The Lir — Restaurant in Berlin

I've been coming to your pub for several years now, with friends, family, and with work, and I'm a local who's been in Moabit for well over a decade. I love your pub, the friendly table service (a rarity both before and after Covid), and the atmosphere which is normally great. The service industry is tough, but you manage to do a great job of keeping people happy, which is no easy task, I appreciate that.

Anyway, I'm drinking at yours tonight, just reading a few things for work, and there was a group of three young people drinking at the table next to mine, later joined by several friends who didn't buy any drinks. They were having a good time. No problem. Fine. Laugh, drink, tap your expensive smartphones, rattle your jewelry, whatever.

But when one of the women in the group started vaping and blowing smoke across the bar, I went over and said something. I told her that it makes me cough and asked her if she could go outside with all the other smokers. In reply, she said that "it's not smoke" and "the bar staff said it was fine".

After this, I was hopeful that she'd go outside to vape but 30 minutes later, the same woman was vaping again. I could smell this immediately (a childhood spent living with a chain smoker helps in these situations) and I objected again. I went over and said that "What would happen if everyone in here was vaping - would that be ok?" She just repeated that the bar staff said this it was fine to vape, and implied that it was my problem and not hers.

You'd be surprised how difficult it is these days just to sit somewhere and do something as simple as read a book. Nobody in the bar came up to me for turning the pages loudly, or complained that the sound of my red pen underlining a sentence here and there was giving them a migraine and could I please stop with all the readering because it offended them.

But when I suggest to this young women, and her friends, that if they could just smoke outside it wouldn't be any great loss - you'd still get your nicotine fix, and as it's summer you won't be encountering any blizzards or monsoons - I'm treated like an alien. And when I tell the bar staff that I'm leaving because I don't want to be around smoke because it makes me cough, I'm told that "it's just water vapour", "we allow vaping here", and "you're just being a drama queen" which is just disrespectful.

Firstly, it's not true that the smoke from vaping is "just water vapour": "E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke. The liquid and vapour contain some potentially harmful chemicals also found in cigarette smoke, but at a much lower level." (https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/using-e-cigarettes-to-stop-smoking/)

Also, I'm not especially proud of myself that, on leaving the pub, I told this group of young people where to go for being so inconsiderate, but it's frustrating when someone knows they're diminishing your enjoyment of a public space, you've told them that this is what is happening and perhaps it would be nice if they could do something else which wouldn't be any bother to them, and they simply don't give a ** (and neither do the bar staff).

Vaping is a legal grey area in Germany, so far, I realise that. And maybe I am just being a prima donna. It's your bar and you're entitled to do whatever you want, but if you allow people to blow out smoke in the bar (of whatever kind), then I won't...

No trip to Berlin would be complete without a visit to this most gorgeous of Irish pub's. A superb interior with beer and Guinness posters and enamels plastered all over the pub and all the bric a brac you come to expect to find in a good Irish pub. There are plenty of seating options both inside and out and all in all its one fabulous place to enjoy a nice drink or a meal. We were here on a Friday night and the pub was bouncing with a cracking atmosphere,we ordered a pint of Guinness each and this was served in absolutely perfect condition,poured in the correct manner even allowing time for the all important settle and we just kicked back and chilled out and soaked up the great atmosphere of this pub while enjoying our delicious Guinness. This is most certainly a pub i always love to go especially if I am in the need of a couple of pints of the" black stuff" and the Guinness served in here is as good as any were in Berlin. We moved on after a couple of pints but as on every other visit to here we had a great time. Very easy to locate by jumping the Sbahn ( 5.7.75 ) to stop Bellevue and walk down Flensburgerstraße were you will find this superb Irish pub. Opening hours are; Monday to Sunday,5pm till 2am. a superb Irish pub in a great location and well worth...

Great little spot with plenty of outdoor and indoor seating. The service is outstanding, the staff are friendly, welcoming, making sure you've got drinks or food, they were attentive and chatty without constantly asking if you need anything, or if everything was alright with your food etc. We watched the football that was being projected on the wall. There was a great atmosphere without being rowdy. It's down a leafy side street, slightly off the beaten path, a quiet piece of Berlin, so once we'd finished watching the football we chilled out with a drink at one of the outdoor tables and ate some food. The menu shows numbers and letters next to each dish along with a key which made it easy to select food that was Gluten Free. We just got some cheesy chips with a side of slaw, it was simple and delicious, just what you want to line your stomach ready for more drinks. The food that came out the kitchen all looked amazing, I didn't see anyone waiting or complaining about their food. While we were there we saw one of the staff bringing in the ingredients for the chef and it was all fresh, this became obvious when we ate the slaw, it was crunchy and flavoursome...