Cogans Bar Carrigaline

Let me begin this review by stating that this is my local so there is going to be some bias. Cogans bar and lounge is located about 7 miles from Cork city in the satelite town of Carrigaline. It is located on main street Carrigaline before the shopping centre. You certainly wouldn’t be drawn to the pub by the outside of the place. It faces the main road and even though the front has been painted in recent times it could do with some investment. There is both a bar and a lounge in Cogans with the lounge being the much bigger of the two. If the truth be known i have only ever been in the bar twice. They have a pool table on uneven ground and a little bar. I am not going to recommend anyone go into the bar, you do so at your own risk! The lounge is where we hang out. Not as much as we used to but we still make regular appearances. What’s great about the lounge is that there’s hardly anyone ever there. This may sound weird but let me explain. I do like meeting people and socialising in busy places but here we can be ourselves. We can sing, play guitar, chat with the radio softly in the backround, sleep, be offered a blanket, bring a karaoke machine in and have our own party, give out at the back door being opened too much because of the smoking ban and overall have a laugh.

The bar in the lounge is very long, the alcove has gone and has been put to other uses. The staff namely Martin and Margaret know us and are welcoming. The owner unfortunately has deteriorated greatly over the past year or so but his wife keeps us on our toes. She is certainly better than any bouncer, she inforces the law rigidly! The lounge itself is long by the bar and a bigger open space toward the back. We normally sit at the back left hand corner. There’s a function room at the back but it’s small and mainly used for meetings and the like. I’ve noticed it has got a lot brighter there recently but it is inadvisable to turn off the lights as you will be caught. The pints are smashing. Whatever stout you drink or beer or whatever it’s all good stuff and not watered down like some places. The price of the drink is pretty much the same as most pubs in the town. Your likely to meet the regular lads in there, there all nice and on Saturday nights they provide free entertainment on the in house guitar. The seats could definately do with being recovered, they are nice but a tad outdated.

The toilets are out towards the back of the pub. Mens on the right and womens on the left as you go out. There is a safety pin on the mens toilet door (something to look out for). There is one cubicle and an oul trough and the capacity is 4 people at any one time. The famous towel that inhabited the toilet for years has been repaced by a more modern hand towel dispenser. Toy soldiers that were put around the place seem to have been stolen (any info to Mr Mc Nally). The toilets are generally alright. There is a new shelter out the back for smokers and it seems to be quite popular. Make it your business to visit this pub, after all it’s our local. Thats me, Ryan, Foss and Kev!

Toilet rating: 7/10
Pint rating: 8/10
Overall rating 9/10

Final comment: If your coming in a big crowd to Cogans you might want to ring ahead and get the nod from the the boss woman as there may be ugly I.D scenes. It’s great for a quiet drink any night of the week, they do toasted specials and sell tayto cheese and onion crisps which is becoming rarer and rarer in pubs. You may even meet us in there!