July 2025 Revenue register update

Nothing*, again. Actually the smallest update I've ever processed.

 

*(well, there's a new liquor licenced boat, for Howth Cliff Cruises, but I'm dropping boats as they completely fail the quack test of being pubs...) 

S2261 Spawell / D'Arcy McGees

Getting to this pub felt like going to urbex somewhere, as I entered the Spawell compound through a hole in the fence.

This wasn't planned, but poor bus connections meant I walked much of the way from the previous pub, and this gap took half a kilometre off the distance. 

I had been here once before, many many many years ago, as an underage teenager, not drinking - a long story involving a long wait for the AA to come take a look at someones car - but I decided that didn't count as a visit. As far as I can remember, the interior looks completely different to well over 20 years ago - what a surprise!

I was possibly the only person in the place not there for carvery, and it felt like half of Tallaght and Templeogue were both there for that. There's even a more school dining room style section of the place. But this is a pub, with a pub licence (despite being in the middle of a sports complex) and I'd presume when the carvery demand dies off it feels more like a normal pub too.

S2636 Penny Black

A large suburban pub with awkward public transport access... however did this end up so close to the end of the list?

If you approach this from the South, you may see the hulk of a building within the Castletymon Shopping Centre which looks like an 70s estate pub. This isn't the Penny Black, this is the former library of all things, which has been replaced by a much more modern building. 

The Penny Black is actually from the late 80s, in a more traditional looking building around the side of the shopping centre, complete with a small clock tower - a feature a few pubs from then had. It is also quite traditional inside, albeit with mostly an open plan layout like most "newer" pubs ("newer" meaning "about as old as me" is a bit of a stretch; but when there's so many 100+ year old pubs around, they are newer).

There's a sort-of "museum" snug section near the front, mostly consisting of photos, covers Dublin trams amongst other things - despite this pub not being terribly near either the original or current trams serving Tallaght; and due to that, it was mostly O'Connell Street stuff that I remember seeing!

S2818 House Dublin

Another "Cian goes ticking on Sundays" problem venue, as this only opens for brunch on Sundays and I don't think opens on Bank Holidays at all; and the first two times I tried it fell down at this hurdle.

Third time lucky actually worked in this instance, and I was admitted and seated at the bar - albeit I was offered tables, it was middlingly busy and I felt they may want those for diners rather than drinkers.

This isn't really my kind of bar - cocktails and southside partying - but I don't think I'd have fit in during its past era when this was a hotel with a nightclub rather than a hotel with a large bar-restaurant instead.

1015609 'Ohana

Dublin's only tiki bar, and also possibly the conventionally licenced bar with the most restrictive, yet regular, opening hours in the city - being open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from early evening/late afternoon only. I do a lot of my ticking trips on Sundays (for quieter pubs) and usually try end them by about 8, so this evaded me for years as a result.

It doesn't have fake rain, a feature of many tiki bars (provided by anything from lighting effects through to a hose in some places) which is allegedly designed to encourage drinkers to stay longer; but the Irish weather obliged with the real stuff, so I did actually stay for a further cocktail.

In addition the cocktail menu - of the types of cocktails you get in tiki bars, so don't necessarily expect the classics that other cocktail bars do - there's an immense rum selection here. The current claim on the menu is of over 150 different bottles available

1012980 Irish Whiskey Museum

This independent (as in non distillery owned) whiskey museum opened a number of years ago; but I assumed you had to go on a tour and just hadn't got around to arranging one.

However, when passing to go somewhere else, I noticed a sign suggesting you could come in to watch the rugby - which wasn't actually on that day - and headed up.

There is a very small bar here that is before the ticket desk, and which you do not need to pay for a ticket to visit. It has even less taps than you might imagine for its diminutive size, but has a huge whiskey list - many of them at exceptionally competitive prices.

I didn't go for anything adventurous, just having a Black Bush for the same price you'd pay for Bushmills (white) anywhere nearby; and this was far from the only good value option there.

I wouldn't try get in here with a crowd - you simply won't fit - but it's definitely worth a look if going as a couple or on your own.

1012867 Temple Bar Inn

This hotel has one of the largest bar/restaurants I've seen in a newer hotel; and when I visited, basically no other customers - two English women, hotel residents, were finishing up and left while I was there.

Part of this is that there is no indication from outside that the bar is even here, and indeed initially there was no bar when the hotel first opened - it bought in the licence from N0741 Edenmore House a year or so after opening.

The hotel surrounds the Tesco on the ground floor of its building - the reception, restaurant and bar are under the Tesco and the rooms above. You need to go down the stairs or lifts immediately after entering, and may need to tell the security guard what you're doing - but there are no problems going in.

If you really need to meet someone in/near Temple Bar, and don't like how busy everywhere else is, this should be perfect - until enough people have realised it's here, I guess.