S0971 Leopardstown Inn

The rotating bar is gone.

I only came here for the rotating bar (and to tick it off the list). Bah.

My main takeaway from the now entirely stationary pub is that its a lot, lot smaller than I imagined. The extensive radio advertising (for the rotating bar) made me assume this was an absolutely massive complex. Its not small, but its probably half the size I'd assumed in my mind.

My static pint was fine, but I wanted to get marginally dizzy.

S0397 Byrnes of Galloping Green

A wonderful traditional pub, with a wonderful name, that could be in any rural town in Ireland and yet could also only be in Dublin. Rather hard to describe in words, this is well worth a visit, and has a 46A bus stop right outside it - so no excuse not to visit really.

Amongst the greebling here - an A/B payphone, old photos and old breweryana - is a framed newspaper clipping that has lead to my single highest view count on a post to date.

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(I had actually taken a photo of the framed clipping, but the glass was so reflective you'd mostly see me; not the clipping - so here's the INA version of it)

I didn't manage to get a seat throughout my entire visit here, the pub being that busy - and yet its probably the only pub I'd be willing to go stand in again (at my age, with my knees - I was never told that your body started failing in your 30s).

The outside of the pub has signage stating it to to be the "Philipstown House"; a name I can't find an obvious explanation for - the name of the area on all old maps is Galloping Green, with no suitably named adjoining townlands.

S0400 Stillorgan Orchard

This thatched premises - why are there comparatively so many thatched pubs in suburban South Dublin? - has a few different bars within to choose from, and I went in to the "sports bar".

This felt like a hotel lobby. A nice hotel lobby, but a lobby none the less. One major factor was the provision of living room style couches, facing the large TVs, which are not quite what you expect as normal furniture in a sports bar.

This also wasn't particularly busy, albeit other areas of the pub might have been busier. One of the cheaper pints in SCD, at 5.80 for a Smithwicks on the day of my visit, this might be somewhere to go for a quieter and marginally less wallet-shattering option to watch a match.

S0401 Bolands

After one totally normal, and one totally normal but soggy, pub in this general area I was expecting a third (and a fourth, etc etc). But that I did not get. 

Bolands is quite a large pub, and yet despite its size, is completely decorated inside with music, movie and comic book content/memorabilia. From 7" singles on the ceiling to movie posters on the walls, there isn't really an inch left without some form of pop culture decoration. It's certainly a change from the oil cans and anvils greebling that many other pubs have.

The pub wasn't massively busy for the time of day, and particularly compared to the Millhouse; but we'll see that trend a bit further in the next pub. The area may be slightly over-provided with pubs; even with the complicated restaurant-bar-then-nightclub of Blakes / Burn / whatever you remember it as across the road being a cleared site now

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The pub has been up for sale a few times in recent years - 2017 and 2022 - but I'm not sure if it has actually changed hands.

1013865 The Millhouse

Have you ever wanted to experience a hybrid of a sauna and a pub? Because you can in Stillorgan.

Walking along the outside of this pub, I noticed that all the windows were covered in condensation inside; and on entering the premises I was hit by a wall of wet - I am not used to having steamed up glasses on a dry day; but I got them here.

This appears to be a side effect of the kitchens here; but every other pub that does food manages to not sweat out the customers in the process

I'm sure the pub is nice enough to sit in when its *not* serving food; but I was happy to knock my pint and get out in to the cool February air outside to dry off. 

Revisited Pubs March 2024

Only some absolute regulars this month:

N0006 Brew Dock -  waiting for a train and needing dinner

N0053 Graingers - waiting for a train without needing dinner

S0254 O'Dwyers

On a bus trip some weeks after visiting O'Dwyers, I saw a promotional banner for a printers stating something along the lines of "a business with no sign as a sign of no business". And indeed, O'Dwyers has basically no signs for itself, being externally swamped by signs for Scotts - the restaurant upstairs from it. But it still exists.

Inside has a bit of a sign overload also, which placards on every table and at multiple locations behind the bar flagging the presence of allergen info for customers. This type of strong notification can come from a negative event; which I really hope is not the case here. Having a non-anaphylactic peanut allergy, I do occasionally check the allergen info folders when eating and I do want to know that they are there - but they legally have to be these days.

Once you can find your way through the sea of signs, there's a decent pub underneath them all.