Three To Try: New Irish Pubs Bringing Spice Bags, Guinness and Craic to Perth

Pubs don’t always get the respect they deserve. We’re just heading to the pub. It’s your standard pub fare. But a good pub acts as the quintessential third space. It’s your living room, your town square, the spot where you can get a quick pint or park up until the early hours.

The Irish do pubs better than anyone. Here are three newly opened Irish pubs in Perth.

Molly’s Irish Pub, Victoria Park

Two years ago, Molly’s Irish Pub opened in Highgate. Last Friday, the same team opened a new location in Victoria Park. It borrows the best of the Beaufort original, so you can expect spice bags, Irish ales on tap, a Sunday Roast, a quiz night and live music. The team all hail from Ireland: owners Niall Tolan and Lee Behan are from Donegal and Dublin respectively, and chef Mark McColl hails from Donegal. The space is decorated with Irish memorabilia collected on the team’s trips back home.

McColl’s kitchen is serving a spice bag, chowder, fish’n’chips, prawn cocktail and freshly steamed mussels. Ingredients are sourced from local Irish butchers McLoughlin’s, with their meat being used in a traditional steak sandwich and a beef and Guinness pie, made with pastries from Butter Crumbs.

The bar is serving Kilkenny, Magners Irish Cider, a Jameson and apple slushie and, of course, Guinness. According to Behan, Molly’s Highgate sells “thousands of pints of Guinness a week, making us the biggest independent account in Australia”. The team is stoking the flames of friendly competition and encouraging the Vic Park locals to outdrink the Highgate crowd. “We know you’ve got it in you,” Behan says.

774 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park

Mons O’Shea, Fremantle

There’s a small brass bell on the wall inside the snug at Mons O’Shea, Fremantle’s new Irish pub. Give it a ring and moments later a friendly face appears through a small, golden glass hatch to take your order. A minute after that, your drink slides back through. It’s part tradition, part theatre, and one of the many details that define the character-filled venue.

It’s been almost a decade since Fremantle farewelled Rosie O’Grady’s, the suburb’s last true Irish pub, and locals have clearly missed the craic. The 120-person venue already has the sort of worn-in warmth and solid roster of regulars that most pubs would take years to foster. Where many newer Irish pubs across Australia lean into cliché, Mons O’Shea keeps things real.

There are two Guinness taps for simultaneous pours, as well as Guinness 0.0. The menu from Petition alum Jane Collins is equally Irish. Among the carb-heavy plates, expect the trending spice bag, black-and-white pudding Scotch eggs and a line-up of toasties.

The other key element of the pub’s success comes down to third-generation publican Simon McCarthy, who moved to Australia from Ireland 10 years ago. The sharp-witted owner has the easy warmth of someone born for the trade. His quiet pride and unforced hospitality is echoed by a team with lilting Irish accents.

6 South Terrace, Fremantle

McNally’s, Subiaco

Robert McNally knows how to run a pub. His first venue – Roberts on Oxford – opened in mid-2021, pouring pinot grigio and  pints of Guinness to Perth locals. He’s recently opened a second eponymous venue which draws on his Irish heritage. The expansive Irish pub is decked out with Irish memorabilia and artwork. There are Irish brews like Magners, Kilkenny and Guinness on tap and a wine cellar for those who prefer a vino. The food offering leans traditional with ploughman’s plates, steak sandwiches, spice bags and a Sunday roast with all the trimmings. On Thursday to Sunday there will be live music including location Irish musicians like the Broken Pokers, Two On Tap and Fiona Rea.

88 Rokeby Road, Subiaco