1013980 Premier Inn Airside

Premier Inn now have a number of hotels in Dublin, with a subset of them having public licences on the register (so far); but this one has been on the register since day one of this blog. For many years, their only property in Dublin - or indeed in Ireland - was this one, the result of an acquisition.

Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inns, purchased the UK chain Golden Tulip in 2007; who had only recently expanded in to Ireland with this hotel; and while they retained it, they showed little interest in expanding in Ireland for many years. They have now started expanding at an immense pace, so presumably they eventually saw a market here!

I've stayed in many Premier Inns in the UK and in Germany; which give you very different ideas of whether the bars are public are not - UK ones are usually either built beside a pub (older style locations); or have a bar buried somewhere deep within; whereas the German ones I've stayed in have had a very public lobby bar. My previous brief glance at the other currently public licenced Premier Inn in Dublin - 1018396 on Georges Street - had failed to even see a bar; so I suspected we may have UK-style bars here; but I was in the area and decided to wander past.

And indeed we do have a UK style bar, behind reception; but it's easily visible from outside and its quite easy to just walk past the reception desk. 

I was not asked for proof of staying there to get served; but I'm not sure you'd be bothered - there's a limited tap selection, and you are drinking in a hotel bar overlooking the carpark of a retail park. But a tick is a tick.