Leederville turns emerald as St Patrick’s Day crowds pack JB O’Reilly’s for record pints of Guinness

The CBD was transformed into a sea of emerald on Tuesday as the Irish and honorary locals alike kicked off St Patrick’s Day with a whole lot of craic.

At the centre of celebrations was Leederville’s JB O’Reilly’s, where staff reported their “biggest” St Patrick’s Day to date.

By 2pm, nearly 1000 punters had already swamped the venue to sink pints of anything Irish.

The expats in the crowd said WA dialled the Irish spirit up to the max.

“Australia does it better than at home because there’s more Irish here than at home,” 25-year-old Shauna Bryan said.

Rachel Dolan, 27, who previously lived in Sydney, declared the Leederville local the best Irish pub in the country.

“I moved here four years ago. I love Australia, it’s turned into Ireland — especially today.

“We don’t really celebrate at home, definitely not as much here, the Aussies just need to make it a bank holiday,

“JB O’Reilly’s is the best Irish pub in Australia. I used to live in Sydney, and here’s way better.”

23-year-old Sarah Evans — who has no Irish heritage — requested the day off work specifically to join the fray after witnessing the fun last year.

“I live down the road, and we just love this pub,” she said.

“We saw how fun it looked last year so we had to come.”

Meanwhile, Jessica Warren, 25, was joining the festivities for one very specific reason.

“I love the Irish men — I am looking for a tall ranger specifically,” she said.

The scale of the celebration is backed by massive demand as Aussies were expected to consume more than 1.2 million litres of Guinness this St Patrick’s Day.