Vancouver's longest running Irish pub, where Friday and Saturday nights turn the heritage room into Gastown's most reliable dance floor.
The Blarney Stone has anchored 216 Carrall Street since 1972, which makes it the longest running Irish pub in Vancouver by the pub's own count. Early evening it pours what Tripadvisor reviewers call the best pint of Guinness in the city; by 11pm on a weekend it is a dance floor.
You time your night here, you do not just show up. Come at 7pm for the pint and the shepherd's pie, or come at 10pm for the band and stay until 3am. The two visits are different bars wearing the same room.
The room is a Gastown heritage hall a block from Maple Tree Square, built for volume: long bar, stage, and floor space that converts from dinner service to dancing as the night turns.
Gastown.org lists it as the district's standby for live music, and the conversion happens fast after 10pm. Pick your hour accordingly.
Friday at 10pm The Sheets take the stage; Saturday it is The Shenanigans, the long standing house band, per the pub's own listings. Both sets run Celtic tunes into pop and rock, and the floor fills fast.
Earlier in the evening the crowd is pub normal: tourists off the Gastown steam clock route, regulars, and game day spillover. After midnight it is a young, loud, dancing room until 3am.
What to order
- 01
A pint of Guinness
- 02
The shepherd's pie or Irish nachos
- 03
A round before 10pm