Pubs with an 11 year old

Children of that age should not be brought by parents to establishments where alcohol serving is the primary purpose. I am sure there are other venues for music where alcohol might be ancillary but not central.

Children under the age of 14 may enter a pub if accompanied by a parent or guardian but, per the law in Ireland, must leave by 9:00 PM...which unfortunately is when the music sessions usually begin.

I read somewhere that if food is served it is okay for children if with parents. Does this pertain to the after 9:00 rule too?

Pubs in Ireland and England are family places. They are the town meeting and get together places. In most food is a very important part of their business. Children are always welcome. This would probably a great way to meet Irish families (assuming you are not going to the hottest tourist places).

We went to a bunch of pubs last summer with our kids aged 11 and 8. We did leave before 9 pm though as that is when we were told kids needed to be out. We met some great people and had so much fun. Many cities will have sessions outside of pubs.. in many cities they seemed to be attached to music stores.

You will love Ireland !

Unfortunately I don't think the serving of food makes any difference...unless it's a private function. Otherwise, all minors (under the age of 18 as I recall) must be out by 9, extended to 10 PM in the summer months.

Many pubs I've been in have full dinner menus .. and I have seen many families in them.. We even took an all day pub tour ( kids were not on the tour) but it stopped at two pubs that definitely had families eating there.

My experience in Ireland---somewhat dated as this was 20 years ago ---was that early evening, , around 5--6pm, was family time in the pubs. There were families with babies in prams and small children too. And music---something like open mike, a person in the corner singing. It did not feel like an inappropriate place for children at all.

Doesn't matter if a pub has a full dinner menu if the pub has a standing rule children cannot be on the premises after a specific time in the evening. And the kitchens do close in many pubs by a certain hour so the focus turns away from food and then centers on drinking.

9PM is pretty much when that occurs in most places - although I will tell you that I have lots of family that lives in Western Ireland and in their small village, the kids have to be out of the pubs by 9PM, but the locals (my family included) tend to stretch that out a little bit in the summer by just hanging outside of the pub where there are some benches and chairs and pub-goers congregate with their pints to chat, smoke and drink while the kids and dogs play nearby. But again, this is a small village and the kids are outdoors, not inside the pub. So you might be able to hear the music if the door is open, but you aren't going to see the musicians after 9PM with your 11 year old. It will definitely be enforced in bigger towns and cities and you will need to leave the premises.

My suggestion would be ask around to see if there are any Sunday afternoon sessions. Those happen weekly in the pubs where my family live.

Like Tara, we were hoping for opportunities for a 10 year old to experience life trad music. I remembered hearing that families were welcome in the pubs in the early evenings, and we had no intention of staying into late hours anyway, but this sounds like we wouldn't be getting any music just food. Flying in and out on Sundays, so the Sunday afternoon possibilities don't sound like a good fit either. If anyone has any trad music suggestions for a family in the Galway or Dublin areas, please share!

Willing to buy meals and pints in exchange for the music, but it was the music we were looking for, not the food and drink. 10 yr old behaves appropriately around live entertainment. Ideas? Other possible ideas for evenings, or should we be expecting to hang out at our rentals?

When I visited Ireland a couple years ago there was no trouble finding traditional music in pubs pretty much any time of day!

Sure, the music got rowdy and sometimes a bit more adult in themes as the night went on toward closing time, but there was never any pub we visited outside of the big cities that didn't welcome families with children in to hear the music before 9 or 10 pm. In fact, the pubs around Dingle actually had a considerable number of the local children playing along as part of the music groups.

I feel that the Irish pubs are an important part of the community. They allow the entire family to hang out, relax, have a nice dinner, enjoy some good music, and still be home in time for a proper bed time on school nights. If you feel that this type of pub is not a place for children, that is your right. However, don't confuse an Irish pub and what goes on there with a dive bar back home. Yes, people are drinking alcohol, and yes you might encounter a drunk on occasion (they have all been happy drunks), but getting drunk does not appear to be the reason anyone goes to the pub.

We were in Ireland for 2 weeks last summer with our then 10 and 7 year old and had them in the pubs everyday. So, if you want to have a competition for parent of the year... ;-) While it was disappointing to have to leave a few times just as the music was getting going, they were generally pooped by then anyway (as were we, tbh). I think it's important to dissociate The Pub from our American notion of The Bar. There were a few times when my kids made friends with other kids that were around, and we had some great convos with local parents (some of whom I'm now Facebook friends with). Point is, I guess, is that you'll catch some music and miss some music but in the end, you'll likely have a perfectly grand time regardless.

Re: your question of what to do in the evenings, that depends on what your days look like. Our family was often quite ready for down/alone time by the end of the day. There is such a thing as too much quality family time sometimes ;-) Enjoy your trip!