Meet the Kerryman on a quest to visit every Irish pub outside Ireland
Growing up in Co Kerry, Colm Dalton would often go to pubs with his musician parents playing in seisiúns. But it wasn’t until years later, when teaching English in London, that the importance of the pub as a de facto ambassador for Irishness in every pocket of the world really hit him. His international students would “always ask about pubs” no matter where they were from and his idea to try to visit every Irish-themed hostelry in the world “grew and grew”, he says. “I had a student from Mongolia – he worked in Irish pub in [the capital] Ulaanbaatar. It’s a lot of people’s gateway into Irishness and into how Ireland’s identity is different,” he says.“One day a friend was back from Brazil where she was in Molly Malone’s beach bar. I said ‘I’d love to go if I won the lottery.’ She said, ‘Just start now.’”And so in 2017 began Dalton’s quest to visit every Irish pub across the world. It will be quite a challenge, as he estimates there are more than 6,000. READ MOREIrish abroad: We want to hear your stories of life outside Ireland Industrial designer brings a hankering for a sustainable lifestyle to New YorkLiving with bush fires: I might have left it too late, the fire is here ... get out nowThe first Irish pub he documented on his blog was one of his all-time favourites, The Wicklow Arms in Bilbao.“It’s a bit of an Irish cliche ... But I met another guy in that pub called Colm from Kerry. It turns out that my dad was his postman. I thought that was a really good sign.”So far he’s been to 150 Irish pubs in 50 countries from the Azores to Indonesia.Many of the “amazing” Irish pubs are in London, he says, including his favourite, the “perfect” Auld Shillelagh in Stoke Newington, which is run by Roscommon natives. So what makes a great Irish pub in Dalton’s eyes? “They have an authenticity in the level of detail ... If they have a picture of the Mayo 2000 GAA Team on the wall, that has a connection.” While the Guinness has to be good, the key thing is atmosphere, which he believes staff can be trained to create in learning “how to be friendly, knowing how to serve”. Visits home for sessions in his home village of Fenit make him reflect: “When you go back you realise how the pub is effortless. When people imitate it you realise what a gem of a cultural thing we have.” He believes some should be given Unesco world heritage status. Another of his favourites is Patrick Foley’s in Ghent, Belgium, with its Book of Kells mural and tiny snug. “Outside it was an old town house beside a canal, but inside it was really authentic.”[ Ten of the best Dublin pubs in sunny weather: from beer gardens to pints by the seaOpens in new window ]Book of Kells mural at Patrick Foley's pub, Ghent, Belgium Thanks to some diligent advance Googling, Dalton has sought out pubs in unusual corners. “The most random was in Jakarta [in Indonesia]. It took me an hour to guide the tuk-tuk driver to this shopping centre. Inside was a tiny little cottage and inside that was an Irish pub. You could have been anywhere. It was like a time travel portal.”Colm Dalton outside The Tucan's pub in Bergamo, Italy The quality and authenticity of the Irish pub experience varies. They don’t have to be Irish-owned to be great, he says, like the Tucan pub in Bergamo, Italy. “They know what to do, a good pint of Guinness and the iconography.”In contrast, he points to Harat’s which claims to be the largest Irish pub chain in the world. It began in Russia in 2009 and boasts on its website of 100 pubs including many in Russia, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan.Dalton describes his visit to Viking-themed Harat’s in Ljubljana as an “odd experience” it was “very commercial” with a lot of “platitudes” on the walls. In his view: “It could pay homage to Ireland and Irishness, but it’s just gone for a superficial level, exploiting the popularity of the Irish pub.”Colm Dalton at Molly Malone's Irish pub in Los Angeles So what’s the one pub he’d most like to get to? Just like his pub-visiting ambitions, his answer is lofty: “In Bolivia there’s the highest pub in the world, the Lucky Llama, they have Guinness in cans,” he says. At an altitude of 3,650m, the La Paz hostelry claims to be the world’s highest. But this accolade is also claimed by the number one pub on Dalton’s wishlist at 3,450m altitude on the route to Mount Everest. “In Namche Bazaar in Nepal in the foothills of the Himalayas there’s a tiny Irish pub up the mountains where climbers go for a pint after,” he says. “That’s probably the dream. I’m sure I will go there,” he says. [ A night in Dublin city centre: Is this a night-time economy or just a pub crawl capital?Opens in new window ]Colm Dalton is from Kerry but has lived in London for the past 20 years where he works as a senior tutor in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). He blogs at publicanenemy.com and is on Instagram @publicanenemy. Are you Irish and living in another country? Would you like to share your experience with Irish Times Abroad, something interesting about your life or your perspective as an emigrant? 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