Every Pub in Dublin
Sunday 17 March 2024
DG0478 Man O'War
Thursday 14 March 2024
DG0488 Balscadden Inn
Monday 11 March 2024
Revisited Pubs February 2024
Thursday 7 March 2024
March 2024 Register Update
Tiny update this month, just the one thing of note
New:
1020862 NYX Hotel, Portobello - new hotel from what was Jurys Inns at Portobello Harbour
Tuesday 5 March 2024
N2258 Salmons
Another pub where it was rather awkward to actually get to the bar to get a pint. I wonder if I start a campaign to keep a drink orderers area clear - rather like the service area often left clear in pubs for staff - if anyone else would support it.
This is another Very Very Big Pub, in a suburban shopping centre. The current pub building is an early 2000s build, replacing the previous structure which was destroyed in a gas explosion in 1999.
I believe the new build may have moved slightly from the original footprint, with the original site having lain empty until a new Iceland - now becoming a Tesco after Iceland's second exit from the Irish market - store was built on it a few years ago.
The large lounge area has a larger dart board... painted on the wall around the normal size one. I might be able to consistently hit the outer one, I suspect.
A busy enough premises even as the match was drawing to a close, I was able to get a table under one of the TVs after having found it slightly difficult to actually get to the bar. For my second pint, this was ordered over the people at the bar and dropped down by the staff - so the crowding on the bar stools isn't actually a problem.
The pub has kitchens, but they were not operating when I visited; and this made me go a little quicker after realising I could make a train home in time for dinner rather than need to source food elsewhere.
Thursday 29 February 2024
N1433 Hartstown House
This area of Dublin's suburbia received relatively few pubs compared to earlier built areas; and those that were built were all roughly 1km away from each other, forming an accidental grid of sorts. This isn't easily identifiable on my pub map, particularly as the Blakes Tavern is now a Lidl and the Blanchardstown Centre has brought an absolute rake of licences to the area, but it does explain why some of the pubs are Very Very Big.
The Hartstown House is one of these Very Very Big pubs. It was also quite busy when I visited, with a large crowd watching a match on a projector TV - something once very common in Dublin pubs but now fading away, mainly because normal TVs are starting to get big enough and its easier to have multiple TVs rather than design the entire pub interior to face a projector screen.
This pub is run by the Meagher family, who also run the beautifully restored Meaghers on Eden Quay, and S0967 River Bar across the Liffey from it, so this visit here finishes off one of the smaller pub chains in the city.
Monday 26 February 2024
1002519 Hungry Tree
This pub has very recently rebranded, so recently in fact that they haven't removed all of the old branding yet
As the new name might suggest - I say might, as I'm not sure its actually intended to - there is a bit of a focus on food here, with most of the floor area set up as a restaurant when I visited. However, there is a corner of the bar - a giant snug, if you wish - reserved for drinking alone.
The current name is a little confusing to those who know the, Hungry Tree to be the tree that is slowly consuming a park bench off Constitution Hill, which is nowhere near this pub.
This area is perfectly acceptable for that purpose, although the pint options were a tad lacking. Both the dining area and this drinking area were relatively busy for a Sunday during January.
What is notable about this pub is that it is in a planned suburban residential development - albeit one that was set up to have a "village centre" feel with a core of retail. While pubs in planned developments are not new - they go back to the 30s if not before - they tailed off in the 1980s and some of the more recent ones have simply not taken. For example, the pub unit in Tyrrellstown has not been open for ~9 years; and has recently had its licence listed for sale and transfer; the landlord clearly giving up on it.
This pub clearly has taken root, and has been open under different names for a decent length of time.