My son in-law will be flying some clients to Ireland on Monday and is looking for a good pub to have a pint and listen to a good session. He will be in Dublin Tuesday and Wednesday and Londonderry on Thursday…Does anyone have a recommendation they would like to share?
He would also like to fly fish while there so if anyone knows of a good guide…
BTW I tried to sign on as a flight attendant.
Thanks
Frank
londonderry is a disputed name - derry/londonderry was renamed by some as “stroke city” to avoid the person referring to it from having to indicate any particular tribal loyalty
There is nothing wrong with calling it Londonderry, as that is the name on the Royal Charter of 1662, and it is still the official name 350 years later. And yes, some people call it Derry.
Anyway, getting back to actually answering firnatine’s question: Peadar O’Donnell’s Pub on Waterloo had great Trad Sessions when I was there last year. It is a block or two East of the Northern corner if the city wall.
In Dublin, there are probably good Trad Sessions all over the city, but many are concentrated in the Temple Bar area. I would walk from pub to pub until I found one I liked. He is going to have a blast!
Would that be ‘Doire’, as it was known long before it got ‘made’ by God’s man on earth?
He was only following colonial precedent I suppose, Londinium itself being a relic of a bit of a muscling in and roughing up.
While we’re abbreviating things: the best pub for ‘trad’/traditional music in Dublin IMO is The Cobblestones in Smithfield Market (AKA ‘The Cobbles’ or ‘Cobblers’)… but caution him not to say there that he’s going to ‘Londonderry’… ‘Londinium-doire’ might be a less contentious, and more interesting, option. 
Accomplished fluter Catherine McEvoy plays a nice session in the Cobblestones on Wednesdays, but there’s music there every night.
Regards,
Harry.
I second the cobblestone! Fantastic sessions! Although I havent been there, I hear the sessions at Hughes are good also. Maybe O’Donoghue’s also, but NOT the temple bar area. ONLY trubadours, no trad sessions.
Thats in Dublin.. The above mention town I havent been 
My son in-law says thanks for the replays…He leaves for tomorrow night.
Frank
Fír na tíne,
I would second Ketil’s recommendation for Hughes’s. Great session there in my experience. Not sure which nights of the week, but give them a quick ring. [One note for Guinness drinkers, the locals recommend you drink the bottled Guinness at this pub. Something about the Guinness taps or pipe system there fouls the draught Guinness, so it’s pretty bad. They may have fixed this since I was there last, but…]
And I would say the note about the Temple Bar area is spot on - I have never been able to find a proper session there, only shows with set performers - which is fine, if that’s what you’re looking for - but if it’s a session you want, my experience would say you’d be hard pressed to find one in the Temple Bar area.
Best of luck to your son-in-law on his quest! 