhurried afternoon, and anyone who measures a pub by the quality of its pint. Skip it if you are chasing a quiet cocktail; this is a football pub and proud of it.
Best time to go is an hour before a big kickoff, when the doors are open from 11am every day and the good seats with a clean sightline to a screen go fast. Weekday afternoons are calmer if a quiet pint is the plan.
The location does half the work. Calle de Espoz y Mina is a short, pub-lined street off Sol, so The Dubliners folds neatly into a wider crawl without a long walk between rounds. The Sol and Sevilla metro stops sit minutes away.
One ordering tip ties it together. Arrive early enough to let the first Guinness settle while the room fills, then build the table around shared plates rather than one dish each. A pint poured right and a match worth watching is the whole point here, and the kitchen keeps a group fed through extra time.
The crowd skews international on big English fixtures, when Madrid-based expats and travelling fans pack the room and the songs start before kickoff. Spanish regulars hold their own corner, drawn by the long hours and the reliable pour. The mix keeps the energy up without tipping into a tourist-only crush.
Time the visit and the bar rewards you. Espoz y Mina turns busy from early evening, so a group chasing a clean view of a screen should claim a table well before the whistle. The kitchen runs through the afternoon, which makes an early lunch-and-match plan one of the better uses of a Saturday here.
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: The Dubliners on Tripadvisor Madrid (Restaurant Review d4084550, 2026); Yelp Madrid listing, Calle de Espoz y Mina 7; The Dubliners official Facebook page.
