Arthur Mayne’s Pharmacy is a wine bar on Pembroke Street in Cork city centre, inside a chemist’s shop that traded for around 120 years. The old pharmacy was left almost exactly as it was, so you sit among glass cabinets full of vintage medicines, cosmetics and apothecary bottles with a glass of wine in your hand.
It is one of the Cork Heritage Pubs, it backs onto the Crane Lane Theatre, and it is one of the very few places in the city still serving food at 1:30 in the morning.
Arthur Mayne’s Address and How to Find It
Address: 7 Pembroke Street, Cork, T12 VR62
Phone: (021) 427 9449
Website: corkheritagepubs.com
Pembroke Street runs between Oliver Plunkett Street and the South Mall, beside the GPO. Look for the old chemist’s shopfront. Inside, a back door leads out to a long courtyard shared with Crane Lane, so the two are easy to combine in one night.
This is the Cork Arthur Mayne’s. There is also an Arthur Mayne’s on Donnybrook Road in Dublin, which is a different venue.
Opening Hours and Late Night Food
- Bar: open until 2am Sunday to Thursday, and until 2:30am Friday and Saturday
- Kitchen: food until 1:30am, seven nights a week
- Lunch: 12pm to 3pm
- Weekend brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 4pm
Hours can change around bank holidays and big events in the city, so it is worth checking with the bar before a very late visit.
Does Arthur Mayne’s Do Food?
Yes, and late. Food is served from lunchtime right through to 1:30am every night, which makes Arthur Mayne’s one of the best answers in Cork to the question of where to eat after a gig or a show. There are separate brunch, lunch and evening menus. Earlier in the day it is a good spot for coffee and a scone. In the evening the menu turns to tapas-style small plates and sharing boards built to go with the wine.
Arthur Mayne’s Menu: Tapas, Wine and Cocktails
Downstairs is a wine bar first. A long list of wines by the glass and the bottle is poured from behind the old chemist’s counter, and the staff are happy to suggest something to go with your food. The tapas and sharing plates are designed for grazing over a few glasses rather than a formal sit-down dinner.
It is a full bar too, with local beer from Rising Sons and cocktails from the upstairs bar. Menus change through the year, so check the current ones on the Cork Heritage Pubs site before you go.
Upstairs at Arthur Mayne’s: The Cocktail Bar
Up the stairs is a small, low-lit cocktail bar. The building dates from 1720, and this room was once the Willow Pattern restaurant. It survived the Burning of Cork in 1920, and the owners have kept it as close to its original state as they could. It is a quieter, more intimate room than the busy wine bar below, and a good place to finish the night.
From 120 Year Old Chemist to Wine Bar
Arthur Mayne’s was a working chemist’s shop for over a century before Cork publican Benny McCabe turned it into a bar in the early 2010s. Very little was changed on the ground floor. The shop fittings, drawers and display cabinets are all still there, along with stock that was found during the renovation, from old medicine bottles to vintage lipsticks.
The building itself is much older than the pharmacy. Its deeds describe orchards and a boat house, from a time when the River Lee still ran down what is now the South Mall and the city had yet to spread east.
More Late Bars Near Arthur Mayne’s
Arthur Mayne’s is the first stop on our guide to late night bars in Cork. Next door, the Crane Lane Theatre has live music most nights, and An Bróg is a short walk up Oliver Plunkett Street. For more places to drink in the city, see our full list of Cork pubs, or check what’s on in Cork this week.