N2354 12th Lock Hotel

Recently-ish reopened, this "boutique hotel" is in a small building between the Royal Canal and the Dublin-Sligo railway line at Castleknock. I wasn't sure if it was a modified original building, but it appears from the sale documents from 2012 that describe it as "purpose built hotel" that it isn't.

Now for a bit of a diversion - there's an oddity, but mostly explainable, in Dublin that the Grand Canal has or had pubs at nearly every lock and the Royal Canal doesn't - and the few along the Royal Canal are mostly recent enough builds. The probable explanation here is that passenger traffic along the Royal Canal ended a lot earlier and was replaced by the Midland Great Western Railway at a significantly improved speed and less stops.

So, confusingly, there was a "Twelfth Lock" pub at the same numbered lock of the Grand Canal, along the Lucan-Newcastle Road. As far as I know, this burnt down in the early 1990s when it was named the Fox's Head and was not replaced despite receiving planning to do so.

Anyway, the 12th Lock of now is on the Royal Canal, is a hotel and is very much run as one, although if you tell the waitstaff guarding the seating that you just want a drink there is no problem in buying same and selecting your seat.

Its a hotel bar all the way through and hence not the best place to pop in for a pint alone; although I'd think that it'd be a nice place for walkers along the tow path to rest for a bit.

I live near the Royal Canal myself, and have never seen as many boats along the rest as are berthed along the canal here, so there is something else to see if visiting.