Substitute Records - the 1891 LVA List (part 2)

Last time out, I said that I suspected that a lot of the entries on the 1891 LVA list that I couldn't easily match to my existing map were off-licences, or "spirit grocers" as they were frequently known at the time. (That that term was often used as a euphemism for an actual pub, along with "wine merchant", is confusing as hell when trying to ascertain what is what)

And they were (including some food retailing chains of the era), but there are quite a lot that were actual pubs that I have verified by licence notices, sales ads etc from newspaper archives.

So far, I have added 24 'new' old pubs to the map - most closing before 1910, the latest in 1938. I have previously mapped every pub I could find in a 1943 Thoms, so would be surprised to have missed any that were open in 1891 and closed after 1943 - I'm fairly sure I am still missing some 60s-00s openings that have since closed.

This includes my 500th pre-2009 closure, Lennons of 43 Stephen Street Lower - where Masa opposite the Hairy Lemon is today, which just squeaks my 1902 start date by having probably closed in 1903.

I've also found a small handful of places that closed between 1891 and 1902; which don't meet my map rules. Should I ever push back further, I still have these recorded.

I've yet to properly dig in to some of the areas further outside the city centre due to poorer/less consistent addressing - lots of streets have been renumbered, making comparison work a trudge - and more likely to have been captured before, as a far, far higher % of suburban pubs from the Victorian era are still there.

After expanding entries with multiple pubs listed for a single owner, other oddities like a publican owning pubs two sides of a road with sequential numbers - this happened quite a bit! - and removing some duplicates that were probably due to a pub changing hands shortly before the list was written - I have it at 551 entries; with ~160 of them still trading as pubs today. These numbers may change a bit further as I finish off the list.

Only a very, very limited number are still trading with the same name as they had listed in 1891 - N0008 Mullets (albeit this has had other names since), N0211 Clarkes City Arms (as just City Arms), and the nearby N0219 Walsh's - but there is a huge caveat to this. The list is the list of the owners, and very very few gave the name of their pub if it had one.

I must also add that this list is not a list of every LVA member at the time - only those that were announcing they would not be giving Christmas boxes to customers that year. 

N0240 Hole In The Wall

"Europe's longest pub" is also one of the Ireland's narrowest, a rabbit warren of small rooms with a continuous bar serving them, starting as a restaurant at one end, in to a wine bar and then the more pub areas; with a narrow-ish carpark continuing along past the actual 'hole in the wall' of the Phoenix Park, containing some food/coffee vans. 

An odd, albeit in a good way, event occurred during my visit here, which I will now tell in a more rambling manner than I'd usually write a place up.

I settled in here, at a massive table by the fire, while it was fairly quiet and started reading the paper - a broadsheet as it was Sunday, hence the massive table. Attentive floor staff service meant I got a second pint when I might have moved to the next pub; and shortly after that had been delivered; a large family grouping came through looking for a table.

As I was sitting at the largest table in probably the entire pub; and there were still plenty more left (albeit not quite as toasty as by the fire); I offered this to them and was effusively thanked, including by the very polite children.

Approx 10 minutes later, the same staff member who had been attempting to seat said large family arrived with a pint for me - sent down by them as further thanks for giving them the table! I made sure to thank them in person when passing on my way out (they were out of direct range of where I had moved to). So I ended up having three pints in a pub where I intended to have just the one; and this minorly reduced my plans for the rest of the day; albeit I was still avoiding the city centre due to the matches mentioned in the last report so I didn't have a huge area I could cover.

Not the first time I've had someone I previously didn't know buy me a pint when doing a pub ticking trip - but its only the third; the American tourists in N1879 The Bloody Stream, and the owner of another pub who wanted to go through the map for what history I had noted.

Anyway, back to the pub. Its got an interesting interior including a few bits I took photos of for further research; and its still a family run premises; not as common in Dublin as it is outside. 

Revisited pubs, February 2023

1015426 Rubys - I return! Due to a gig in the Point, not due to moving jobs

N0033 3Arena - I'd never really noticed just how early a licence sequence number this is and now want to know if it was an older licence from very nearby moved in... Also - just over 7 quid for a can of Coors.

N0006 Brew Dock - lunch the morning after the 3Arena. The hotel didn't have room service of any description and the bar was shut by 11, so it doesn't get on the list.

N2438 The Lotts - the last line of my writeup from 2017 holds - this is still a comparatively cheap pub for its location.

February and March 2023 Licence Update

*crickets*

Forgot to post this last month, cause there was nothing to post. No changes of interest last month, no changes of interest this month.