December 2022 Licence Update

There has been a Revenue licence file update

It is not interesting. No new or changed licences of note.

Revisited Pubs, November 2022

An exceptionally barren month this month for both new and re-visited pubs (the recent 'new' posts are a backlog) due to my exceptionally poor decision to go back to college in the evenings - full time. And rhird year of a full time course at that, cause I'd done two years properly part time before, lulling me in to a false sense of security.

N0146 Cat and Cage, Drumcondra - first visit since released from the Quinn liquidators, this pub has improved and now offers good pizza along with a different beer range - no longer having Sweetmans as a sister pub.

S0295 Jack O'Rourkes

This pub had one of the most substantial number of different Irish craft brewery taps that I've seen outside of a dedicated craft bar - five taps with the only brewery duplication being a Larkins tap and also Curious Society Atlantic 353 tap - a Larkins sub-brand.

The pub was relatively busy, but I was able to find myself a corner table in the front area, which meant I had space to get food. A quite traditional pub food menu is on offer, and I went for a very traditional option even from what was there - soup and a sandwich. Which was nice.

Its quite a large pub, and the toilets (surreally) make a claim to fame - the place in whcih the idea of Rock Shandy was invented!

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Second pub in a row that I'd be very happy to come back to, frequently, based on a first visit. Must. Stop. Liking. Pubs. In. Towns. I. Can't. Afford.

S0293 Conways

Every so often, there's a pub where the first impressions make me think it'd be perfect as my local. 

Its always somewhere I simply cannot afford to live, though. Blackrock is probably the most out of my league so far.

Conways joins S0194 The Hill (the prior incarnation - I can't say whether it would still have the same impression) and N0250 The Villager in this club. The house right next door to The Villager has been for sale in the past few years, and I did consider it...

This is quite a traditional pub, albeit with a few craft taps, and does feel maybe a little out of place in Blackrock these days. A fire, some curated books to read if you're having a quiet one, and some old Irish breweryana on the walls

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One slight thing to note here is a recurrent trend to the lower rated reviews on Google/Tripadvisor/etc here; nothing I saw there on the night I visited however.

S0298 The Old Punchbowl

This used to be one of my uncle's local, until he moved to Wexford. And weirdly I thought I saw my aunt there; but it was actually just someone that looked a fair bit like her - I don't think they make regular trips back!

One of the older pubs (with genuine claims to it) in Dublin and definitely one of the oldest in suburban Dublin, I have always been convinced this pub used "Olde" instead of Old in the name. Google and the Irish Newspaper Archive both tell me no, though.

The pub claims to be "Dublin's Rugby Pub", a title I imagine would be hotly contested. Considering there will be specific pub to club loyalties, I suggest that a blitz tournament could be arranged to decide that title for certain. 

There was a Brighton game on TV while I was here, but there was no lucky pub type results against one of the big boys this time unfortunately. However, it was a decent place to watch that game even if some of the fairly large tap selection was off.

The pub is up for sale currently, but still trading.

November 2022 Licence Update

Two new additions this month, and both are restaurants with full pub licences.

Additions:

1019365 The Food Hall, UCD - a Wright Group venture; this is explicitly open to non-UCD customers

1019413 Mama Yo, Camden Street - yet another Press Up restaurant

1019279 Maldron Merrion Road

This hotel had only just opened when I visited, but it replaced one of Dublin's well known hotels on the same site - the S0188 Tara Towers, a quite ugly and entirely not towering concrete block that had stood here since the 70s. Towards the end, when the hotel was already being managed by Dalata (who operate the replacement), it was being promoted as a "70s retro hotel" on their official Twitter!

The old hotel had a larger bar, showing live sports and appearing far more like a pub in a hotel rather than a hotel bar. The new offering is a hotel bar through and through; although one where you can still walk in off the street and get served.

Its quite like any other Maldron or Clayton bar really, with the same drink offerings and the same furniture etc. I expect they will get some local trade, as there's not much else nearby.

S0165 Merrion Inn

Nice pub. Exceptionally expensive - but what are you expecting out here? It's also the only pub for a vast, vast area of very expensive houses, so I'd be quite surprised if it wasn't expensive.

There were some interesting taps here, albeit you'd pay >€7 a pint for them - the online menu also shows a very good range of bottles.

October 2022 revisited pubs

Despite a rather mental month of non-socialising stuff (I've gone back to college, in the evenings, which will probably limit things for the next academic year; for instance), there were still a few revisits this month.

I'm relying on my phone spying on me to remember some of the incidental visits that could be five weeks ago at this stage - I find it unlikely that I wasn't in McGraths in October, but the spy in my pocket says no!

N0053 Graingers, Amiens Street - a lengthy train delay caused by bad scheduling - my inbound DART arrived just as the outbound train home left!

