Thomas Connolly's Bar - Weekly Trad Session (Friday)

Thomas Connolly’s, one of Sligo town’s best known heritage pubs, hosts a traditional Irish music session on Friday nights on Markievicz Road. The bar is a well preserved Victorian pub with ornate stained glass and original fittings, a listed attraction in its own right, and Friday night trad has become one of its regular weekly features alongside its whiskey bar reputation.

What to Expect

Sessions have been noted starting from around 10pm on Friday nights, with local listing sites tracking the pub as a recurring trad venue on more than one Friday through the summer. Musicians play in the bar itself rather than a separate room, fitting with the pub’s character as a genuine working local rather than a purpose-built music venue. Thomas Connolly’s dates back over a century and is regularly cited as one of the most atmospheric pubs in the west of Ireland, with its interior of dark wood, stained glass and antique fittings largely unchanged. A Friday night session here pairs well with a walk around the rest of Sligo town centre, which is a short walk from Markievicz Road, and with the other Friday trad sessions running the same night at Earley’s Bar and The Harp Tavern. The pub has also hosted swing and jazz sets on other nights of the week, so the bar’s music programme is not limited to trad alone, though Friday is the night most consistently associated with a proper session.

Good to Know

• Date: Friday nights, next on Friday, 7 August 2026
• Time: from around 10:00pm
• Venue: Thomas Connolly’s Bar, Markievicz Road, Sligo town
• Price: free entry
• Recurrence: weekly, Friday nights, based on sessions observed on multiple different Fridays

Getting There

Thomas Connolly’s is on Markievicz Road in Sligo town centre, within easy walking distance of the bus and rail station and the main town centre car parks. There is more to see in Sligo and across Co. Sligo.