Davy Byrne’s, Dublin

Davy Byrne’s is the Dublin pub at 21 Duke Street, and its literary fame comes from James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses. The house began trading in 1889, after Davy Byrne came to Dublin from Wicklow; he later sold the business in 1939. In Joyce’s Chapter 8, set on 16 June 1904, Leopold Bloom pauses here shortly before 2 pm for a gorgonzola sandwich seasoned with mustard, accompanied by a glass of burgundy.

That scene still draws readers: the pub has become a pilgrimage destination, especially during Bloomsday on 16 June. Upstairs, Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith held cabinet meetings in the early 1900s. The pub also appears in Joyce’s story Counterparts, and writers including Flann O’Brien and Brendan Behan drank here.