S0083 Beer Temple, Dame Street - last visited in its previous The Oak incarnation - this name still applies to the original The Oak bar section, of course.

1001292 Olympia Theatre, Dame Street - I refuse to use the branding here

S3908 The Well, Stephens Green

N1989 Radisson Blu Dublin Airport

Another hotel bar to tick off the list, this time in the recently internally modernised Radisson at the airport. Built in 1998 as a Great Southern Hotel (the brand then being owned by Aer Rianta who operated the airport, it competes with the much older Maldron slightly closer to the terminal, as one of the two on-site hotels at the airport. 

This will likely change, however, as there are plans to build a new hotel beside Terminal 2 as well as another on the surface carpark of this Radisson. Also, unless Dalata have bought the Maldron without it being reported somewhere easy to find; their 10 year lease on the property (owned by the DAA since its bankruptcy when operating as a Clarion) expires in 2023 and it may be time to consider a replacement structure for the now 50 year old former Forte Posthouse premises.

The Radisson offers a very basic bar with a limited range of taps - many of which were off or having extremely slow keg replacements - and a subset of the still not huge menu from the hotel restaurant. Its still going to be fine for the normal customer of a hotel airport, though.

N0211 Clarkes City Arms

This is the still extant bar of a former hotel (that is now an unrecognised university); you may think this pub is just in a small building beside the former and hefty City Arms Hotel - but it extends underneath the hotel building for quite some way, and is actually a rather large premises.

The main building has quite the history - having been the home of the Jameson family, and with its once large gardens converted in to the city's cattle markets - now long gone, but which were important in the development of Stoneybatter as we know it today. 

It became a hotel in the 1870s or so, and ran as such for about 100 years. During this time period, it features in Ulysses, as a former workplace of Molly (and residence for her and Leopold) Bloom.

The cattle market trade would have been a very significant element of the trade - there are references to people being refused service for not being cattle dealers, potentially during the time of a specific exemption order to allow early trade; and the closure in 1971 of the markets presumably hugely impacted this trade. A nearby 60s office building, Park House, is often claimed to have been under construction as a modern hotel for this area of the city before a late conversion to offices before opening - so there was certainly not a lot of business going (assuming this oft-repeated claim is actually true)

The hotel ceased hotel services at some point in the 1970s or very early 80s - it is hard to tell, as the bar was often still referred to as the Hotel until the 1990s; but newspaper archive entries for conventions, auctions and other things that happen in hotels tail off in 1977.

Francis Clarke appears on a licence transfer document in 1978, with a planning application in his name in 1981 to convert the ground, first and second floors to office use. This would not have affected the bar which occupies only the basement, and a separate building

(as an aside, as far as I can tell 1013026 Dominick Inn is also the surviving bar of a gone hotel - in this case the now demolished Midland Hotel next door)

The pub traded, at least in part, as Leopolds Disco Bar, in the late 1980s; a reference to their former fictional neighbour.

The Saor-Ollscoil was founded in 1986, but appears to have moved in to the old hotel building in 1994. A 1992 retention permission request for the hotel function room to be changed to a printing studio would suggest there were other office uses in between the hotel closure and 1994

Dragging ourselves away from the building history, and on to the present day pub - my impression was of a decent Dublin local, with a reasonable number of locals in for a mid week night; albeit probably boosted by a Liverpool game on TV. 

Veering back to history - some of the pubs history is still visible, in the form of a reminder of beer long since sold - a Perrys of Rathdowney shield on the backbar. One of the many breweries that Guinness bought and merged, directly or indirectly, in the 20th Century.

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1011186 Hynes

I had worried that this would be a meme-pub, considering how much was made at the time of their re-opening of this having been the local of Paddy Losty, "the Pintman" of recent internet lore fame. 

Despite having a large mural dedicated to the faux mythology built up about Paddy, the pub is otherwise quite sensible. On the night of my visit, there was a table quiz going on which, as far as I could tell, was free. I had intent to do more pubs so we didn't hang around for it. The decor is very normal, modernised traditional Dublin pub.

There's a good range of drinks on tap, and a weekly first pint discount should you order as gaelige - unfortunately the day of the week was wrong for any discount on my dhá pionta Scraggy Bay, le do thoil.

A younger crowd frequents this place than the other bars in the area, which I'm sure the memeification has not hampered; but the balance of the old and the modern should be attractive to younger drinkers anyway - or so I'd hope!

N0187 Kavanaghs

One of the strangest looking pubs in Dublin, with an interior that sort-of tries to get there too - although a turret outside may make you think the interior would be faux gothic, you instead get murals. And a payphone, which I forgot to check for a dialtone - there can't be many of these left functional in Dublin's pubs!

