Sligo Dining and Entertainment

Sligo Hotels

Dining in Sligo

Much has been said of Sligo. Its outstanding scenery, cultural diversity and literary and historical associations make it a fascinating county to visit. The diversity of this whole region is matched only by the diversity of its restaurants, and the wealth of pubs that still reflect a landscape of unchanging charm and courtesy. each with its own character and informal, relaxed atmosphere, beguiling its guests with effortless charm and traditional homely eloquence.

Coming into Sligo from South Donegal one passes through Drumcliff, resting place of W.B. Yeats and usually flooded with tourists during the summer. Yeats Tavern Restaurant and Davis Pub, beside the bridge provides a wonderful menu of tempting variety, including excellent seafood dishes. The Davis Bar is a very convivial watering hole for the many travellers that use this as a halt on their journey.
Sligo itself, meanwhile, is a bustling, compact town with a wealth of medieval history and offers the visitor an enticing selection of pubs and restaurants. Hargadans Bar in O'Connell Street is an obvious attraction. With its warren of dark snugs and stone floors, it is one of the oldest pubs in Sligo with a distinctive sense of history. Also in O'Connell Street one will find McGarrigles Pub, a popular venue in the traditional scene, and a little further back up Grattan Street is Shoot The Crow, long and narrow and dating back possibly to 1878. It seems caught in a time warp with a distinctive clientele. If you want something different try the Bar Bazaar Coffee Shop & Bookshop for some coffee therapy and culture, herbal tea or kava sutra energy drinks, in a distinctly new age atmosphere. Across the road is McLoughlins Bar, is a beautifully maintained pub, famous for its traditional sessions and a big hit with international visitors. The newly-developed Riverside pedestrian area in the town provides some very attractive restaurants, all within a short walking distance of one another. The Penthouse in Tobergal Lane is a very fashionable restaurant yet reasonably priced. Beezies Cafe Bar below it, is trendy, bright and hosts great live music. If you are the 'bring a bottle' type, try the very comfortable Copper Kettle Restaurant and watch the chef cook one of their many exotic dishes. Pepper Alley serves a range of reasonably priced bistro type meals, nearly all with a Mexican flavour, and of course theres the Garavogue Bar and Restaurant, overlooking the river. Its circular chrome bar, minimalist design, complimented by large abstract canvasses have ensured its popularity with a younger clientele. Beside it the Bar Eile provides music, madness and late night bars with specially invited D.Js. The Blue Willow Restaurant in Wine Street Car Park beside Dunnes is the location for the Yeats Candlelit Supper, an evening of poetry dramatisations and fine cuisine. At IR£25 a head it is still worth it. Fiddlers Creek is also worth a visit with its reassuring, intimate atmosphere. Its an award-winning bar with a fine restaurant.

Leaving the town head towards Ballina, the largest town in Mayo. As you pass through the village of Ballysadare take time off to visit The Thatch, just outside the village, a real treat for those who long for the whimsical postcard image of the Irish pub. At Dromore West,turn right just outside the village and take the coast road to Easkey, a mecca for surfers. McGowans Pub in the village is all that you would expect in a small village, a friendly 'interrogation', a good pint and a few gems of homespun wisdom. Enniscrone, with its blue flag beach and championship golf course has a fine restaurant in the family-owned Gable End Restaurant, serving beautiful cuisine in a delightful surroundings. The family also run Walshs, the busiest bar in the village, and serving great bar food. Then there is The Pilot Bar, fifty yards further on, no TV, excellent cold snacks, and traditionally furnished in a nautical theme. The Atlantic Hotel beside it is a popular eating place for families, unpretentious and very good value with a substantial childrens menu.

Ballina is a short drive away and you will discover some interesting pubs and reasonably priced restaurants in this old market town. Take the scenic Quay road to the town and you can drop in at the Riverboat Inn, a triple award-winning pub. The Riverboat features beautiful, comfortable lounge bars with a small public bar that is hard to leave, especially if you are fisherman. Right beside the Moy estuary The Captains Table Restaurant serves superb steak and lobster dishes. It never disappoints.

