Every Pub In Lexlip

Some of Leixlip is in Dublin, so I have already been to its pub, airport bar and hotels, current and former.

Most of it is not, and I had mostly not drunk there. Lets fix that:

KDP0170 Riverforest Hotel

A 2* hotel in a shopping centre - sounds enticing I'm sure - but the bar here is the main attraction for me and likely creates most of its trade. Indeed the door to reception was closed and told people to go to the bar.

It's a large single room bar and lounge in one, with a small - but not separated - secondary bar area that is vaguely nautical themed. We are on Captains Hill, after all, assuming I've understood the reason why they have portholes and ship steering wheels here. 

A hotel in a shopping centre is a *very* odd choice, but it appears to work for them - this is its 35th year open. The bar was very busy too.

KDP0018 TOWN Leixlip

A part of the RHK group, who run relatively fancy pubs in suburban areas; this is a relatively fancy pub in a suburban area.

As I walked up, the doorman on a pub - I don't like pubs having bouncers during the day, but let this one run out - moved to open the door in front of me. 

This reminded me that I'm fairly certain I was once refused entry here in a previous incarnation (and previous ownership) for not meeting the dresscode, and the pub was much less fancy then. 

I wear basically the same clothes I've worn since I was 18. Fashion has changed, not me!

They were seating people at specific tables here when I was in, but they offered me options for just drinks - high tables or the bar. I went to the bar, which does seem to specialise in cocktails, but also has a solid range of Irish independently brewed beers too. I'm not entirely sure its my kind of bar, decor wise; but I'd have no problems popping back in for beers anyway.

KDP0120 The Middle Shop

I went in to the fairly tiny bar section here, but there is a larger lounge. Very much a racing bar, at least when I dropped in.

Previously visited:

Courtyard Hotel

A boomtime hotel development which includes the site of the original Guinness brewery (or does it? This stuff is so difficult to nail down properly, argue amongst yourselves in the comments).

The licence does not appear on the renewals list yet this year, and I don't hold archived Kildare records at hand, but it is open.

The bar here was weirdly popular with people from around the county in the time after it opened, so I ended up drinking here quite a lot. But I have only eaten breakfast here a few times in the past ~20 years.

Closed venues: 

Leixlip has more long term closed or completely gone pubs than the other surrounding towns. The Hitching Post, a famed music venue, was replaced by a Lidl, and Aldi did for the Ryevale Tavern / Ozone nightclub. 

Various small hotels in and around the town may have had but were not commonly used as bars by the locals, as far as I know. One might still have a licence, but it's not on the register, I'll fix that if it turns up!

It should be noted that Leixlip has two GAA clubs and I believe both bars are very popular, with one effectively serving as the pub-substitute (pubstitute?) for a huge area of 50s-80s housing developments to one side of the town. It even looks like a provincial town pub from the outside.

Revisited pubs, February 2026

A month of no new visits, as is now normal; and quite a bit of revisiting.

N1194 West County Hotel, Chapelizod - I was so unsure as to whether I'd actually had a drink here, and that it was approaching if not over 20 years ago anyway that I decided to make sure

N1114 Sean Bar, Chapelizod - last visited as the Bridge Inn, when run by Carrig Brewing

N0215 Fidelty, Queen Street

N0213 Frank Ryans, Queen Street - back within weeks, but mainly because nowhere nearby or that I was planning to go to does food otherwise.

S1472 Liffey Saint, Ushers Quay - last in this when it was Pifko 

S1470 Swift, Thomas Street - last visited as the entirely different, insane, Agnes Brownes. No Clubland 2 CD this time

S1465 Dudleys, Thomas Street - last written up as Bakers, but I have been here since

S1468 Thomas House, Thomas Street

N0006 Brew Dock, Amiens Street

N0082 McGraths, Drumcondra

Revisit? 20 years on: N1194 West County Hotel

I've been here quite a lot before, as I mentioned in the tiny RetroReview writeup. But on mature recollection, I'm not sure I'd ever actually drunk here.

With a now deceased elderly relative having been a long term resident of the sheltered accommodation, and then care home, a bit down the road; I was certainly here for plenty of carvery dinners, and even a funeral afters. But I don't think I drank at any of those - they moved there when I was a teenager, so the earlier ones were underage (and with my parents!) and the latter ones were driving. 

What better time to make absolutely sure than go back for a pint now?

The hotel bar is basically the local pub for this end of Chapelizod, and possibly even some of Ballyfermot but those willing to deal with the hill on the way back; but is very much set up as a carvery serving venue rather than a more pub-like setup like some other suburban hotels. It hasn't changed much since my last visit either. The drink selection is quite poor, even for a hotel bar really.

It serves its purposes, basically.

Revisit 20 years on: N0144 Kennedys

My writeup of my ~20 years ago trip here was terse, and this one won't be much longer.

A single (large) room pub of a type common enough in inner suburbs, but not really similar to any others near it, and with an exterior that wouldn't look out of place in London (green tiles); Kennedys is also a guesthouse. And there isn't a huge amount to say about it.

It was somewhat busier than Fagans on the day I visited both of them, and with more drinkers than diners - the reverse of Fagans crowds - but it was a dreary afternoon early in the year.

Revisit 20 years on: N0145 Fagans

When I last visited here, in ~2006ish, there were some oddities with staff attitudes - rather than telling us they simply didn't want to show a lower league football game that was on Sky, they claimed their satellite setup was broken. We returned after watching it in the adjacent pub (which I also revisited on the same day for its 20 years on go), and everything was miraculously working for the Premier League game that was on instead. 

There were some oddities again, with staff seeming disinterested in servicing the bar; and also being oddly protective of tables as if some hordes were about to arrive for food service.

I wasn't asking to see a Brighton game, and indeed they are no longer lower league anyway, so there's far less chance of being lied to about faulty kit (or just told no, or having the channel changed half way through), but I do wonder if something would have come up as a problem if I had!

I don't think much else has changed here in the intervening 20 years, either, except possibly a slight increase in the range of drinks on offer.

February 2026 Revenue register update

One new entry and one renumber this month, and a change of licence details that's worth mentioning

New:

1022775 Díon, Dame Street - pubstaurant that currently requires bookings, or else I'd have ticked it off by now. 

Renumber:

1022738 The Globe - formerly S0138 and also once S4542 as a theatre licence on top of this. The adjoining Hoxton Hotel has not yet been re-licenced from its old number but I expect this to happen.

Change of Details

N0197 Soup2 / Taproom47 - licence holder changed to a company connected to the Bambino pizza operation. They had previously been slated to take over the (also connected ownership) original location of Token, but this is now known not to be happening. 

Revisited pubs, January 2026

A month of being mostly sick, or mildly injured; or sick *and* mildly injured resulted in less visits than most Januaries. 

 

Zero new and a handful of old made up this months trips; which were also very heavily laden to the end of the month.

S0018 Bowes - twice in three months after a 20 year gap!

N0213 Frank Ryans - only 15 years or so

N0192 Bonobo - overdue a written post for here, as my initial visit was when this was a very different pub, The Richmond

N0084 Black Sheep

N0191 Pantibar

N1129 Ball Alley House 

N0020 Juno - another pub where the writeup is a previous, very different, incarnation

N0145 Fagans

N0144 Kennedys - these two were visited as it is 20 or more years since I was last in them. There may or may not be a revisit writeup for them, as neither had really changed or has much to write about! 

N0082 McGraths