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Outside, the payphone theme continues as the pub supplies the power and CCTV coverage to a replica phonebox containing a community defibrilator (which has recently been appealing for funds)

A nice community local, this was the quietest of the pubs I've visited in this part of the city - but I was there earlier in the evening, and on a weekday; so I don't think this is the norm.

There is a function room upstairs which hosts a variety of regular events; something becoming quite uncommon in pubs across the city - kitchens, restaurants, music bars, guest rooms and other consumers of space within pubs have taken over a lot of the function rooms that existed.

October register update and 2021-2 Year-on-Year licence comparison

Revenue very helpfully provided a 30th September register this year, which lets me do the year on year comparison now, albeit knowing my luck there will be more new files in a later October release.

As it a register of renewed licences, the file gets very small in November as many premises do not get their licence renewed at the first sitting (they are still legally trading in this case), or are closed and wait til later in the year, etc.

There were 953 renewed licence in the final file for 2021/2, and 969 for 2022/3 - new premises and reopenings after COVID closures accounting for this relatively big hike. Including removals, there were 996 total licences in this time period - but some will be duplicates for one premises due to renumbering, or holding a theatre and a bar licence.

Month on month changes:

Renumbered:

1019279 Maldron Merrion Road, formerly S1088 Tara Towers Hotel - rebuilt on same site.

Year on year removals:

Removals (excluding those that I know to be trading and may be an administrative error)

1003456 The Shipwright, Ringsend - closed with a rent dispute and has not yet reopened
1015162 Hogs & Heifers, Airsde - this has moved in to the former TGI Fridays next door, which has re-appeared on the register. (been here but no writeup)
N0072 The Chancery, Inns Quay - up for sale in 2020, not reopened
N0589 The Cabra House - closed for redevelopment
N1107 Coffeys, Inchicore - closed for years, relicenced briefly, possibly to allow licence to be sold
N1352 The Foxhound, Kilbarrack - closed currently
N1993 Hollystown Golf Club - closed down
N2760 Koh, Jervis Street - I think this is closed? Google and Tripadvisor both agree.
S0041 Neds of Townsend Street - closed some time ago, replacement hotel has opened. Was likely on the register to allow licence to be converted
S0214 Ryans Arbour House, Windy Arbour - I believe this is closed
S0215 Corner House, Windy Arbour - long closed
S4201 The Beacon Hotel, Sandyford - closed

These removals bring my live register-based total back from being within touching distance of pub 650 - but I'll get there! It isn't as destructive as last years changes, at least.

Revisted pubs - September 2022

September had a bit of travel (to the UK and Donegal) and hence less Dublin efforts:

[Whatever its numbered now] The Fallow, Dublin Airport - in the space the Slaney used to be; and with slightly less ridiculous breakfasts

N0082 McGraths - because this will appear every month until I either change jobs, or DART+ opens and gives me ten minute train frequency

1014989 Isabelles

I had to check my own map to remember what this place was even called, due to the repetitive naming convention of Press Up venues. Paddy McKillen Jr may have misplaced his 'little book of girl's names' recently, based on some of the more recent venues, but the naming regime was so strict I forgot which premises I was in.

A fairly standard Press Up premises, food driven, laid out like a restaurant but with a full pub licence and I don't think they'll turn away drinkers when its quiet. This was the first time the food actually met what the menu was promising (well, the embedded Wowburger branches in some also do this consistently) though, with well executed, restaurant style pizza.

Blue dot surrounded by green on my personal done/not done map changed over, reason to go here again dealt with. But as I'd tried to get in here twice before, to find it too busy, I don't think they need my trade!

N2211 Wrights Cafe Bar

I had never been here before, as they didn't let me - the one single time I ever tried. Which was after a 2006 Christmas party in the then pre-Wetherspoon'ing Old Borough across the road

In one of those cases where a bouncer might have just been trying to engage me in conversation to see if I was sober enough, a "have you had a few already?" question was enough for me to decide to bail back home, to where my local had much lower standards for regulars.

There were no bouncers on when I arrived this time, and with all of two pints taken I don't think I'd have had much trouble getting in anyway. 

Much to my surprise, they had arranged for me to experience that lost taste of 2006 inside, or at least of some year much in the past - two pints including an often 7.50+ Lagunitas came to 'only' 12.20, every track played was from the early 2000s and it was obvious from the stool and huge rolls of blue tissue in the toilets that they either still had, or pined for the days of having, a toilet attendant. 

The decor is a little dated, but in perfect condition; almost as if it's actually new and I *am* in 2006. I rapidly checked to see if my smartphone had similarly regressed or if my hair had re-dyed itself blond; but neither had happened. So no, I was still in 2022 - and a check of the prices for food would have confirmed this. Also I suspect that Lagunitas was not easily, if at all, available here on draught prior to Heineken investing in the 2010s

Coincidentally, the bus that turned up to bring us back to the city was also from 2006 - a rare enough sight now, with few buses of that age left in service. 

