What is Barney Kiernan's in Ulysses?
Barney Kiernan's is the pub on Little Britain Street where Episode 12, “Cyclops”, takes place. Bloom goes there to meet Martin Cunningham about Dignam's insurance and ends up in a row with the Citizen, who throws a biscuit tin at him.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Episode 12, Cyclops. Joe Hynes, inviting the unnamed narrator for a drink.
—Come around to Barney Kiernan’s, says Joe. I want to see the citizen.
What it means in plain English
The pub was near the law courts and known for its collection of crime souvenirs.
Bloom flees in a jaunting car while the Citizen hurls the tin after him.
Literary context
The pub no longer exists.
References
- Ulysses, Episode 12, “Cyclops”
- Don Gifford with Robert J. Seidman, Ulysses Annotated (revised edition, 1988)
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Questions readers ask
Is Barney Kiernan's still there?
No, the pub closed long ago.
Related terms
The Citizen
The aggressive nationalist Bloom argues with in 'Cyclops' (Episode 12) — Joyce's one-eyed Cyclops.
“Love, I mean the opposite of hatred”
“Love, says Bloom. I mean the opposite of hatred.” Bloom says this in Barney Kiernan's pub in Episode 12, after the Citizen's attacks on Jews and the English. Asked what real life is, he answers simply that it is love, then leaves, which the drinkers mock.
Throwaway
Throwaway is the outsider horse that wins the Ascot Gold Cup on 16 June 1904, at 20 to 1. Bloom innocently tells Bantam Lyons he was going to “throw away” his newspaper; Lyons takes it as a tip. When Throwaway wins, the pub assumes Bloom won money and is hiding it.