Pat Liddy's Pub Crawls

While raiding my mother's bookshelves for potential research material, I found well-worn copies of Pat Liddy's Walking Dublin and Secret Dublin, from 1998 and 2001 respectively. I completed the majority of the walks in these books back in the day, but as I was vastly underage in 2001, the two pub crawls include were off-limits.

Pat does a number of scheduled walking tours, but a pub crawl isn't one of them; and the book doesn't seem to be in print so I doubt a quick listing of the pubs and some commentary on what's happened since 2001 is going to be a problem.

The city centre was split in to a Northside and Southside route, each staying roughly parallel to the river. The Northside tour is particularly interesting for the scale of change which has occured in only 16 years. Both consisted of more pubs than it is sensibly safe to drink in in one session, however there were recommendations to this effect!

The Northside tour starts at the Jameson distillery, which had just reopened with the new visitor centre. The old Whiskey Corner visitor centre was still operational as a bar at this stage and is the second stop; but this is now closed.

The problems in completing the crawl continue, as the third pub, The Quill, has been closed for some time and planning has been applied for to change use from a pub to a coffee shop. However, it would have been worse even a few weeks ago, as the fourth stop, the Legal Eagle, has just reopened after a long closure and refurbishment.

Fifth up is the Chancery Inn which has been reported as closed on boards.ie (although I haven't verified this). Its status as an early house was not mentioned, but it wouldn't have been much use if you had to skip the first four due to them not being open

The semi-drought continues, as the next premises is the Ormond Hotel, which must be closed for a decade at this stage. Planning has been received for redevelopment and this will likely reopen.

The next up is the Morrison Hotel, which is fully operational; then Zanzibar which is closed with plans for a replacement hotel; then Pravda which is fully operational - under its new name of the Grand Social.

We get a good run for a bit now. The Arlington Hotel's Knightsbridge bar, Madigans on Lower Abbey Street, Wynns and the Flowing Tide - all of which are very much open. Life in the Irish Life Centre (demolished) and The Plough (shut for years but still extant) bookend the Abbey Theatre (open) however.

The last pub is the Harbourmaster, which is operational.



The Southside crawl has no such problems - all pubs are extant with only two name changes. It starts just across the river - the book suggesting that the foolhardy could consider doing both in one day.

This starts with Mulligans, continues to The Bridge (O'Sullivans now), The Palace, Buskers, Blooms Hotel, The Oliver St John Gogarty/Left Bank, Eamonn Dorans (Old Storehouse), The Auld Dubliner, The Temple Bar, The Norseman, Fitzsimons, The Clarence Hotel, The Porterhouse, The Stags Head and Davy Byrnes.

There's some very significant gaps between pubs towards the end of this tour, with a few potential venues open in 2001 that I would have suggested instead of the cluster in Temple Bar; but there's still a good variety of pubs on each - more so with Dorans and Buskers as they were in 2001.

August 2017 Licence Update

...it appears there won't be one. No updated register has been published by Revenue yet.

S3708 4 Dame Lane

A fairly cavernous modern late bar on, unsurprisingly, Dame Lane. Specialises mostly in cocktail promotions. Its a bit like stepping back in to the days of the Tiger, but it has modernised sufficiently for it to not to be as much of a slap of nostalgia as, say, Capitol Lounge which hasn't left 2006 yet.

1009700 The Snug

I had heard tales of a very cheap pub on Stephen Street, spoken of in almost mythological tones on forums and the like.

That was the Cafe/Restaurant Royale which has now become The Snug, and its still very cheap. Prices are similar to a rural pub or a sports club - two pints of lager came to €8.10

Its a small enough, traditional locals pub. The toilets are an interesting experience for the taller patron, as the ceiling is about 6 foot high, and lower in the cubicles.

It has a very small selection of pints and even smaller selection of spirits so there isn't much to head here for other than the price.

S0091 The Long Hall

Pub #250 - roughly a quarter of the way there, so I decided it had to be one of the pubs which I repeatedly get incredulous replies when I say I haven't been there.

A repeated winner of "best pub" awards, with their own Powers Whiskey released for its 250th year of operation last year, the last refurbishment of any scale here occured in 1881. It has had some concessions to modernity since (heating, a ladies toilets, and there was a TV sitting powered off above the door that's occasionally used) but nothing that really detracts from the feeling of Victoriana

It's not the easiest to get a seat here - we ended up perching at the ledge opposite the bar for the entire time - but its worth a trip.

S0088 The Foggy Dew

This is a fine "Victorian" pub, which misses out on the regularly made lists of them by virtue of being a year too late. Until recently, it had an interesting view of the Central Bank plaza, but it now looks out on hoardings due to the redevelopment there

There's a decent range of pints and vaguely acceptable prices for Temple Bar. Was able to sit quietly reading while waiting for someone which is rare enough for a city centre bar in the evening (although there are others - The Bankers for instance)

N0005 O'Sheas

A building with a significant history, this was the original Morans Hotel and a noteable rock venue in the 1970s. Its now a mid-range hotel with a large bar and trad sessions; and very much targets the tourist market.

1003309 TGI Fridays

This is the Airside Swords branch.

See review of the Liffey Valley one - they're all the same.

This one also featured the wait staff delivering a choreographed Happy Birthday to a child which made it feel like Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag. As a chain founded to be singles bars, they really have gone off course.

N1083 Briodys

(this post has been split from a former mega-post)

I would worry that this nice little pub may not have long left, as its licence is recorded as being held by OCS Properties Limited, the firm owning the building that formerly house Clerys and for which they have recently submitted a major planning application, however it does not appear to be impacted by that application. An enjoyable but brief visit ended with having to go find my bus home.

N1072 Brannigans

A fairly long established pub, almost opposite the Pro Cathedral, this pub was recently enough - in my lifetime anyway - renamed after the infamous Garda "Lugs" Brannigan.

Its a decent traditional city centre pub. Function room upstairs, food menu on the website although I didn't have reason to see if it was on offer by 8pm on the day I visited. With the loss of the Sackville Lounge, there's been a reduction in traditional pubs off O'Connell Street so its nice to see that some still exist.

N1224 Madigans

This is the O'Connell Street branch of the long-running Madigans chain. Its also the last city centre branch for me to the visit - only the one in Kilbarrack SC remains now. There's more pubs called Madigans than are run by the chain - as someone else said (it was probably Publin.ie) - it'd be an interesting pub crawl to try every pub called Madigans in a day.

Anyway - this is a fairly generic touristy pub. My opinion of it was worsened heavily by the clientele. Three midlands men took the other half of my - small - table without asking or ever acknowledging that I was there. The food, however, is pretty decent. Its a very generic Dublin Pub menu but its well executed with good ingredients.

N2123 The Living Room

There's an odd pileup of licences here. This sports bar on Cathal Brugha Street is on the ground floor of what was Eircom's HQ, but is now 1012141 Holiday Inn Express. However, it retains its own licence.

It also shares its smoking area with N0906 Gate Hotel (AKA Fibbers) on Parnell Street and N1556 Murrays on O'Connell Street. It'd be be a bit of a cheat to claim one pint in the smoking area covers all three licences, so I won't - I've done one already anyway.

This pub has a decent range of drinks, isn't too dear; has a few food options and shows a huge variety of sports on different TVs. There's also a shisha vendor in the smoking area.