Revisited pubs - August 2022

August '22 provided many more new ticks than revisits:

N0082 McGraths - bus arriving just after a train had left, and a 29 minute wait

S3908 The Well - last visited as Dandelion, albeit I did once have to run an ISDN line from the shopping centre basement on the floor here when it was derelict.

N0302 The Arch

One of the few pubs I had left to do in Swords, this one evaded me on a previous mop-up visit as it had recently closed. This was when it was still called The Star, more of which later.

There were slightly more bouncers outside the pub than I'd normally be happy with at 6pm on a Friday, but they weren't doing anything in particular, nor did I see a reason to have them there yet - I'd guess they were just starting their shift. 

In its prior life as The Star, there was quite a varied audience here - a page on a local website mentions the extensive pool lounge, a (by then finished) Russian club and trad music nights; with a fairly traditional suburban bar and lounge.

The pub has been mildly modernised and is now quite food focused, but the front bar area is still designed for drinking first, and while you can get food here, nobody was being offered it first thing. I would think its still entirely normal to go in here for pints and never look at the menu, but as we were going there for dinner, we did.

One of the options on the menu is the "Star of the Arch" burger, which must surely be a reference to the pubs long standing but now former name?

The food met expectations and was priced at about what you'd expect these days - shockingly expensive in my mind that fondly remembers pubs having €10 burger-and-a-pint deals, but really not bad in the year it actually is.

September 2022 licence update

Two new licences this month - or is it three?

New (normal pub licences)

1018497 Six by Nico, Molesworth Street - restaurant with a pub licence

1019273 Big Mikes, Blackrock Shopping Centre - not yet open restaurant with a pub licence

New (taproom)

1016525 Stillgarden Distillery - the first Producers On licence to appear in Dublin. I'm going to list these categories, as they meet the duck test - at least during the limited operating hours.

N1597 Peacocks

When life gives you a conveniently early bus, make for the pub. Or something like that.

I was heading to Swords village to knock off two pubs that I hadn't done either when I worked there, in the distant past, or on previous ticking trips. But a 41C that didn't exist on RTPI arrived and gave me some extra time until company was arriving, and passed through River Valley anyway, so The Peacock got visited on the way. Swords Express's cheap local journey fare ensured I still made it to the next pub as expected.

A substantial suburban pub, this premises was not old (a 1988 build, originally and unimaginatively called The Millennium) when fully rebuilt in 2008; but that building had not aged well - being a red brick, flat roofed bunker of an estate pub that lacked any form of kerb appeal. 

The new building is really quite large - but has windows, a second floor, and something approaching a pitched roof; so all three of the potential 'don't drink in a pub with...' options are cut off. There's the usual bar and lounge, with a restaurant area; but also the now increasingly rare function room, in-pub off-licence; and also a coffee shop.

A reasonably priced pint was sinked relatively quickly, due to said need to actually get in to Swords village; but with the bus stop right outside, I could probably have taken some more time with it.

N1130 Foxhunter

One of the back-from-the-dead pubs, that Press Up seem to be doing a lot of now (this being their fourth in Dublin alone). 

I spent a lot of money here as a teenager, but not in a manner that qualifies it for an automatic tick - I (briefly) went to school in the nearby CBS and had friends living nearby, with this hosting a reasonable off-licence at the time. The licence number is even the same as it would have been back then - there's no case of this being a new licence on an old premises. But I never drank *on* the premises back then.

Sold for 17m in 2008 (long after I'd stopped going there!), it then rapidly ceased to be successful and closed in 2012 and was eventually sold to Press Up in ~2019. Lockdown affected reopening, and for quite some time the pubs extensive carpark was used to offer Wowburger and Elephant & Castle service from temporary buildings while building work continued slowly on the pub. 

And those brands are now still the main offering here, with the drinking specific sections of the pub being a little limited in comparison, and offering just the now normal Heineken Ireland monoculture of taps; at premium prices.

Meh. Its fairly nice looking inside, like most Press Up properties; but for once quite unappealing from outside - a massive wall blocking it from the road, presumably to make outdoor drinking/dining less obnoxiously noisy. It's expensive, it's limited, it's out of the way on foot for most of the town. It'll probably still do fine.

S0168 The Yacht

An oddly shaped pub (it looks quite small from the street, and while it isn't *big*, there is an area to the side that is behind another shop), this reminded me of some other seaside pubs in scale - The Glen Hotel's bar back on Arranmore (just this is in much better condition than that is), or the bar area of DG0500 Joe Mays for instance.

