Every Pub In... Kilcock

I still have a total of one sort-of normal pub to do a first visit to in Dublin, so I will continue my trips to nearby suburban towns to visit their pubs. This trip writeup covers a very brief trip to Kilcock on a sunny, yet also rainy, April afternoon. 

Kilcock had a population of 8,674 as of the 2022 census - easily over 10k now, particularly when you include the large Millerstown housing estate that is actually in County Meath. And it has two pubs.

It had five pubs, in recent-ish memory. Three are currently gone. I'll give a quick roundup on these first before getting on to the two open pubs; but that the town has declined in provision so much is unfortunately not a surprise.

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Kilcock has been blighted with dereliction for my entire life, and while some improvements have happened - the Leaf / Chewits factory has been replaced by housing, and the derelict school buildings on and behind the Square have been renovated and replaced by a large Supervalu; there are still multiple derelict or underused buildings in the town centre, ranging from the extensive Kellys Bakery complex (once a major Guinness bottler) through to two of the closed premises I'm about to mention.

O'Keeffes had a significant fire in February 2023 and has yet to reopen, although occasional social media posts by family members promise that it will. 

The Lion House is to be converted to apartments with a licenced restaurant on site. Work was stopped in Summer 2025 for safety reasons. The building lies extremely derelict.

Corscaddens Hotel closed down a long time ago - it was for sale in 2002 but already looked slightly derelict in the sales photo, and it is unclear if it was trading at the time; but I can find references to events there in 1998. It was definitely shut by 2004 as I have photos I took of various derelict buildings in Kilcock back then, somewhere I can't current lay hands to. Aldi are planning to build a store behind here, and restore the building; but not as a pub or hotel.

But there are still two open pubs here, and the town has a lot of vibrancy to it - it is not all doom and derelict gloom

The Gregory Tavern is a large, rambling, comfortable pub; with a substantial choice of areas to sit and drink inside. It feels like somewhere that might do food, but doesn't - from what I've read, it just doesn't seem to take off when they have tried it in the past. This is a perfectly acceptable outer suburban - or provincial town, take your pick - conventional pub. I'd be more than happy to have this as my local, basically

Murphys is a picture postcard traditional rural pub, with a bar to match - but also has a fairly plush lounge and large well equipped beer garden as other options.

Both pubs could do with offering some independent Irish beers, and should probably first look to the brewery founded in - but which has since moved away from - the town, Rye River, which is widely available in all the neighbouring Kildare towns. 

Drinkers in Kilcock do have, as is often the case, the option of drinking in the local GAA club. In this case, it sits amidst housing estates fairly close to the town centre, and has extensive food offerings in its bar. This may depress demand for pubs in the town, but definitely gives another outlet.

April 2026 Revenue register update

A lot of changes this month in the file, with a rare enough new entry for a "normal" pub, and a bunch of other changes

New

1022732 Daphni, Grand Canal Dock

Reappeared:

N0273 Smyths, Donabate - relicenced to Cairn Homes who intend to redevelop and rent this as a restaurant with pub elements.

Renumbered

1022495 Old Royal Oak - formerly S1509

1022756 Smock Alley Theatre - formerly 1001687

1022924 McSorleys, Ranelagh - formerly S0188

Other change of note:

N2123 The Living Room, Cathal Brugha Street - licence has been reassigned to the Holiday Inn Express hotel which caused its closure for redevelopment. This already has its own public bar. Something is afoot here, but it could just be asset protection, or preparing to sell the licence rather than a reopeing.

EPITR: LEP209 The Lobster Pot

The first addition in quite some time to my Rosses side project, I took this cold and potentially damp April afternoon as a good reason to head out to Burtonport rather than limewash my house; after checking that the Lobster Pot would be open before committing to the walk, and the ferry fare.

Conventionally, this pub - and noted seafood restaurant - only opens five days a week, Wednesday to Sunday; but they added Monday and Tuesday this week due to the Bank Holiday and school holidays. They had a reasonable number of customers, primarily there to eat, during my visit; so I suspect the additional days were worth it.

Burtonport once (in my lifetime - there may have been more before) had four pubs in the core village area, five in the wider area, and a sixth a bit further out; but it now only has the Lobster Pot and LEP208 Jimmy Johnnys, in the imposing former railway hotel building just slightly closer to the sea that the Lobster Pot.

