Finglas East / Glasnevin North / Its Not Ballymun has four open pubs, and I went to all of them in one evening. I did consider popping in to its former, fifth pub - the Fingal House - which is now a Tesco, but decided it would only be suitable for an in-joke on Instagram, so I didn't.
Each pub is going to get a writeup, but it is worth noting that there were some similarities to all of them which I'll mention across the reviews.
The Willows, as the northernmost, was the first of my visits - I was getting off the N4 bus and aiming at Broombridge train station so this direction made most sense.
The most modern internally of the four pubs, with up to date fitout including "neon" - LED tubes - logos of the many of the beer brands on tap, The Willows is a comfortable if slightly loud place to go for a pint. A 'best of 2013' or so music mix was being played at just a tad over the volume I'd have chosen. Volume issues would actually affect me again on this trip, but not in quite the same way.
It is possible that the recent fitout inside is connected to the fire that damaged its outdoor drinking area during the 2020 lockdowns, but I don't know this for sure - there is little online to confirm that there was any indoor damage.
Something interesting here is that, if the pubs website (last updated in December or so) and Instagram are correct, the pub only opens five days a week - Thursday to Monday. This set of days, capturing Monday night football matches and people who are fed up with the new week, while avoiding quieter nights, is fairly common for restaurants near where I live but I've not noticed it on a pub before.
There wasn't a particularly large crowd here, at least in the lounge; and it was quiet enough for a "I'll drop that down to you" pint order.
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