When knocking together the framework of these posts, I managed to just create the actual post entry for this pub - and not put any details in it. So my memory is now a little faded by time, so I may have imagined that there was a mini-library in the bar - a bookshelf of locally relevant books - but that'd be a rather odd thing to imagine.

A nice small pub, all told, and another case of why I should have crossed the river from my old job more often.

S0157 The Oarsman

Popped in here, ordered a pint, and then queried their food offering - which the wonders of the internet had assured me they did do. Well, that time on that Sunday, they didn't for whatever reason. Oh well, there's three more pubs in Ringsend Village, surely one of those does? 

Well, rather than continue this thread across all the reviews, they all don't right now - one is closed; and the chipper was closed too, although it should have been open by then. A Tesco sandwich kept me going instead.

Anyway, back to the pub. A nice traditional type pub with a nautical theme - this is a bit of a common thread in Ringsend. I noticed one of the problems of a seaside property that I know all too well - a bit of a smell of damp - in the basement. Like my own seaside property, it was mixed with the smell of the fresh paint oft required to mask the visual problems it comes with!

I used to work a quick walk across the Eastlink from Ringsend, but never really thought to ever drink there - and that's not out of any misgivings about safety or anything, just forgetfulness really. The convenience of 1015426 Rubys even closer was probably a major factor too. This would probably have gone on my regulars list if I had popped over, with a nice atmosphere and reasonable prices compared to most of D4, or the IFSC end of D1.

Revisited Pubs July 2022

A new job from mid June means different revisits than before, so its goodbye to Rubys and a significant reduction in future visits to Graingers, Brew Dock, Urban Brewing, the Drunken Fish and Madigans Connolly. These were where I ended up back in in July:

N0313 Kealys - one I first visited in the lifetime of the blog, and now quite convenient for work

N0082 McGraths - one I first visited over a decade before the blog, and where my Dad drank when he lived locally. And now very convenient for delayed trains, just as Graingers used to be.

N0006 Brew Dock - well, I do still need to use Connolly sometimes

S0161 Irishtown House

The liveliest pub of the day so far, but thankfully without any of what happened before last years FAI Cup Final here - I don't think that's something you can expect here normally!

The pub was rather busy, but with a substantial space in the main room, getting a place to sit wasn't an issue. Looking at Streetview, it looks like I may have missed an entire second space to the rear.

While getting closer to the city centre, and closer to office and apartment developments that might bring "outsiders" in, its not like any of the pubs around here aren't mostly locals shops; but this one felt most like a normal working class Dublin local pub of the lot of them. These are often the most welcoming pubs of all; but when you're on a mission to tick off pubs, there isn't much time for conversation.

Facebook suggests they do food here. I didn't think to ask, when I really should have, as there are slim pickings ahead...

S0159 Vintage Inn

Shortly after sitting down with my pint, I heard two men at the bar trying to remember a specific pub. My exceptionally specific time to shine! Or not...

Heading over and pulling the map out on my phone lead to no pin for the bar they remember. I suspect it may have been a hotel bar that either has slipped through my grasp or didn't have a public licence, and have put it on my list for further research.

There's some inaccurate artwork on the walls here, but we can let that slip

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That notwithstanding, its a nice pub to while away some time in. For reading material, there was a stack of the local Newsfour freesheet, the website of which sometimes turns up an interesting history tidbit, and the book reviews in that issue gave me the obvious present for my Dublin born and raised mother (she doesn't read this, so I won't be ruining next weeks gift!)

S0160 Merry Cobbler

I should have got food here. It looked decent, but Google suggested to me that some of the other pubs further along my intended route did food. Looking deeper in to those, one of those was a menu for the Artisan Parlour, which had been run by the late Martin Thomas (extremely influential club promoter) and has been closed for some time; so this info was uselessly out of date.

Anyway - this pub has an interesting recent history. It was the original John Clarkes, until significant financial issues forced its closure (despite a spirited attempt to save it, and controversy about its liquidation). Clarkes reopened in another pub (S0158 John Clarke and Son) in Ringsend shortly after.

It then ran as a Dublin outlet of the Cork bar Sober Lane, but has now been the Merry Cobbler for some years.

Like its predecessor, the food offering is important here. They also have a varied tap list, featuring many Irish craft breweries. The interior is nice, with a sort-of snug that I appropriated to read the paper. There is a modicum of humour to the decoration at times!

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The layout is a little odd - to get to those toilets above you need to go between the back of one bar and the side of another, in an area that you'd assume is a staff corridor.

Quite an enjoyable pub, albeit I don't know when I'd have reason to be back. 

S4470 Mulligans

Staff that seemed more than a little confused that I walked in to order at the bar (there was no area to wait to be seated). An exceptionally stale pint (it was of Stiegl, which probably doesn't move much). Exceptionally expensive (7.25 for said pint). Not much to recommend here, with two superior pubs nearby.

