Today - the 29th of December - I had reason to walk back in to city centre from the South Docks, and I popped in to every pub on the way that was open. Which isn't that many.
But if I'd made the same walk at some point in the past - lets go for for 120 years ago - I would have passed enough that a pint per pub would probably have resulted in my hospitalisation.
The first pub I passed, and entered, is S0153 The Ferryman. This now currently reaches to the corner of John Rogersons Quay and Macken Street; but the corner unit with Macken Street was originally a separate pub. I last have it tracked as Floods in 1907 - while the Ferryman was Dunnes. The Ferryman expanded in to this unit quite some time ago.
Assuming a mid (19)00s walk, the next pub I am aware that we would have passed was Dunnes at 23 John Rogerons Quay. I have this tracked in the 1910s, but it is gone by the 1943 Thoms listing.
Not too far along, at 16 John Rogersons Quay, was the Twangman, last tracked by me in 1981. Next door was - and is, in so far as the building still exists - Columbia Mills, at 14-15; and I suspect this may have used the Twangman's licence. This famed nightclub isn't actually that well recorded, but appears as The Waterfront in this 1989 RTÉ footage.
As we keep walking in, we cross the quayside exit of the L-shaped Windmill Lane, the street that named the studios that moved 35 years ago; and then we come across the site of the docklands newest dead pub - The Jolly Roger at 8-11 John Rogersons Quay.
The late 80s/early 90s use of the since replaced buildings on this site was the Riverside Centre, a conference and events centre which contained a private rental only - but fully licenced as a conventional pub - bar called the Jolly Roger. I suspect this is somewhere close to the least recorded modern era pub to have existed in Dublin, albeit I know of some more with even less proof that they ever existed. This wasn't here in a putative 1905 walk, but it should be mentioned.
Almost next door, and only hanging on in our assumed 1905 walk, was Delaneys at number 6. I have tracked this as closing in 1906. However, actually next door to this, we can go in to one of Dublin's rare Lazarus pubs, 1017216 Dockers. This pub existed in the 1900s, as Farrells; and exists now - but was closed for over 15 years and assumed to be doomed to redevelopment. The current pub is twice the width and has a new interior as well as a new licence; but is on the site of a pub that existed in the past, with one of the names it traded under.
This in 2025 results in my second pint, as compared to at least 6 in 1905. We now cross on to City Quay, which has been heavily redeveloped and hence nothing remains of the next three pubs. At 43 would have been Dooleys, at 37 Walshs, and at 33 McEvoys.
The next pub along then was Coles at 24 City Quay, a site that like Colombia Mills before it, was far more important in its latter (and likely last) use as a licenced premises. This was the site of The Funnel, a dance music venue that was very important during its brief life of 1997-1999; but closed for good in 1999.
Continuing along, past the Matt Talbot Bridge that was over seven decades away in 1905, there is Lanigan's pub. Further along, and well in to Georges Quay, we hit Duncans - possibly gone by 1905 - and next door Smith's Shamrock House. We've gone quite a distance without a pint in 2025, versus a further 7 in 1905 (bringing us to 13), before we get to S0022 The Workshop, or Ryan's back then. It was closed today, however, so make that 14 for 2 for 1905.
The next pub we hit would have been Walshes at 4 Georges Quay, which was most latterly known as the Silver Swan. The licence from here was transferred, after its ramshackle tacked-on nightclub was deemed a fire hazard, to a new pub in a converted food factory in Artane.
That new premises retained the Silver Swan name for it's bar, but used the name Stardust for its large nightclub, a name that should remain etched in to the memories of everyone involved in the pub and entertainment industry in Ireland forevermore.
The next premises we pass was still a pub in the era which I have licencing records for; but I never visited it. Ennis's in 1905, otherwise S0020 The Dark Horse, or the White Horse depending on the specific era you remember it, was a noted indie gig venue that hosted an early Green Day gig and also latterly made good use of its early house licence to host dance music events on Bank Holiday Monday mornings. It closed as a pub less than six weeks before I began this blog, so we end up 17 for 2 at this point.
We're not done with notable premises just yet. The next pub along would have been The Scotch House then, and the Scotch House until its demise. A notable Irish Press journalist pub, and a striking lump of a building, this pub had vague Joycean connections to add literary connections to its fourth estate credentials. We continue.
Finally, finally, I get another pint. In S0005 JR Mahons - or the Crystal Bar, at the time of our 1905 walk - I can get house branded beers made by Hopkins & Hopkins (but no longer on-site, as they were when I made the visit written up in the link); and sit in a much modified premises that still shows some signs of its age.
S0967 the River Bar effectively next door is a "new" build from the 1960s, and probably a new licence from that time too - Powers (at our era), latterly McDaids White House which sat to the rear of the site presumably gave its licence to the exceptionally low numbered S0007 Soho in the basement of the building behind. This gave me enough reason to not need to include it on this trip - McDaid's didn't open to the quays, and the River Bar wasn't there in 1905!
3 pints for 20. I know which walk I'd have preferred to have done from a historical perspective; but I also know which one my doctor prefers that I did do!
