N0246 Penny Hill

A barn of a pub - not in a negative way, but just a decent description of most of the pubs built in the Dublin County areas from the 50s to the 90s. As a 1998 build, the Penny Hill would be towards the end of the era when it was rather difficult to get a licence transfer approved, with distance rules in place, but it still stands alone as the only pub for a large suburban area.

The 2003 "Dublin Superpub of the Year" in the Black & White Pub Awards (S0172 The Waterloo taking the 'normal' Dublin award that year), the Penny Hill bears a lot of resemblance to my local Fitzgerald Group premises - albeit with a single giant room for the lounge areas rather than three across two floors as it has.

If you've been in any Fitzgerald suburban pub you've been in them all, really. There's nothing hugely distinctive here, but it has a large customer base, a slightly more varied than some taps list, and does food all day. A slightly baffling lunch menu was still on offer when I arrived in what would really be mid afternoon, so some nachos were obtained to have with my pints.

There was an upstairs nightclub here ("Mint") until recently, but the pub will now only operate as a pub and restaurant (and off-licence - which is pretty decent actually) as per a Sunday Independent interview with the Fitzgerald family on October 3rd. Suburban nightclubs are all but dead now, but what is done with the presumably substantial space it once occupied will be interesting to see - as the pub floor is already vast.

As a random item of limited interest, this is one of a number of pubs that are clearly South of the Liffey with an N/Northside licence serial number - the dividing line is based on court districts, not the actual river. Newer licence serial numbers do not indicate the court district at all; and I don't actually know the boundaries used within Dublin. A limited number of Dublin licences have Meath, Arklow or Drogheda licence serials also.

Back From The Dead: Lengthy pub closures

The most recent pub opening in Dublin that I'm aware of, right at this moment, is Dockers on John Rogersons Quay, a L'Estrange Group pub in one of the few remaining original buildings along the South Docks.

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But there was a pub here before, until ~2005, also called Dockers - it had a narrower frontage, as can be seen in photos from the time. I haven't been in yet so have no idea if there's much original content left.

This was due to open in early 2020, but COVID intervened and it was delayed until October 2021; giving us a 16 year closure.

While this is a considerable enough period for a pub to be gone and yet come back, Dublin has had similar recently, some more soon and hopefully some more again in the future.

Press Up Groups 1014121 Lucky Duck opened in 2018, in the building which had previously been the Aungier House, which closed in the late 1990s. The building was in a significantly derelict state, but some original features remain - including some of the Victorian basement toilets.

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Press Up feature again with the Bottle Boy bar of their 1016228 Mayson Hotel having been Vallance & McGrath, a famed pub for its trad music history and which closed in the mid 00s. After a significant renovation, the bar reopened in December 2019.

This wasn't the first hotel to open with a resurrected pub as its bar. The 1015221 Aloft Hotel was built around and atop The Tenters, which closed in the mid 00s, with the hotel opening in May 2019. In this case, little remains bar the external walls and the name; however.

These are the pubs which have come back from the dead so far, but they should soon be joined by some more:

A third, and last at the moment, Press Up resurrection is underway at N1130 The Foxhunter in Lucan, which has been renovated from a derelict condition and appears to be ready to open at any minute. This pub "only" closed in 2012

Another imminent opening is that of Meaghers on Eden Quay - this is in the former "Liffeyside Mooney" pub ("Mooneys sur mer" in Ulysses) which was later and better known as the Horse & Tram. 

This has had a messy past few decades, having been sold for a significant sum in 2001, having had a brief incarnation as a gay bar, two periods of being a strip club and a time as an Indian restaurant. It would appear to have last been licenced as a pub in ~2005.

