Sean’s Bar in Athlone has been listed as one of Lonely Planet’s 50 Bars To Blow Your Mind.
Dating back over a thousand years the Westmeath institution is well known as being the oldest pub in Europe and now it can add another title to that impressive accolade.
Lonely Planet’s new guidebook 50 Bars To Blow Your Mind sets out to showcase 50 of the world’s best bars and Sean’s has made the prestigious list.
The pocketsized gift book “handpicks the world’s most extraordinary drinking holes, from caverns and island party havens to a bar nestled in an ancient tree trunk.”
Amongst a Cave Bar in Jordan, an ice bar in Iceland and a 360 bar in Istanbul sits Sean’s on the banks of the river Shannon.
It was founded in 900 AD and it is officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records has as Europe’s oldest pub.
A photo posted by Seans Bar (@seansbar) on
The key ingredient of a mind blowing bar is a “genuine desire to delight each person who walks through the door” according to the book’s authors, Ben Handicott and Kayla Ryan.
“It’s a love of hospitality and an enthusiasm for the precious drop.”
The travel bible also recently named Dublin one of its Top 10 cities to visit in 2016, while it ranked Ireland amongst its Top 10 countries to visit in 2015.
