1001412 Bord Gais Energy Theatre

The first premises I've covered where I didn't have to pay for a pint all night - but its not blogger freebies (50 Twitter followers and 1 RSS subscriber doesn't attract anything), but related to working in broadcasting.

Bord Gais Energy Rewards had a media 'pub quiz' last night in the Club section of the BGE Theatre. We came joint second by one point, annoyingly. 

The Club is a small enough room on the 5th floor of the theatre, above the auditorium and with a small outdoor area which I actually forgot to go in to - I don't think it overlooks Grand Canal Dock but rather Macken Street which isn't quite as interesting a view!

Heineken have the supply contract here, but the range of taps was even smaller than normal - no Tiger, so just Heineken or Murphys on draught. This may just be in the Club, though. 

I'll be here for a gig or show at some point, its pretty inevitable, so I will see more than one small room - but any part of the licenced premises counts for the stats.

1006793 3 Spirits

This is a very interesting pub. This is a Brazilian bar - an actual Brazilian bar, not a theme pub. We have plenty of theme pubs for various nationalities around but few are actually primarily used by their own ex-pats. As anyone Irish who has travelled around the world and seen Irish or English theme bars, this is the norm really.

However, there were very few non-Brazilians in 3 Spirits - I was drinking with a former colleague (who is Irish) and his wife (who is Brazilian) so even my party didn't really contribute to that!

Offering relatively cheap drinks and a decent/inexpensive menu of mostly Brazilian food, and samba musicians who were pausing for the Brazilian domestic football match on the big screens, you could possibly think you were actually in Brazil - except for the layout of the bar resembling a hotel lobby.

The layout of the bar and entrance are not what you would consider as inviting, but the busy and welcoming bar inside is worth the trip. My picanha 'burger' - chopped steak rather than minced - was one of the dearest items on the food menu and well worth it.

1011776 Gresham Hotel

The worst pint (of a mass produced lager) I've been served in a pub in some time, some typos that were far funnier after a few pints than they are now ("Soop" on the chalkboard, for instance), vast amounts of staff milling around not doing very much. Extremely poor standard for what is meant to be a high class hotel and certainly not living up to the former reputation

One oddity is cocktail menus that are in Spanish first, due to the Riu Plaza branding now applied to the hotel. What proportion of their customers speak Spanish as their first language I don't know but I doubt it is particularly high.

N1898 Caulfields Hotel

This pub is an oddly shaped bar on the ground floor of one of the few 1-star hotels in Dublin, however it is important to note that Irish star ratings are on hotel and room features, not perceived quality! Also, my experience of some of the other 1-star hotels bars have been superior to some of the 4- and 5- star properties anyway.

The bar itself has a seating area inside the front windows overlooking Dorset Street, a small spine with tables down the side of the building and a bar with some seats and a tiny outdoor smoking area at the back. Everything is in decent condition and clean; and the prices are quite low for somewhere so central. Signage indicates this is also a restaurant however I didn't see any menus or anyone eating.

N0024 Hogan Stand

Another traditional outer city centre pub in an established area - albeit one which equips itself to deal with occasional influxes of hundreds of extra customers due to its proximity to Croke Park. The pub itself is a comfortable enough looking setup.

I got in here during, rather than after, a match (as with N0018 The Big Tree) which meant there was still space inside. An army of bar staff were waiting for the hordes to arrive, meaning very quick service at the time - there was probably a staff member for every customer!

The area to the front of the pub had a mobile bar in place - I think only serving Guinness. This is a common enough tack-on for a pub that has a normal local trade and occasional high volumes, also seen recently in S0179 The Gasworks

N0018 The Big Tree

This pub has been harder to get than it ever should have been. These days it only opens for matches or concerts in Croke Park and is generally packed out the door during them - I managed to sneak in during the Monaghan-Tyrone game when it was mostly empty.

A vast premises with a long history - although the claimed foundation date of 1543 is probably spurious by about 200 years - it is unlikely to have long left in its current format.

Planning permission had been received to build student accommodation on the site with a reduced sized bar; but more recently the entire site has been sold to the Dublin Loft Company hotel firm, with the Louis Fitzgerald Group retaining the right to operate the pub until September this year. This is presumably to ensure one last payday from the All Ireland finals. Planning has been applied for the hotel, which will retain a much smaller bar on the corner.

In the early days of Fitzgerald ownership, the Big Tree was one of the main nightlife hotspots in the city, with a noteable gimmick being the installation of phones on every table, allowing you to call other tables. This 'glamour' faded away over time and the pub ceased to operate a normal schedule in about 2010.

The interior is very run down, with the carpets probably the stickiest I've ever experienced. A huge beer garden to the rear has its own bars, portaloos and food trucks to cope with the deluge of fans arriving after the end of a match. It'll be interesting to see how the other local pubs cope with the volume should everything go to current plans.

August 2018 Licence Update

The August licence update has landed early - and there is absolutely nothing of interest in it.