There's a potentially vain hope here as the last item:

N1097 Conways on Parnell Street has been shut since 2007, and is in an extremely vulnerable condition - held up by steelwork, a stench of damp coming from within. However, in the masterplan for the Hammerson redevelopment of the North end of O'Connell Street, it is claimed to reopen. Possibly as the bar of a hotel - this has been rumoured, but the planning applications in so far cover the Southern end of the site only. Notably, it is still licence and its licence has been renewed annually for the entire time it has been shut

There are a number of other licences which are sitting valid attached to long closed pubs, or even notional premises on a site of a pub, which will eventually be reused for a new hotel or pub on the site - but they won't be the old building renovated like these examples.

N1193 Silver Granite

I would usually be quite on top of planning proposals for pub and hotel sites (and when these converge, such as the proposal for N0198 The Cobblestone), but in this case, I initially missed the proposal to knock the existing building and replace with 50 apartments atop a smaller pub.

Suburban pubs with carparks are all significantly tempting redevelopment sites, with supermarkets and apartment having replaced many in the past two decades. Proposing to keep the pub is rare, and it actually being kept is rarer; but we must assume the proposal is legitimate - it is by the existing owners, who also operate other pubs and have decades of experience in the trade.

I was intending to go here soon anyway, but when looking to see if it was open - there's virtually no info online - I found the news articles about the development; which hastened my visit.

I still wasn't sure if the pub was open, and on approaching it from the Kennelsfort Road, it didn't look like it was. However, much recent signage (one way systems) and outdoor drinking pods it was obvious that it has been trading in the modern world; and if you followed the signs you would get to the rear door on the side of the pub - which brings you in to a small back bar which was open when I visited.

The total premises is very large, with multiple spaces, and similar to many suburban pubs of its era - the first reference I can find to it easily is in 1964, but I think it may be late 1950s - when there were quite limited opportunities to open pubs in the then Dublin County Council area, leading to those that were built needing to serve a large area. 

As the only pub in the area - well, there is one in Palmerstown Village but its a decent walk, and a hill on the way back - the usual community connections are visible, with local lotto results and a cabinet displaying memorabilia (match pennants mostly) from Glenville FC adorning the walls of the bar. 

While its not somewhere I'll probably have reason to go again, I expect the pub will be much missed during the redevelopment - and hoping that the plans to reinstate a pub in the new development do proceed.

N0594 The Cedar Lounge

 Estate pub. A term which means something very different just a 30 minute flight away from Dublin.

In England, particularly in places near where you can fly quickly (Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, etc), an estate pub is probably a hideous brick barn, with a flat roof, that you should probably avoid. The estates in question are huge housing estates, generally social, which - if they were built around a small village core - might actually have a nice pub or two in the middle but would have had a ring of the flat roof barns too. 

I say would have had, as many of these are long gone; as drinking habits changed in England. Many have been converted to mini supermarkets, apartments or been knocked. They were generally built from the 30s to the 70s and often survived to the 00s.

In Dublin, estate pubs may be of a similar size, but are usually two storey - or at least in a two storey building with something above them - in a row of shops in the middle of an housing development. Sure, these do/did exist in England too - the same linked article references them - but the Dublin examples are, almost without exception, all still here and trading; and without the reputation that estate pubs have in England. We also built them later - the flat roofed era never really invaded here. Many of them were built by property developer and publican Paddy Belton, although others were involved in the trade.

The Cedars is definitely an estate pub. Built in the 1960s as part of a housing estate, and taking up one side of a pair of rows of shops on St Assams Avenue, it is currently joined by a cafe, a wine bar and a unit under renovation, where once stood a more conventional array of shops for a suburban area. The relative closeness to Raheny village has likely killed off that trade; but the pub survives.

Thoms Directory, 1986 - MacMahons survived until very recently

A substantial premises, with a front bar and lounge, some rear lounge areas and an outdoor area, the pub was fairly busy for a Tuesday evening. They don't do food themselves, but as a ghost of the substantial meal era of 2020, there is order-to-table pizza available. I did this, albeit didn't see anyone else doing it, and it was delivered in good condition from Impasto 48 in Kilbarrack.

