How do pub opening hours, last orders and food serving times usually work?
Pubs in the Republic may serve alcohol from 10.30am to 11.30pm Monday to Thursday, to 12.30am on Friday and Saturday, and from 12.30pm to 11pm on Sunday, with half an hour's drinking up time after last orders are called. Kitchens run to their own clock and finish much earlier: pub food commonly ends at 9pm or 9.30pm, and Sunday lunch is a set piece that sells out. Northern Ireland closes earlier by default, generally 11pm. Nothing opens on Christmas Day. The workable rule is to eat first and settle into the pub after, and to ask at the bar when the kitchen closes before you order a first round.
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Sources
- Citizens Information and the Courts Service of Ireland: alcohol licensing hours, alcohol and the law, and children in licensed premises, citizensinformation.ie and courts.ie
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