{"id":49487,"date":"2026-05-03T19:37:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T11:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=49487"},"modified":"2026-05-03T19:37:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T11:37:34","slug":"how-this-irish-pub-is-helping-turn-a-quiet-seoul-neighbourhood-into-a-cultural-hotspot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=49487","title":{"rendered":"How this Irish pub is helping turn a quiet Seoul neighbourhood into a cultural hotspot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/05\/01\/b3765b15-4f33-48c0-8ca3-ca569edc8d43_90a721ce.jpg?itok=mMJMn-Yr&amp;v=1777611013\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">For many foreign Seoulites, the name \u201cNowon\u201d is more familiar as a punchline than a place. Beyond the long-running joke that the city\u2019s northeastern district\u2019s name sounds like \u201cno one\u201d, there is not a whole lot that is widely known about it.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">For most, it is regarded as a quiet residential district filled with apartment blocks and cram school clusters, not <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">nightlife<\/span> or cultural flair.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But Kelly\u2019s Pub, nestled above a street near Gongneung Station, is a sign that Nowon is no longer a blank spot on the city\u2019s cultural map.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The small, wood-trimmed bar, run by Irish-American expat Brendan Kelly and his wife, has become a surprising gathering place for locals as well as the steadily growing foreign community finding its footing in northeastern <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Seoul<\/span>.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Kelly\u2019s Pub is not a themed bar, nor is it trying to import the heavy, old-world aesthetic of a classic Irish tavern. \u201cHonestly, I just wanted a lot of wood,\u201d Kelly says with a laugh.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The interior is brighter than a traditional pub \u2013 intentionally so. \u201cWe\u2019re on the second floor and a little hard to spot, so I didn\u2019t want it to feel too dark or mysterious,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/travel-leisure\/article\/3352112\/how-irish-pub-helping-turn-quiet-seoul-neighbourhood-cultural-hotspot?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many foreign Seoulites, the name \u201cNowon\u201d is more familiar as a punchline than a place. Beyond the long-running joke that the city\u2019s northeastern district\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7812,4830,4271,11521,3021,7718,3141,1645,1158],"class_list":["post-49487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-cultural","tag-helping","tag-hotspot","tag-irish","tag-neighbourhood","tag-pub","tag-quiet","tag-seoul","tag-turn","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}