Pots of gold as taps flow to mark St Patrick’s Day

Rachael Ward |

The Jones family were among revellers celebrating St Patrick’s Day at Melbourne’s Irish Times Pub.
The Jones family were among revellers celebrating St Patrick’s Day at Melbourne’s Irish Times Pub.

Laughter, cheers and the unmistakeable sound of an Irish fiddle echo around The Irish Times Pub where Guinness is the order of the day and the tap rarely stops flowing.

The consensus is everyone is either Irish or Irish enough in spirit to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, with the Melbourne institution already packed early on Monday afternoon.

“We’ve been out since about 8am – came early for a breakfast but they didn’t have the breakfast available so we started drinking Guinness, as you do,” Paul Jones told AAP.

People drinking on St Patrick's Day
Australians have been stepping out in green to grab a pint of Guinness to mark St Patrick’s Day. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

“It’s just a great day. The atmosphere is brilliant, the people are great and we’re here for a good night.”

It’s a common theme, with visitors and locals bouncing between Irish pubs to take full advantage of the city’s celebrations.

Mr Jones was one of many leprechauns standing by the bar, with dozens of revellers donning green hats, jerseys and feather boas.

Dogs dressed for St Patrick's Day
Dogs Lucy and Larry joined St Patrick’s Day celebrations at The Merc street party in Sydney. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

Hunter Valley residents Mandy and Patrick Kennedy started the day not knowing anyone but quickly made friends with Steph and Hannah from the Gold Coast.

“We just met them today. We met at another pub. We’ve pub crawled the Irish Pubs today,” Ms Kennedy said with a laugh.

Many tourists were visiting for the Formula One Grand Prix and stopped by before heading home later in the day.

St Patrick's Day dancers
The day has become a celebration of Irish culture marked in Irish establishments around the world. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

“Our flight’s at five so we have to be somewhat sensible,” Steph said.

“We’re on our fifth,” friend Hannah added with a grin.

Rose Hanley and Won Lim planned to go ice skating after a quick pint but their plans went out the window as they struck up a conversation with Nat and Matt Polglase.

“I said sit down, join us and have a drink so we’ve been sitting down here, chatting, laughing and exchanging stories,” Ms Hanley said.

Revellers celebrate in The Irish Times pub
Patrons at The Irish Times Pub were Irish or Irish enough in spirit to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. (Nadir Kinani/AAP PHOTOS)

St Patrick’s Day is marked on March 17 each year with a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

It was originally a religious event in honour of Ireland’s patron saint and has become a celebration of Irish culture marked in Irish establishments around the world.

The Chicago River in the United States is dyed green and New York’s Fifth Avenue is shut down for a major parade each year.

AAP