They were playing Feeder, though, which improved my opinion of the place back to 'meh'.

S0167 O'Reillys

I almost have to do one of my older-style writeups here - that is one line and done!

Pub's fine, has a bigger tap list than its neighbour across the road. There isn't much to write home about - but, when dealing with a suburban local - isn't that what you actually want?

The pub goes back quite far, so is fairly substantial. There really wasn't a huge amount to take note of here. 

S0166 Ryans Sandymount House

An afternoons pubs, catching the Brighton game and swapping at half time, with more after was what I had planned. Irish Rail intervened to ensure I missed much of the first half, and as Pascal Groß scored his first while I was ordering my first, I decided that I may have found a Lucky Pub, and decided not to move for the rest of the match.

Brighton won 2-1, so that may have been a good judgement. And it was a good pub - nice and traditional, with cheap (4.60. In Sandymount!) pints of Beamish, and a barman that remembers your order immediately

I think, but can't be sure, there wasn't much in the way of variety on the taps; but that isn't uncommon for this type of pub. 

A relatively old pub, this used to be Michael Heelans, but as with anywhere outside of the pre-30s Dublin City boundaries, I've less info on the pubs history than would otherwise be available.

August 2022 register update

A few things of interest this month

New

1019107 Tailors Hall, Back Lane - this previously had a licence in the 1970s for banqueting; but the new operation will be a restaurant/cafe

1019146 The Complex, Smithfield - arts/events space

Reappearing

N1130 The Foxhunter, Lucan - reopened recently, original licence serial number restored

N0869 Donaghmede Inn and N4157 Parkwest Tavern - two closed pubs in Harcourt Development properties having their licences re-activated and assigned to a Harcourt Developments related firm. May just be to protect the licences.

N0022 Hill 16

A bouncer on the door at 5:30 on a weekday, and a completely wrong order. Usually these would be quite bad signs for a pub, but I'm willing to think here that both may just be down to the pub being only open for a short period of time, and needing to settle in.

I had assumed that Hill 16's non-reopening after the pandemic wasn't a sign that it was closing - but then the entire building was put up for sale, with the pub as vacant possession. Even then, there had been a previous closure after which the same operators returned. However, this didn't happen and a new Instagram account appeared in the Spring for a new pub here... and nothing happened, for quite some time.

Eventually, it reopened in time for one of the semi-finals in Croker, a typical day when this pub would be out the door. It would seem that the new operators are Brazilian, and are promoting the pub as both a Brazilian bar and as a normal local Dubs pub - their social media accounts have covered bingo nights as well as Brazilian events. 

Dublin has had one or two Brazilian bars at a time for quite a while now - I visited 1006793 3 Spirits (now closed) and 1013727 Wasabi (still open) previously. They can be good fun when busy, and have always been very approachable for a non-Brazilian, even when not explicitly looking to keep the local regulars as Hill 16 is. And based on the customers there when I visited, this is definitely working

Like Wasabi, this pub is heavily promoting that its food is available on Deliveroo - but it was abit early to see if this was as busy as it is in Wasabi.

Now - on to the wonky order. I asked for two pints of Lagunitas, but the keg was empty and needed changing. What was then connected to the taps was not Lagunitas, and what was delivered was two palatable pints of a not very bitter, quite dark ale. Probably Cute Hoor, actually drinkable unlike the only previous time I'd ever had it (and the only time I actually ordered it); but I really couldn't be bothered with arguing. 

The pubs interior is in good nick, albeit with some odd choices - lots and lots of TVs showing the menu, hotel stacking chairs (the type you've sat on at every wedding) at the tables. 

There should be a market for this as a Brazilian bar, and the big match weekends should keep the tills ringing also. Hopefully it succeeds.

N0140 The Goose Tavern

An interesting example of something that is almost an estate pub, but isn't, because its basically too old to be one. And as before, estate pub is not a bad term in Dublin.

This pub sits at the core of a late 1940s housing development; to the side of (and under) an early private apartment block.

The Goose opened as the Green Goose; but was later renamed to The Pilot - and the pubs golf society still retains this name. This name referenced its relative closeness to Dublin Airport, and also that it was - at that time - a sister pub to N0172 The Comet and N0141 The Viscount, named after 1950s aircraft.

The greebling within the pub has plenty of 40s, 50s and 60s elements, including this reminder of when Smithwicks tried a daring rebrand.

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Overall, this is a very traditional suburban pub - but one with more history and older artefacts than many. The drink offering is acceptably varied, and the food offering here is currently from a hatch in to the Brass Onion Bistro next door

For suburban pubs, my test of quality is whether I'd be happy with it as my local - and here, I would.

