1020980 Glasshouse

This visit was in September, but it appears that I forgot to add it to the queue at the time and only noticed when I wanted to actually link to the writeup!

A "glass box restaurant" - apparently, that's a thing these days - the ground floor here is primarily a bar area and you do not need to eat to get in here. Replacing, albeit not directly, the second Harrys Bar; named after Harry Crosbie and connected with the 3Arena/Point Depot across the square; this is part of the development of the Exo building and brings a bit more life to the area on non-gig evenings.

The interior is rather full of plants, and lights, which does bring the idea that you may be drinking in either a garden centre or a lighting showroom at times.

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In the ranking of bars around here, it's an improvement on drinking in 10180000 Beckett Locke, but I'd still try get in to 1015426 Rubys

Licence register update, March 2025

 Two small changes for March, nothing massively major though:

Reappearances

N0055 74 Talbot / Mother Kellys, Talbot Street - reappears after a while away.  Still the same operator - the Irish Craft Whiskey Company - who have held the licence for some time (since late 2021), but re-appearing may indicate movement. This pub closed in March 2020 and has not operated since, but was on the register most of the time.

N0869 Donaghmede Inn - this pub also closed March 2020, and got within days of reopening after a refurb, but didn't. It was re-listed for rent yesterday.

S1575 Annie Mays

For a year and a bit, this was the nearest Dublin pub to my house that I hadn't visited - but the BusConnects W6 route was finally stitched together, and it's now fairly quick to get there.

It's also managed (and I believe part owned, at least according to the Irish Times) by one of my near neighbours, so I'm happy I have nothing bad to say about the pub - because Eugene knows where I live! 

The only pub left in Newcastle, after fires at McEvoys and Pollyhops; this is a large enough pub as befits its position as the only watering hole in a large enough town.

Formerly The Gondola, quite a bit of cash has been spent on the pub since the change of ownership; improving the external appearance and giving it a pretty nice interior. There's a quieter front bar section, where I think I was immediately noticed by the management on entering, but as someone he'd recognise from his previous pubs rather than as some form of reviewer, thankfully - and a very large lounge/dining room out back.

Bus stop is right outside, so this is a convenient place to pop in if you're passing on the W6.

NecroReview: 1001897 Bunker

Some work on cleaning up lists made me realise that two premises were left of my "pubs visited pre 2016" list that have since closed. In this case, it was temporarily off the licence register when I made that list.

Bunker is yet another dead club space in Dublin; but it was only this temporarily - this was the second generation Harry's Bar; the bar area of the 3Arena/Point Depot, and echoing an original Harrys Bar in the original Point.

The bar was completely underground, accessed from either its own staircase entrance or through one of the exits from the underground carpark of the Point Square. It was built to be in the basement of the Watchtower building; which never got above ground level.

A dark and slightly awkwardly laid out place to work as a club space, it still got used as such due to the hideous lack of them in Dublin. 

The venue has been physically dug up as part of the construction of the Exo Building and 1020980 Glasshouse.

1002238 Jobstown House

One of the most historic suburban pubs, this large and nicely appointed old roadhouse has even survived a CPO for the development of the large housing estates that surround it.

Owned by the same family for three generations, the pub walls are covered with various historic artefacts. As is often the case, it is some documentation that caught my eye first

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But I was interested in what appeared to be a painting of a *different* pub on the wall in the bar - I couldn't surreptitiously get a photo, but it did not resemble the current or any former form of the Jobstown House that I've seen. A strange thing to have.

NecroReview: S4466 Odessa

Back when I worked in radio, we had a Christmas party here. At the same time, a rival radio group had their party on another floor and we strongly suspected they were sneaking down to use our 'free' (to a point) bar by claiming plausible deniability if asked if they were at "the radio party"

Other than that I don't remember much. The premises closed for a refit quite some time ago, with a small hotel planned; but this has dragged ridiculously. The surrounding buildings, on both sides of the road, are or have been re/developed as hotels in the interim so there must be some demand for it - possibly it's just slightly too small.

Closed For The Duration - Licenced, but never open, pubs of the last decade

As we enter the tenth calendar year of doing this - I started keeping my spreadsheet and posting writeups in July 2016; although I'd been deliberately trying new pubs out for a while before that - I'm beginning to run out of places to visit.

I've previously written about this, and reduced the frequency of posting, and the end of my writeups of pre-2016 pubs soon will probably lead to a further cut in frequency, although a scavenger hunt of missing writeups has bought a few weeks worth of content.

During those ten years, a number of premises have remained licenced the entire time, but never opened their doors for trade at any point; with a few more where I could have purchased alcohol but would be very unlikely to be allowed consume it on the premises.

There's some mythology that a pub has to be open one day a year to keep its licence, and indeed I've had this repeated to me *by a licence holder* in recent years. This is not correct and I'm not quite sure where it came from. These pubs have held their licence, for far longer than the 5 year lapse period that was introduced in the early 60s; and could in theory reopen - if their fire certs were valid, and in one case, the building even really existed!

I'm going to record those here, with a bit of explanation where possible. Some of these are going to be getting vaguely in to hypothesis, as the future intent for the licences is very unclear.

N0229 Dolly Heffernans, Blanchardstown

Will it be a hotel? Will it be a nursing home? Neither of these proposals has actually progressed, with the hotel plans having first surfaced in 2006. This once rural pub now sits incongruously opposite a large car dealer and within a growing industrial estate.

N1223 Laurence Lounge, Ballyfermot

An early 2000s rebuild, with retail and apartments above, on the site of an older pub; this pub has been shut for the entire period of my interest with no obvious happenings at all

N0202 Millennium, Benburb Street

Planning permission has been refused to replace this pub with suites for the almost adjacent Aisling Hotel

N0877 Phoenix Park Racecourse

This licence appears to be registered to no premises whatsoever, seeing as the remaining pavilion of the Racecourse was demolished a very long time ago. Still held by the developers, my assumption is that is it being kept valid for transfer to a future pub on the development site; although to what building it is assigned currently is a mystery. 

Even after the racecourse had closed, "The END" nightclub in the pavilion continued to operate, but I believe it had closed significantly before the beginning of redevelopment in 2004.

N1097 Conways, Parnell Street

Rotting away, Conways closed in slightly murky circumstances including claims it had "lost its licence", but the licence remains; and the pub will apparently be renovated and reopen if the Dublin Central development ever finishes.

N2152 Barcode, Clontarf

A nightclub that targetted younger (legal age) drinkers, and did the "drink while playing sports" thing that is becoming the theme of 2025, twenty years before. But it remained somewhere I never visited.

Planning troubles contributed to the clubs closure in 2010; and nothing has been heard since - but the licence remains.

S0218 Houricans, Leeson Street

This closed very close to the time that I started the blog, and has remained licenced. At the time of writing this, it is finally up for sale.

S3504 TramCo, Rathmines

There are plans afoot to renovate and rebuild the hotel here and reopen, but this sometimes controversial nightclub still sits empty. Proposals will reduce the space from vast to just a normal hotel bar

Special Category I - off-licences using pub licences

S1349 Spar, Baggot Street - the former Henry Grattan pub, the signage of which appeared during renovation works. 

N0104 Parnell Street Off-Licence - formerly Forum and a variety of other names, this has traded solely as an off-licence for almost 20 years.

Special Category II - Out of action throughout this decade, but visited by me prior

N2030 The Good Bits, Store Street - written up as a NecroReview in January, The Good Bits closed in about 2011; but remains on the licence register to this day

S0398 Dunnes Stores, Blackrock - I visited this when it was a TGI Fridays, but it was closed for an incredibly long time and reopened as a supermarket.