Grogan's Castle Lounge, Dublin.

Dublin's literary lounge.

Grogan's Castle Lounge has stood at 15 South William Street since 1899 in some form, but the bar's identity as a literary lounge dates to the 1930s when Tommy Smith took over and turned it into the unofficial Dublin writers' room. Patrick Kavanagh, Brendan Behan, Flann O'Brien, JP Donleavy and most of the other Irish literary post-war generation drank here. The lounge has not been redecorated in any meaningful way since the 1960s.

The room is two parts: a small front bar with stools and standing space, and a larger lounge to the back with red velvet booths, dark wood paneling, and a small fireplace that is lit on cold afternoons. The walls are covered with original Dublin paintings, mostly donated by drinkers in the 1960s and 1970s, that the bar has refused to clean or move. The wallpaper is original to the 1962 redecoration.

Why this matters. Grogan's is the rare central Dublin bar that has held its 1960s decor through Dublin's gentrification and remains the working drinking room of Dublin's writing class.

The toasted ham and cheese.

The Grogan's toasted ham and cheese sandwich is the bar's only food. It is made on Brennan's white sliced bread, with a slice of Limerick ham and a slice of cheddar, pressed in a small electric toasting iron behind the bar. The sandwich costs four euros. The recipe has not changed since 1986. The sandwich is plated on a small white china plate with a slice of pickle.

The toasted sandwich is the bar's universal afternoon order. The bartender prepares approximately 80 toasted sandwiches per day, with peak demand between 12:30pm and 2pm during the Dublin lunch hour. The sandwich is the bar's quiet contribution to Irish hospitality: cheap, honest, and identical to the version served in 1986.

Pint of Guinness, Powers, toasted ham and cheese.

• Pint of Guinness: six euros twenty. The Grogan's standard. Properly poured in two stages.
• Powers Irish Whiskey: five euros. The Grogan's well whisky.
• Bulmer's Cider: six euros. The Irish cider, on draft.
• Toasted ham and cheese: four euros. The bar's only food.
• The thing nobody knows: the bar pours a small Redbreast 12 at seven euros from a bottle on the back shelf. Order "the Redbreast." The bartender will pour from the same bottle the regulars use.

Tuesday at 3pm. The Dublin afternoon.

Grogan's opens at 10:30am and closes at 12:30am. Tuesday at 3pm is the canonical Dublin literary afternoon: the lounge is half full, the booths are open, the regulars are reading the Irish Times, the bartenders pour Guinness slowly, and the toasted ham and cheese plate count is at its highest of the week.

The peak hour is Friday at 6pm, the Dublin post-work crowd. The Saturday at 4pm hour is the secret experience: the literary set drinks slowly with newspapers, the front bar has a steady cycle of working journalists from the Irish Times offices, and the back lounge is reserved for the older regulars.

Sunday afternoons are quiet. Last orders come at midnight, with closing at 12:30am.

What the back booth means.

Patrick Kavanagh, the Irish poet, drank in the back booth at Grogan's most afternoons from approximately 1955 until his death in 1967. The booth is the second from the back along the left wall. The bar marks the booth with no plaque and no photograph. Kavanagh's place is preserved by the regulars' choice not to commemorate it.

You can sit at Kavanagh's booth. The regulars do not police the seat. Most Dublin literary visitors find the booth eventually and sit for at least one pint. The booth has a small window that overlooks South William Street. Brendan Behan reportedly preferred the booth opposite, which is the second from the back along the right wall, but the Kavanagh booth is the one the bar tradition associates with the literary era.

For two, forty euros across an afternoon.

Plan for thirty-five to fifty euros per pair for a three-hour visit. Three pints of Guinness at six twenty, two Powers shots at five, two toasted ham and cheese sandwiches at four. A pair of friends drinks and eats for forty-three euros total.

Cards are accepted. Cash is preferred for the toasted sandwich. Tipping is uncommon in Dublin pubs but a small euro coin on the bar at the end is appreciated.

The Dublin writers, the Irish Times crowd, the literary tourists.

Grogan's draws three populations. The first: the working Dublin writing class, including journalists from the Irish Times two blocks east, magazine writers, and a small contingent of Trinity College graduate students. The second: a long-tenure Dublin South William Street regular crowd, including retired civil servants and shop owners. The third: the literary tourist contingent, particularly American and Japanese visitors with copies of Kavanagh and Behan in their bags.

You will find some Dublin tech crowd, but mostly on Friday evenings. The bar's literary identity and the lack of music keep it self-selecting for a reading-and-conversation audience.

How not to be the worst person at Grogan's.

• Do not photograph the back booth obsessively. Kavanagh's seat is private. One quiet photo is fine.
• Do not request the Kavanagh booth by phone. Walk-ins only.
• Do not order food beyond the toasted ham and cheese. The kitchen is a single toasting iron.
• Do not order a craft cocktail. Grogan's pours pints and Irish whisky.
• Do not bring a stag party. The Dublin Temple Bar district has many other options.
• Do not request music. The bar has a quiet music policy.
• Do not, ever, claim to have known Kavanagh personally if you were born after 1965. The arithmetic is the arithmetic.

Grogan's, Kehoe's, Mulligan's.

The classic Dublin literary evening: arrive at Grogan's at 5pm for two pints and a toasted ham and cheese. Walk three blocks east to Kehoe's on South Anne Street at 7pm for the second pint and the upstairs lounge. End at Mulligan's on Poolbeg Street at 10pm, the 1782 pub that hosted James Joyce, completing the Dublin literary trinity.

For more bars in the area, see our Dublin city guide, the Dublin cocktail bars guide, and the South William hidden gems.

Yes. Dublin's most preserved literary lounge.