Wednesday, 27 February 2019

S0240 Martin B Slattery's

There's a seen-as-definitive list of "Dublin's Victorian Pubs" that circulates the internet, having been produced by Kevin C Kearns in his 1996 book Dublin Pub Life and Lore. That is of course the book probably now best known for The Pintman, rather than its extensive oral history, researched in person by the author over many years.

Its not available in print currently, only on Kindle - and is worth buying for the historical content, but there are no photos in the Kindle edition so if you were just intending on reading it for the Pintman, go to a library instead.

I'm not sure whether Slatterys in Rathmines is excluded from this list by age, for any issues with authenticity, or a simple oversight. It doesn't seem to be built by the 1892 Thoms Directory, the adjacent Belfast Bank building is dated to 1901 but the entire area appears to be built up by then so it may be age.

However, it doesn't seem to fall down on authenticity. Solid wood and glass interior fittings include a proper snug, with access to the bar. There is a TV (muted), and there is background music (low) but even the Long Hall has a TV for occasional use so these alone don't exclude a pub from Victorian-ness.

There was a smaller crowd in here than Grace's, yet the more traditional atmosphere made it a generally nicer place to have a pint.

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