Despite being busy enough, and having background music playing, this was a pub perfect for quiet conversation. Attentive bar staff provided good table service and the drinks selection includes some from the local Hope brewery.

Overall, quite an agreeable pub. Its not somewhere you'd come across without intending to do so but its in no way isolated and could be worth a visit.

DG0497 The Snug

From the 1980s by proxy in the previous pub, to the 1960s by design in The Snug - the entrance lobby where you provide contact tracing details features latter era Beatles dolls in a display case and the bar itself is decorated with retro electronics, records, gig posters and so on. These actually do date to as late as the 80s, and much of the music choice during my visit was from the 80s.

Going on reportage from last year, it looks as if this may be quite new. The licence name on the register has usually been Ollies Place (Ollie being the owner of the pub, and this being the report suggesting the decor is new), sort of implying The Snug was the more minor element of it - but currently the Ollies Place section of the building is undergoing significant works and The Snug is the only bit open.

But a 2015 Indo review suggests it was quite similar to now back then. If the setup is not brand new, it has been impeccably maintained.

Another relatively small pub - not having every place as a huge booze barn is probably how Skerries has had a decent number of pubs for its size - with a decent tap lineup. I'd be quite happy to have something like this in my area as an alternative to the regular pubs there. 

October 2021 Licence Update & Annual Comparison

This is the annual big one - as all licences need to be renewed at the start of October. First up is the month-on-month check, and next will be year-on-year removals not already reported 

If a licence is currently missing but I am certain the premises is trading, I will not mention it - there are administrative reasons that licences for legally trading premises can go missing from the published register for *years*

Month-on-Month:

Returns:

S0194 The Hill, Ranelagh - reopened after a reasonably long closure. I've already been here.
S1268 Rathfarnham House, Rathfarnham - this is still closed and has been for years but keeps reappearing every few years.

Removals:

1008888 - DAA T1 Airside licence - the DAA no longer operate any of the bars etc themselves. I had been here. (When old airport licences go, I delete them entirely off my map as they only matter for nerdy completion) 

Renumbered:

N1116 Clearys Inchicore renumbered to 1017288
1016255 Guiness Storehouse renumbered to 1017593

Year-on-Year removals:

Oh boy... there is a huge amount here, and I'm going to deliberately omit those where I know they're trading or expect them to trade very soon. I've been to those with the licence number and named linked, or where specified.

• 1006702 Salty Dog Tavern, Skerries. This is now a Camile Thai and presumably not using the licence.
• 1008887 HMSHost, T2, Dublin Airport - Harvest Market and some other locations Weirdly, I had been here but had never marked it as such on my master list or stats! Expect this to reopen by next year along with most/all the other Airport licences.
• 1010002 Bronze/Dollhouse, Baggot Street - controversial nightclub.
• 1010288 Berlin, Dame Street. Obviously.
• 1010656 10 St Stephens Green, St Stephens Green North
• 1012792 Bussing Lounge, T1, Dublin Airport 
• 1013568 South Boarding Gates, T2, Dublin Airport. 
• DG0517 Home/Bed Nightclub/O'Sheas, Balbriggan
• N0080 Quinns, Drumcondra Road
• N0164 Baily Court Hotel, Howth. Long, long closed.
• N0248 White House Hotel, The Ward - not 100% confident this is gone.
• N0355 Campbell Catering, Four Courts - long closed and the last 6 day licence in Dublin
• N0869 Donaghmede Inn, Donaghmede Shopping Centre.
• N1099 Sackville Lounge, Sackville Place - this had new owners just as COVID struck so may come back
  
• N2317 Puro Gusto, T1, Dublin Airport
• S0040 Ruin, Townsend Street - licence may be reused for a hotel
• S0057 Kildare Street Hotel / JG Mooneys - being redeveloped but not 100% sure they are closed for good yet.
• S0208 The Bernard Shaw - original location. Been here.
• S1464 Pimlico Tavern - though I have my suspicions of its reopening soon.
• S1491 Murrays, Bow Bridge - expect this to reappear again though.
• S3234 Handels Hotel / Oscars - the hotel is trading but the website directs you to walk to S1447 Drop Dead Twice for drinks!