N2576 Carlton Hotel

There are three drinking options here: Kittyhawks bar - named after a restaurant that was on this site before (unless my memory has gone really bad - and I was at a particularly disastrous birthday party in the old restaurant), as well as an aviation reference; the Mayfly restaurant and the Runway 28 rooftop bar. 

Runway 28 had reopened for the summer season on the day I visited, but was booked out for two weeks. Kittyhawks was not busy at ~5:30 when I arrived (but was when we left), so this is where we drank; and ate.

After coming back from a very expensive trip to the Netherlands, it was quite a relief to find that the prices in Kittyhawks are on the cheaper side for Dublin - not cheap, by any means, but with €6 pints and €20 burgers now quite normal in Dublin, its still cheaper than many. 

Service was good, the quality control at the bar (the first pint of O'Hara's poured for me was thrown down the sink by a barman due to poor head development) top-notch and the food met expectations. However, it is still a hotel bar surrounded by light industrial sites and as a result you are unlikely to just randomly walk in here.

Clearly the rooftop bar attracts its own custom, some of whom may come down here before or after - and will likely find it quite acceptable.

July 2022 Register Update

Not the biggest licence file at all this month - two returns to the register, both on the same street!

Returns

N0189 - H Mathews. This had reappeared with a liquidator/receiver as their licence holder a while ago, it now has a persons name on it - not one I recognise

N0215 - Dice Bar. This is now licenced to a property firm owned by the owners of Bargaintown.

The Black & White Pub Awards, 1977-2004

Mass market blended Scotch is not the drink of choice for many in Ireland, as it stands. I'm neither that young nor that old to be able to state that it never was; or able to remember a time when it was; but for whatever reason, Black & White is the brand that D.E. Williams Ltd chose to use when launching a pub awards in 1977. Possibly the first national pub awards of any note, these lasted until 2004

Harry Byrne's 1994 Dublin City winning plaque, image courtesy by DublinByPub

Black & White was a brand they distributed in Ireland; itself owned by Distillers Ltd which Guinness had yet to buy; but as D. E. Williams had sold Tullamore Dew a decade earlier and were soon to exit the supermarket business (Five Star, sold to the Quinnsworth operators in 1979); and their remaining assets probably matched even less with a pub awards - Irish Mist, regional Coca Cola bottling and barley malting - it must have been the best fit.

The awards significantly outlasted D. E. Williams Limited. By 1988, it was being awarded by B Daly (Ireland) Limited; a spirits distributor later bought by Edward Dillon & Co Limited, and in which D. E. Williams had a shareholding

Edward Dillon are still extant, and are a sponsor of the current Irish Pub Awards, and continued to distribute Black & White until a share deal with Diageo in 2004. This is, clearly not coincidentally, the last year of these awards. Edward Dillon did (and do) have a huge range of brands that would be perfect replacement sponsors - Hennessy, Jack Daniels, etc - but may have had their own reason for finishing up.

Categories and Ceremony 

There were a variety of categories, varying year on year - pub, superpub (>250 capacity, in 1983; >350 by 1997), hotel bar, newcomer (to the competition, not new builds) and heritage pub all turning up. 

There was a county winner and a national winner in each category awarded; but in many year a provincial winner too - Dublin acting as a fifth province; and not being included in Leinster. In some years, Dublin appears to have had separate City and County winners; with one of these two being the overall Dublin City & County winner. 

These boundaries are extremely blurry - the 1989 and 1994 Dublin City winners were in Dublin County geographically and politically, for instance. In some years, the county winners were announced significantly in advance of the main awards, as a shortlist - this format still exists with the current Irish Pub Awards regional winners.

Awards ceremonies were substantial affairs, held in hotels, the National Concert Hall, racecourse pavilions and so on, and were usually reported by the media. The physical award plaques would often feature in pubs for some time after - there are still extant examples around. Entries were limited to the Island of Ireland, which may explain why the (3 county) Ulster awards were frequently won by one specific pub - having the least competition of any category.

Judging was performed by a panel of celebrity judges - Hugh Leonard being one of the original judges, who quit as he claimed he was too identifiable and caused any pub he entered to assume he was judging.