Every restaurant and pub in Ballina is accessible and easy to find. Try The Coffee Vine in Arran Street with its interesting range of bistro styled dishes and coffee - all complemented by live jazz on a Thursday evening. Rogans House Hotel is provincial in its charm and in its preoccupation with large helpings of good plain cooking served any time during the day. The Bard Restaurant and Bar can claim to be international, offering a bewildering choice of reasonably-priced European, Asian and South American food. The bar itself is one of the most attractive in the town with its imaginative presentation of the Irish Bardic theme. If you're looking for the traditional try An Sean Sabin (The Auld Shabeen) in Abbey Street, beside the famous salmon Ridge Pool. This is a delightful distinctive pub that is as charming as its owner, Betty Sweeney. Irish traditional bar bites are served on a Monday night...free! Across the road Mary Murphys restaurant serves reputedly the best lunch in the town for less than a fiver. The Broken Jug, another award-winning pub, also has a good reputation for food with an excellent carvery lunch and well-priced a la carte menu in their restaurant of an evening. Paddy Jordans just outside the town and beside the bus station is a traditionally-designed pub and restaurant with plenty of time for children. There is a great beer garden and well kept gardens. Another award-winning pub The Garden Inn, is well known for its traditional music sessions.

Head out of Ballina for Killala, where the French landed during the uprising of 1798, and on to Ballycastle and the impressive coastline of this spectacular part of north-west Mayo. The village boasts two fine bars, The Ceide House and Katie Macs, both great traditional houses where the owners expect every visitor to pick up a tin whistle and join in the sessions. From here you head toward the Barony of Erris and Belmullet in the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) area of Mayo via the coastal road. On the way, however, you would have to visit Leo and Clara Molloy in Doonfeeney House a wonderful restaurant with spectacular setting and superb cuisine.

The rest of the drive to Belmullet takes one through an ever-changing, spectacular landscape of limitless bog land, valleys, rivers and seascapes. On the outskirts of the friendly little town take your time over a pint in McDonnells Bar, a typical rural pub that hasn't changed over the decades and then treat yourself to a meal in Lavelles Erris Bar in the Main Street; superb food and a genuine Irish bar. Head back towards Sligo inland via Crossmolina where Hineys, a family-owned and well-established bar, is the focal point of the village. From here you can drive along the scenic shoreline of Lough Conn and through the charming village of Foxford, driving east through Boyle in Roscommon and into County Leitrim.

First stop in 'Lovely Leitrim' should be the fine town of Carick-on-Shannon. The Bush Hotels Courtyard Restaurant has an excellent wine list to complement fine speciality dishes and the Shannon Key West Hotel provides the opportunity to dine in their restaurant overlooking the river. Your journey up through this land of lakes and rivers will take you through Manorhamilton and the quaint village of Dromahair where the traditional charm and substantial pub food of Stanfords Village Inn makes it a popular call for tourists before they arrive in Sligo Town.

Entertainment in Sligo

The north-west of Ireland, including Sligo, Leitrim and Mayo, offers an intriguing range of quality entertainment to engage its visitors. Festivals, art exhibitions, drama and sporting events feature regularly in the calendar of events. Combined with the ever-growing number family attractions, it makes the region one with truly something to offer everyone.

Festivals
Sligo town itself plays host to one of the major festivals in the region. The Sligo Arts Festival is held in the month of June and features concerts and competitions, live street theatre and childrens workshops. All reflecting the wide range of national cultures that visit the town during the festival. One of the most popular events in the Sligo Arts Calendar, The Yeats International Summer School, takes place in July and attracts people from all over the world, of all ages and occupations, with one thing in common, to learn about the poet and the landscape that inspired him. South Sligo is well known for all things traditional, making Tubbercurry in Mid July a particularly appropriate venue for The South Sligo Summer School, an exciting week of classes, recitals, concerts, ceilis, and workshops. James Morrison, Sligos fiddler extraordinare is fondly remembered in The James Morrison Traditional Festival three-day annual festival with a variety of music, concerts, and pub sessions on offer and local and traditional musicians from further afield, participating. Traditional music at its finest.

Gurteen, in Sligo, is also well known for its fine traditional musicians. Locals proudly claim "its in the blood." The Colman Country Traditional Festival brings together traditional musicians from all over the country in honour of Michael Colman, by general consensus one of the greatest fiddle players that ever lived. This is one lively weekend! The quaint village of Ballintogher, about six miles from Sligo town, comes alive each October Weekend for the Ballintogher Feis. This exciting festival offers a good variety of competitions in song, music, dance, elocution, arts, and crafts.

Ballyshannon, long considered the home of traditional music in South Donegal, hosts a popular Ballyshannon Folk Festival in August, concentrating on teaching styles of Donegal fiddle playing, with many of the most famous of the countys fiddlers providing the tuition.

In County Mayo The Iorras International Festival in the Barony of Erris, the beautiful Gaelic speaking area of North West Mayo, features acts from as far away as Greece, Poland and Japan although the bulk of the festival will promote local and Irish Traditional Folk. The Ballina Arts Festival in Mayo features an International Day, a Heritage Day, a Mardi Gras Carnival, a Historical Pageant and a wealth of street and pub entertainment, concluding in a spectacular fireworks' display over the River Moy.

