Must see nightlife in Northern Ireland

In a cobbled alleyway off buzzing Hill St, the snug, traditional Duke feels like a living museum. There's regular live music; local band Snow Patrol…

In a city full of buzzing bars, the Sunflower is an authentic corner pub, free from gimmicks and commercial glitz. There are local craft beers on tap, a…

At the Titanic Hotel, one of Harland & Wolff's two historic drawing offices has been transformed into a light-filled bar with an impressive barrel-vaulted…

Locally known as Johnny Joe's, this rhubarb-coloured pub is the town's liveliest. The original ground-floor bar was built in the 1800s; behind it is a…

Heading up Belfast's burgeoning coffee scene, Established takes its beans seriously, serving a range of specialist drip coffees, as well as light meals…

This traditional pub has barely changed since 1887, with a marble-topped bar, huge sherry casks, antique silver lamp holders, and ancient wood panelling…

Specialising in rum (more than 30 kinds), this narrow, crowded bar has more atmosphere in one battered sofa than most 'style bars' have in their shiny…

Done up as a typical Irish pub and grocery (with shelves of household items, shopkeeper's scales on the counter and a museum's-worth of old bric-a-brac),…

Hats meet harlotry (ask who Muriel was) in this delightfully snug and welcoming bar with retro-chic decor, old sofas and armchairs, heavy fabrics in…

Dating from 1654, Ireland's oldest thatched pub is an absolute treasure, with tiny, antique-filled rooms, a crackling turf fire, the best Guinness for…

More like a cool inner-city house party than a bar, speakeasy-style Love & Death Inc is secreted up a flight of stairs above a pizza joint. Its living…

On a summer's night, a cocktail at the Bullitt Hotel's rooftop bar is hard to beat. Come on Sundays for boozy brunches (breakfast and bottomless cocktails…

Behind the oyster-grey ground-floor facade of the 1897 former National Bank building, and through its post-industrial interior, is the National's pièce de…

Gay-owned and -operated, the Soviet-kitsch-themed Kremlin is the heart and soul of Northern Ireland's gay scene. A statue of Lenin guides you into Tsar,…

Run by volunteers, Dock Cafe has an honesty box and no price list: pay what you wish for coffee, tea, cakes, scones and soup. Everyone's welcome to lounge…

Named for the Belfast poet and socialist, the John Hewitt is one of those treasured bars that has no TV or gaming machines, just the murmur of…

On a sunny afternoon, it's hard to beat the Belfast Lough–facing beer garden at this welcoming local, just footsteps from Holywood train station. It's a…

A cramped and staunchly traditional bar, Bittles is a 19th-century triangular red-brick building decorated with gilded shamrocks. The wedge-shaped…

Four bars make up the Filthy Quarter: retro-trad-style, bric-a-brac-filled Filthy McNastys, hosting local musicians from 10pm nightly; the fairy-lit…

Managed by the same family since 1918, Lavery's is a vast, multilevel, packed-to-the-gills boozing emporium, crammed with drinkers young and old, from…