Belfast man visits Ireland’s oldest pub and is stunned by what he finds on floor

The Northern Ireland Traveller took a six-hour round trip to Athlone where he paid a visit to Sean’s Bar which is recognised as the oldest pub in Ireland by the Guinness World Records

A Belfast man travelled three hours to visit the oldest pub in Ireland — and one unique aspect immediately floored him after walking in the door.

Mark Rowan, better known as Stumpy, runs the Northern Ireland Traveller YouTube channel, and his latest adventure saw him visit Athlone. The town borders Westmeath and Roscommon and the content creator insisted that his first pint had to be in the historic Sean’s Bar.

It has been open for more than 1,100 years and although officially recognised as Ireland’s oldest — some claim that it is the world’s oldest too. Speaking outside the famous pub, Stumpy said: “I’ve always wanted to come here and sample a cheeky pint of Guinness in here.

“They’ve been pulling pints in here longer than the castle behind us. The bar was actually built before the castle even existed. So there’s been some amount of pints served out of this bar.”

And after stepping inside, Stumpy turned to his friend, and said: “Mate, look at the floor!” His pal replied: “Sawdust on the floor, I haven’t seen that since I was like five years old.”

Stumpy added: “So, there you go people, this is the bar in here, and look, there genuinely is sawdust on the floor.”

Publicans historically put sawdust on floors to help absorb spilled drinks, vomit and even spit, to make it easier to clean at the end of the night. Back in the 19th century, chewing tobacco and pipe smoking was common practice, and patrons would often spit on the floor, and sawdust helped contain it.

Most pubs stopped putting sawdust on floors by the mid 20th century because of modern flooring and health reasons. However, some old-school boozers, like Sean’s Bar, still have the unique feature.

Stumpy paid €6.30 for his pint of Guinness and before trying it, he said: “Mate, I absolutely love this. Never thought I’d be splitting the G standing on top of sawdust inside a pub in 2026. Absolutely unbelievable.”

Asked about what he thought about the pub, his friend said: “Pub’s exceptional. It might be my favourite ever pub actually.” Stumpy added: “It’s really good. Like proper old school pub.”

He then said it was a “damn good pint” before he summarised his visit: “Absolutely amazing pub. Yes, we would absolutely love to stay on and just sit there all night and wait for the live music starting at 9, but the show must go on boys.”

After uploading the video, which you can watch in full here, one person replied: “I’m from Athlone, really had a good laugh at this, I know a good few characters in the video. Great video and content. I love pub culture.”

Another said Sean’s Bar was “something else” while a third said: “Sean’s Bar Athlone… serving Guinness before Guinness was invented.”