N1120 The Manhattan

My previous post mentioned how it is relatively unusual - in Dublin anyway - for a pub to have no ground floor (other than an entrance way). 

However, they do seem to exist in clusters - around Stephens Green for instance, Dawson Lounge, Slatterys, Harrys on the Green, Captain Americas and The Bar are all close enough to each other, and Brown Thomas's bar a bit further up Grafton Street is entirely upstairs. And we have that closeness here too, with The Manhattan being on the first floor of its building.

It used not to be this way, however - when this was Fowlers of Grange Cross in recent memory, the main bar was on the ground floor. The bar moved upstairs - I am assuming in to what was an existing fitted out function room, as the fitout is not new - and the downstairs was put up for rent in a stripped out condition a few years ago (~2019). Yangtze restaurant now occupies this space 

Neither the restaurant or the bar have particularly much in the way of branding to make it obvious that they are there, or when/if they are open - The Manhattan was and Yangtze was not when I visited.

The cheapest pub in Ballyfermot, at the time of my visit; there was plenty of space here, but it wasn't deathly quiet either. A musician was setting up beside where I had been sitting - they weren't named on the various posters up, but music, karaoke and darts seem to be the regular entertainment here.