Theatre and the Arts

The Hawks Well Theatre is located beside the Tourist Office in Temple Street a focal point for the Arts in the country and presents a programme of drama both national and international performances and during the summer months there is a new production every week. The Blue Raincoat Theatre Company is receiving nation-wide accolades for their movement-based material. The content is quite diverse, but always inspired and audiences are rewarded with a wonderful evening of entertainment. The Model Arts Centre one of Sligos most distinctive buildings hosts the very best of Sligos creative art happenings. There are frequent visual art exhibitions, but music, literary, and festival events are also held here. Ballina Arts Events it is located in the old Estoria Cinema on the outskirts of the town of Ballina and an impressive redevelopment scheme is underway. When it is completed it will house a theatre, exhibition hall and gallery, workshop space for visiting artists. At present it features regular exhibitions of the work of local artists.

The Sligo Art Gallery is housed in the Yeats Memorial Building, a distinctive red bricked Victorian structure beside Hyde Bridge in the centre of the town. It hosts regular exhibitions of artists, local, national and international throughout the year. The large, family run Taylor Gallery in Drumfin, features a good variety of local and international artists in a pleasant atmosphere. The Castle Gallery has an interesting and varied selection of exhibits in a wide range of media formats and concentrates solely on artists resident in the North West. The Niland Gallery has one of the finest collections of modern Irish art in the world including the largest number of Jack B. Yeats' paintings and pencil drawings outside Dublin.There are also some very fine first editions of William Butler Yeats poetry as part of the collection. For something unusual and fascinating, visit Michael Quinn who has set up his studio in his butchers shop in Wine Street in Sligo Town and has created a fascinating range of woodcarvings of Irish mythological characters, Celtic and Pre-Celtic, haphazardly in the shop front. Always willing to discuss his work with those who are interested. The Michael Davit Museum in the village of Straide, houses a rare collection of documents and photographs belonging to one of Irelands greatest patriots. The museum has an extensive collection of personal items belonging to this famous Irish historical figure. Culkins Emmigration Museum is a purpose built museum situated outside the village of Dromore West, on the actual site of Daniel Culkins Shipping & Emigration Agency, dating back to the 19th Century. The museum houses a wealth of interesting historical artefacts, including the original shop restored to its original condition.

Outdoor and Family Activities

Plenty of activity in the region for the energetic traveller! The Golfing fraternity is well catered for with many excellent courses. Enniscrone Golf Club has a superb championship course on the shores of Killala bay and one of the finest links courses in the West. It has been the home of the West of Ireland Amateur Championships for the past four years. Strandhill is a picturesque 18 hole links course about 8km West of Sligo Town. Carne Golf Course outside Belmullet,voted in the Top Ten link Courses in Ireland by 'Golf World 2000', presents a unique challenge to any golfer and the landscape can be quite awesome at times with the towering sand dunes and spectacular coastal landscape. Ballina Golf Course, is an attractive parkland course set against the background of the impressive landscape of the Ox Mountains. Like to learn to surf on some of the finest waters in the West? The Seventh Wave Surf School is based in the surfing centre in Easkey where traditionally surfers from all over the world flock for the excellent waves the coastline provides. There are plenty of opportunities for 'horsy' activities, among them The Mooreland Equestrian Centre outside the delightful village of Drumshanbo. Lough Allen and the Arigna Mountains provide wonderful opportunities for interesting treks and lakeside rides.

For the family, Water World in Bundoran is one of the major indoor heated aqua leisure complexes in the country. A godsend to parents on a rainy day in the West! Waterpoint is a marvellous aqua centre located in the heart of the holiday village of Cahermore in the attractive seaside resort of Enniscrone. Hugely popular with families. The children would enjoy a trip on The Cavan and Leitrim Railway a restored fully operational steam railway. A fascinating journey on a vintage train followed by a guided tour of the railway workshop and museum. Another very popular attraction for visitors is The Isle of Innisfree Cruise A very popular annual event in the Sligo Sporting Calendar in the Sligo Races with four main race meetings held during the year. A wonderful scenic racecourse set in the middle of the famous Yeats Country and a great day out for the family. The younger children would enjoy Woodville working farm. The Wood-Martin family has farmed this land for over 200 years and a wide variety of domestic animals can be seen and children are encouraged to enjoy close contact with cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, lambs, and donkeys. An enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. The family would appreciate The Hennigan Heritage Centre in Tubbercurry, a unique, fascinating recreation of rural life two hundred years ago. Young people willbe fascinated by the recreation of the original farmyard, animals and all.

P. Fleming