S0411 Stags Head

I repeatedly think I've reached the last of the "what? You haven't been there?" pubs when I get one ticked off the list. This is one of those.

Last renovated significantly in 1895, this was formerly the John Bulls Tavern & Albion Hotel; a name which sounds more like somewhere to get a fry up and a pint of Carling in Benidorm than somewhere in Dublin. However, it is name which if retained would have at least given me a two-pub Brighton-related pub crawl to do, along with The Sussex upstairs at M O'Briens.

Dame Lane is obviously busy with pub-goers these days; but it is relatively secluded from Dame Street. This is why there is a mosiac advertisement for the pub embedded in the footpath at the laneway which leads through to Dame Lame - but this hasn't always been exactly as it is now. It was removed for repairs in the early 2000s, and reinstalled upside down, facing those exiting from the laneway rather than directing those heading down it - but it's still there giving people an indication of what lies behind the buildings.

This pub is usually busy at nearly all times of day; with tourists during the day and the general Dame Lane/Dame Court crowds at evenings; and it was even busy enough on a fairly quiet afternoon when I visited. There were still seats at the bar, and I ended up in a strident debate with some of the other bar-sitters over whether Dubliners or non-Dubliners know their way around the city better. Having had my Dublin-born mother not realise you could get from Palmerstown to Ballyfermot without using the N4, and generally needing drawn directions to find her way anywhere, there was only one side I could go for!