The two pubs are quite the contrast inside - the Lobster Pot being heavily greebled and featuring framed GAA jerseys on the walls and ceilings, with Jimmy Johnnys being comparatively quite modern and austere in decoration terms. The Lobster Pot has Errigal IPA on tap, compared to Errigal Oir lager further down towards the pier.

I didn't eat anything on this visit, mainly because I wasn't hungry; but also because I don't really eat seafood; despite being descended from a fishing, and fishing boat building, family. This is what the premises is really known for, and while I still think I'd prefer to do serious drinking down the road; I doubt you're going to find a better seafood restaurant nearby. And they certainly won't have a proper bar like this place does.

Revisit ~20 Years On: 1014760 The Grattan

I forgot to write this up after having revisted it a few weeks ago; and I definitely think it deserves a revisit writeup for having changed so much in the interim.

An exceptionally long time ago, I went in to the pub in this building - at least three incarnations of pub name let alone operator ago - because the signage outside said they did food; and I wanted food before going to seen Finn Harps play St Pats down the road.

After buying my pint, I found out they did not sell food and had not done so for a very long time. The barman was quite snarky about the painted signs saying they did... 

The pub was dead quiet and astoundingly run down, neither a sign of somewhere that has a bright future ahead of it. I never returned; and soon enough that era of the pub closed down. 

It clearly reopened, and has gone through multiple incarnations since. I think the current one may be Brazilian led - that it has a sushi offering in the building now only further supports this as there is some inexplicable Brazilian sushi connection that we can see elsewhere in Dublin

The new operation bears no resemblance to my last visit. It's clean, its busy and it does actually serve food. I'd still prefer other pubs in Inchicore; but it is at least somewhere you might actually want to drink now.

Revisited pubs March 2026

A month with quite a lot of revisits, and absolutely no new visits  - because there's nothing easy to visit left.

N0006 Brew Dock, many times
N1111 Black Lion
1014760 The Grattan, last visited as the Village Inn
N1123 Slatts 
1017068 Rascals - These last four on a trip to Inchicore for my now annual commemeration of the last proper night out before COVID
S1468 Thomas House
S1447 Drop Dead Twice, freshly reopened after a devasting fire some years ago
S1456 Lark Inn
S1465 Dudleys - written up as Bakers but visited many more times as Dudleys
1008963 Tapped
S0077 Nearys
S0015 Ginger Man
Daphni  - Still unable to get a seat!
1008645 Molloys
N1061 Mooneys
N1074 Madigans North Earl Street
N0191 Pantibar
N1070 Nealons
S3383 Alexander Hotel

Revisit 19 Years On: N1074 Madigans North Earl Street

I last visited this pub the same day as I last visited the previous place - just before going to see Tiësto play in The Point in 2007.

We ended up here as the Abbey Street Madigans didn't serve food - then or possibly ever, I think; but the North Earl Street one did; and the bar staff suggested we go their then sister pub for our dinner.

It still does serve food. It also still looks quite a lot like the Abbey Street no-longer-a-Madigans, with a lot of coloured glass in the internal decoration; and also promo posters in the toilets for Fransican Well beers that neither pub can possibly still sell due to their recent shutdown. 

It's a very central pub, close to where I work and where I have worked most of the time since 2013; but it never comes up in my mind as somewhere to visit. And it likely still won't. 

Revisit 19 Years On: N1061 Mooneys

It's ten seconds before sunrise... or more accurately, its about 6pm on a mid summer Saturday evening; and you've just met up with an acquaintance (a good friends Best Man, eventually) on your way to see the then biggest DJ in the world play his last ever good show in Ireland; only about 7 months since his previous show in the same venue. The linked track is his set opener, starting as you're finally getting through the extremely slow security check.

You end up being appearing on the tour DVD for about three frames of video (I can't find this to link to anywhere, but trust me, it happened).

But beforehand, you go to two city centre pubs - one for pints, and another for dinner, before getting a taxi out to the Point Depot. This is the first of them. 

This isn't a particularly memorable pub - if anything, that it vaguely looks and feels like you're drinking in someone's conservatory is about all there is to remember; and my RetroReview writeup was exceptionally terse due to this.

It's now more notable, to me anyway, for pretending to be a former JG Mooneys premises - the actual Abbey Mooney was two doors down, but a little inaccuracy never hurt a Dublin pub in marketing terms.