We probably all remember the very first bar we went into where we didn’t feel like a kid sneaking in past the bouncers in high heeled boots and too much eyeliner, but like an actual - dare I say - “sophisticated” person who doesn’t drink to get drunk.
That’s how I felt the first time I stalked up the stairs to Fade Street’s nicest bar and found myself in a dreamy Georgian sitting room complete with a fairy-lit wooden terrace covered by a circus tent.
Yep, this real-life Narnia through the wardrobe bar that I love so much is of course
No Name Bar (or The Bar With No Name, or Secret Bar, or even Snail Bar if your mates named it after the wooden snail marking the entrance.)
Up until I had my first (the first of
many in here I admit) glass of wine in here about five or six years ago I’d thought that Dublin bars were either way too glam and trendy or waaay too relaxed, verging on old-man pubs.
But the mish-mash comfy sofas and slick Helmut Newton photographs on the walls here were such a perfect mix of cool and chill that I knew I’d found my “local.”
This is my absolute favourite place to go for a drink in Dublin, hands down.
No Name Bar quickly became my go-to place for drinks at any time of the day and with any group I was with.
First date cocktail? Come here around 6pm and there’ll be enough of a buzz to cover any silences without being so packed you can’t find yer man.
Casual nights out, glam nights out, afternoon celebratory (and commisitory) drinks with either one friend or five, No Name has that rare ability to always be what you’re in the mood for.
Their cocktail menu is delish, with concoctions such as a grape Caprioska and if you’re into Negronis then please plzzz try one here they’re legit one of the best to be had in town.
They even do brunch nowadays, and while I’ve yet to make it in here before lunchtime I’ve drooled over the photos and everything looks amazing.
This is the ideal place to go if you want a few drinks before heading to somewhere where you can dance or you just want to flake out on a sofa and cure the head from the evening before.
Everyone knows about this place, so much so that I feel like to some people it’s lost its initial thrill, but for me No Name still seems like a personal secret every time I push open that big wooden door.
It’s not a secret, but it feels like one, and that’s why I’ll always be obsessed with this spot.
No Name Bar is at 3 Fade St, Dublin 2.
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