This has done horrors to my rolling completion number - so expect Pub #600.2 in a short while. 

DG0492 The Gladstone Inn

On my way out to the harbour, I'd taken a picture of this pub which Google (at that time - I submitted a correction which seems to have taken affect) still believed to be shut due to COVID.

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The smell of fresh paint made me think that it might actually be open after all, so on my return to the town centre, I decided to actually try the door - pubs with closed front doors are not that common after all - and found that it was actually open.

And busy.

This seems to be the racing pub for the town, with not many free tables at ~3pm on a Monday. The customer base was entirely male (well, the dog might not have been!) and I suspect I brought the average age down slightly.

Excepting for the size of the TV, the smoking area out back, and the relative modernity of the Liverpool FC memorabilia on display, this pub could have landed directly from the 1980s - and with pint prices more like those of ten years ago too. Well, the COVID signage and sign in sheet are also a sign of the times, but likely not to be there within a few weeks I would imagine.

This was my 600th pub - on the rolling register basis which I use to work this out. My 550th pub was S3416 Camden Court Hotel in early December 2019 - by comparison my 450th had been March 2019 and while I forgot to mention my 500th I think it was in July 2019. 

In normal times I would have expected to get to 600 by Easter 2020 and would by now probably be well over 700 and approaching the dregs of suburban hotels, county council theatres and strip clubs to finish off the list!

DG0500 Joe Mays

Out to the Harbour for my next pint, as Google was telling me everywhere in the town was still shut - and they all looked it too. Two pubs were open out in the Harbour, but one wasn't doing drinks without food and I didn't want to commit to having lunch right away.

So on to Joe Mays - a lovely little traditional seaside pub with a compact bar and larger lounge in the side by side layout; and the food menu consisting of one type of soup and one type of toastie. Which I had, and was perfectly satisfied by.

Despite being very traditional, the drinks menu here was probably the most interesting, with multiple Irish craft products split across the three sets of taps. 

The barwoman here appeared to know everyone in the bar - except me - by name, but I'd imagine visitor business is huge here on weekends. There are three, with formerly a fourth, pubs practically in a row, out here, so the business must be there to sustain them in normal times.

The weather which had been very favourable decided to take a significant turn for the worst while I was in here, and while atmospheric to see driving rain out the window of a seaside pub; it isn't ideal when on foot!

DG0493 The Coast Inn

Those that pay any attention to the licence numbers may notice a different start sequence here - in the days before a national serial number sequence, they reflected the court area that issued them, and Skerries is covered by Drogheda. Hence DG, rather than the N or S that covered most of the rest of Dublin.

My trip to Skerries wasn't very well planned and could have risked being quite truncated if Googles information about where was open was accurate - as apparently not one of the pubs in the town centre itself was set to open before 3pm; with The Coast Inn being that one at 3. However, it was open when I arrived at 1pm - Google not being that useful will come up again!

One of the more recent openings in Skerries, The Coast dates to ~2018; with the premises previously having been Raffs On The Corner until 2017, although I believe The Coast Inn may have been the original name of the pub to begin with.

Its a sizeable pub with multiple spaces, offers food in the evenings only and appears to have a focus on live music. Every pub I was in Skerries was quite different from each other, which this being the most like your standard suburbia/commuter belt larger pub - but clearly those have their place and purpose, or else they wouldn't exist let alone be so common as to have obvious similarities!

Revisited Pubs: September 2021

All of these happened in the last ten days or so of the month, in what looked otherwise like it was going to be a month of very few pints; all of them new

1015426 Rubys
N0002 Madigans Connolly
N0053 Graingers
S0091 Long Hall