Winners

As I only write about non-Dublin pubs when I'm travelling, I'm just going to list Dublin winners here - but note that as these are scavenged from archives and the occasional pub website, it is possible that a claimed "Pub of the Year" without specification may only have been in a category (possibly not even the main Pub category) and not the overall winner! As often newspapers only report the national winners, this list is unfortunately quite incomplete:

1979

The Club, Dalkey - Dublin Pub of the Year

1980

The Club, Dalkey - Dublin Pub of the Year,

1983

O'Dwyers, Mount Street - Dublin Pub of the Year

1984

Joxer Dalys, Dorset Street - Dublin Pub of the Year

O'Dwyers, Mount Street - Dublin Superpub of the Year

1985

Joxer Dalys, Dorset Street - Dublin Pub of the Year, National Pub of the Year

Dropping Well, Milltown - Dublin Superpub of the Year

1986

The Deerpark, Clonskeagh - Dublin Pub of the Year

1987

Harcourt Hotel, Harcourt Street - Dublin Pub of the Year

The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year

(yes, it is odd that a hotel won both categories! This may be a misreporting)

1988

Jack O'Rourkes, Blackrock - Dublin County Pub of the Year

O'Dwyers, Mount Street - Dublin City Pub of the Year

1989

Duffys, Malahide - Dublin County Pub of the Year

Penny Black, Tymon - Dublin City Pub of the Year, National Newcomer of the Year

The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year, National Hotel Bar of the Year

1990

Ryans, Parkgate Street - Dublin City Pub of the Year

Duffys, Malahde - Dublin County Pub of the Year (reported as City & County winner at the final ceremony)

The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year, National Hotel Bar of the Year

1991

Queens, Dalkey - Dublin Pub of the Year, National Pub of the Year

Mount Merrion House, Dublin Newcomer of the Year

The Penny Black, Tymon - Dublin Superpub of the Year

1992

Queens, Dalkey - Dublin Pub of the Year

Burlington Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year

1993

Poitin Stil, Rathcoole - Dublin Superpub of the Year, National Superpub of the Year, National Pub of the Year

Golden Ball, Kilternan - Dublin Pub of the Year 

1994

The Glenside, Churchtown - Dublin Superpub of the Year, National Superpub of the Year, National Pub of the Year

The Lord Mayors, Swords - Dublin County Pub of the Year, Dublin Pub of the Year

Harry Byrnes, Clontarf - Dublin City Pub of the Year

1995

Golden Ball, Kilternan - Dublin City Pub of the Year

Dropping Well, Milltown - Dublin County Pub of the Year, Dublin Pub of the Year

McSorleys, Ranelagh - Dublin City Newcomer of the Year

Step Inn, Stepaside - Dublin County Newcomer of the Year

The Playwright, Blackrock - Dublin Superpub of the Year

1996

Golden Ball, Kilternan - Dublin Pub of the Year, National Pub of the Year

1997

The Barge, Charlemont Street - Dublin City Pub of the Year, Dublin Pub of the Year

Leopardstown Inn - Dublin County Pub of the Year

The Playwright, Blackrock - Dublin Superpub of the Year

McGowans, Phibsboro - Dublin Newcomer of the Year, National Newcomer of the Year

Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year

1998

McSorleys, Ranelagh - Dublin Pub of the Year

Berkeley Court Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year, National Hotel Bar of the Year

The Playwright, Blackrock - Dublin Superpub of the Year

1999

Bakers Corner - Dublin Pub of the Year

The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year, National Hotel Bar of the Year

The Playwright - Dublin Superpub of the Year, National Superpub of the Year

2000

McSorleys, Ranelagh - Dublin Pub of the Year

The Dubliner, Jurys Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year

An Poitin Stil - Dublin Superpub of the Year

2001

Bradys, Shankill - Dublin Pub of the Year

Dollymount House - Dublin Superpub of the Year

Berkeley Court Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year

2002

Fillies Cafe Bar, Leopardstown - Dublin Pub of the Year

Dollymount House - Dublin Superpub of the Year

Terenure Inn, Terenure - Dublin Newcomer of the Year, National Newcomer of the Year

Radisson SAS St Helens - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year

2003

S0172 The Waterloo - Dublin Pub of the Year

N0246 Penny Hill, Lucan - Dublin Superpub of the Year

Stillorgan Park Hotel - Dublin Hotel Bar of the Year

2004

Wrights, Swords - Dublin Superpub of the Year, National Superpub of the Year

Other Awards:

There have been a few other pub awards, either operating at the same time or since:

Soon to overtake the Black & White Awards in longevity are those awarded by the Georgina Campbell Guide, which cover the Island of Ireland and have a single national winner announced. These have been running since 1999 and continued throughout the pandemic.

There have only been two Dublin winners

1999 - The Porterhouse, Parliament Street

2003 - Cafe En Seine, Dawson Street

The belated replacement for the Black & White awards, in some ways, are the current Irish Pub Awards, awarded 2017-2019, and with 2022 scheduled. These awards are open to LVA or VFI members and have a number of sub-categories, each with regional winners and a national winner. 

There was also the Irish Pubs of Distinction awards from 1998 to 2003, which appears to have mainly existed to provide content for a tourist publication of this name. As these are available in the National Library, there is future article fodder for me in them hopefully.