Molly Malones

For anyone who has already been to Helsinki I've no doubt but this pub has been visited at some point. Names as one of the Top 50 Irish pubs in Europe, and twinned with Ireland's oldest pub from 1198, The Brazen Head in Dublin, Mollys is conveniently located just 2 minutes walk from the main railway station this pub is a little slice of pleasure. Not even just for an Irish girl, this pub has something to offer everyone.

Spread out across two floors with three bars and a lovely outside smoking area, this pub has live music every night of the week up on the second floor with a great dancing area, plenty of seating and late opening hours so a full night can be spent here happily. The ground floor is a more quintessential Irish pub with small snugs, well worn wood, typical Paddy pictures and live GAA which was a blessing as my home county were in the All-Ireland soon after I landed in Helsinki. Perhaps more surprisingly was that there were at least three Irish bar staff while I was there. This isn't very usual in a lot of Irish pubs around Europe and it definitely made it more homely for me.

Towards the end of my Erasmus year we virtually spent any night out in Mollys. Birthdays, leaving parties, dates galore were all on Mollys turf. Not just for us few Irish but soon all Italians, Germans, Spanish etc. fell in love with the place. And the number of people who would pack in there was a telling sign of its popularity. Apparently Mollys has just recently revamped its interior (their reopening night was actually last night, October 10th) so all of the above information may be redundant but they claim it is better than ever so definitely worth a look :)

Boy I can't wait to have a well-earned pint there when I finally make it back to Finland for a visit!