The Traditional Bars of Derry: A Local's Guide

Derry is a drinking city in the good sense: the pubs are where people talk, and a fair amount of the city's history was decided in them. There are perhaps a dozen bars inside and just outside the walls that deserve the name traditional, meaning they have been there a long time, they have not been refitted into somewhere that could be anywhere, and someone will be playing music in the corner most nights. Here are the ones we would send you to, and what to expect when you get there.

Waterloo Street: the heart of it

If you only have one night, spend it on Waterloo Street. It is short, steep and almost entirely pubs, running down from Butcher Gate towards William Street, and it is where most visitors end up whether they planned to or not.

Peadar O'Donnell's is the one people mean when they say they want a traditional Derry pub. It is small, dark, packed with bric-a-brac hanging off every surface, and it runs traditional music sessions most nights of the week with no cover charge. Get there early if you want a seat, because by half nine there is standing room only and a queue at the bar three deep. Verify current session nights and start times at Peadar O'Donnell's.

The Gweedore Bar is next door and connected to Peadar's from the inside, which means one door in and two very different rooms. The Gweedore leans louder and later, with bands upstairs rather than a session in the corner. The pair of them together are the reason Waterloo Street has the reputation it has.

The Dungloe sits further down the same street, bigger than both, with several floors and a beer garden. It gets a younger crowd and more of a party feel at the weekend, live music most nights, less of the quiet-corner-and-a-fiddle atmosphere.

Tracy's Bar is the other Waterloo Street name worth knowing, a proper old bar with a good pint and a mixed local crowd.

Inside the walls

The River Inn on Shipquay Street claims to be the oldest bar in the city, with a cellar bar said to date to 1684. Low ceilings, stone, and a genuinely old feel underground rather than an imitation of one. Worth a pint on the strength of the room alone. Verify the 1684 founding date the pub claims, and current food service hours.

Badger's Bar on Orchard Street is the one with the Derry Girls mural on its gable, which means a steady stream of people photographing the outside who never come in. They are missing out. Inside it is all dark wood and snugs, and it does a good lunch. Verify Badger's current food hours.

The Grand Central on Strand Road is a larger, busier city-centre bar rather than a snug hideaway, but it is a Derry institution and a reliable first stop.

Off the main drag

Sandino's Café Bar on Water Street is not a traditional bar in the wood-and-brass sense, and it is on this list anyway. Named after the Nicaraguan revolutionary, hung with solidarity flags and political posters, it has been the city's left-leaning music venue for decades: live bands, DJs, folk nights, poetry, whatever is on. If you want to see where Derry's music scene actually lives rather than where visitors are pointed, go here. Verify Sandino's current opening days and gig listings.

Bennigan's Bar on John Street is small, unfussy and serious about its music, with a long-running reputation for jazz and blues alongside the trad. A good one for a second pint when Waterloo Street is heaving.

The Walled City Brewery at Ebrington is the modern entry: a brewery and restaurant in the old military barracks across the Peace Bridge, brewing its own beer on site. Not traditional in the least, but it is the best beer brewed in the city and the walk over the bridge is worth doing in the evening light. Verify Walled City Brewery opening days and hours.

How a trad session actually works

Visitors often expect a concert and find something else entirely, so it is worth explaining. A session is not a performance. A handful of musicians sit around a table in the corner, usually with a pint in front of them, and play tunes they all know. Nobody announces anything. Nobody has a set list. Tunes run into each other in sets of two or three, and it ends when someone lifts their glass.

A few things that will make you look like you have been before:

• The musicians are not staff. They are usually paid something, but they are there to play with each other, not to take requests from the bar.
• Do not clap over the tunes. Wait until a set finishes. You will hear the ending, everyone lands on it together.
• Talk quietly during tunes, properly quiet during a song. If someone starts singing unaccompanied, that is a sean-nós song, and the whole room goes silent for it. Follow the room.
• Do not sit at the musicians' table unless you are asked, and do not put your drink on it.
• Buy the musicians a drink if you have enjoyed yourself. It is the normal way of saying thanks and it is always welcome.

Practical notes

Rounds. If you are drinking with locals, drinks are bought in rounds rather than individually. When it comes to you, you buy for everyone. If you cannot keep up, say so early and nobody will mind.

No table service. You order and pay at the bar in almost every pub here. Do not wait to be served at a table, because nobody is coming.

Timing. Evenings start earlier than visitors from southern Europe expect. Food service in most pubs stops around 8pm or 9pm, music tends to start between 9pm and 10pm, and closing is usually somewhere between midnight and 1am depending on the night and the licence. Verify current standard closing times in Derry.

Age. Bars are strict on ID, and many will not admit under-18s at all after early evening, even with a parent.

Halloween. During the Halloween festival at the end of October, the whole city dresses up and the pubs are unrecognisably busy. It is tremendous and it is not the night for a quiet pint in the corner.