1021081 Blackbanks Bar & Grill

Formerly The Foxhound, the closure of this pub during the pandemic was much lamented due to it featuring in The Van; the beloved Barrytown Trilogy movie which was once a feature of TV3 weekends, along with that Brendan Grace performance that they must have showed a thousand times - no hyperbole there. There were plenty of glowing obituaries of sorts, but much of the sheen was taken off this on finding out how much the original staff were stiffed for, though.

The pub was bought by the McHugh group, operator of a number of Centras, some specialist off-licences and wine bar/restaurants and extensively renovated, reopening in 2024. This renovation has modernised the particularly dated exterior, reopening a blocked up doorway and removing the faux mansard roofs attached to the sides amongst other things

Something that they didn't consider in that renovation is air conditioning; with the main bar being particularly stuffy on my visit; but there is a roof terrace I could have presumably gone out to - there was a requirement to wait to be seated, but I was offered multiple options - except for needing the plug sockets which are sited at nearly every seat and also under the bar counter at multiple points.

The interior to is to a very high quality, with some design features I'm starting to recognise from one of the main pub interior designers (one being prop old bottles of 'whiskey' on display shelves which are reprinted labels on modern empties filled with caramel water - indistinguishable to 99% of people).

There isn't any outdoor seating out the front, currently at least; this was a car park in the Foxhound days and faces on to housing so may not be particularly suitable. There was also a bouncer on - well, floating near rather than directly on - the door; which is odd on a weekend afternoon, but the pub was much busier than the others I visited on the same day so there is potentially justification for this.

RetroReview: S0163 Paddy Cullens / Mary Macs

I had lunch here once (including a pint), during an FAI Cup Final where I was providing tech support to a 96fm outside broadcast - Cork City were in the final.

I cannot remember a damn thing about it otherwise.

International "Irish" pubs of Dublin

There's already been writing about the looming (we know of more threatened ones than currently open ones - Temple Bar aside) threat of "Irish Bars" of abroad invading Dublin; so I'm not going to rehash that. Instead, I'm going to do the thing that makes up 90% of the traffic here - a borderline listicle!

There is a growing trend of what can only really be described as Irish bar chains "from" outside Ireland purchasing pubs in Dublin and converting them to their format. The added implausibility quotes around "from" is important, because some of these chains started in Ireland or even started *in Dublin* in the first place, but are better known for their properties abroad, or primarily do business abroad.

McGettigan Group

The McGettigan Group's first premises was N0214 McGettigans on Queen Street; so are they a Dublin chain?

Well, I decide what goes here, so no - they are a Middle East via Donegal group in my eyes. And their format is quite unoffensive, from the two (Dublin and Bray) that I've been to.

Over time, the group structure has changed and there is now the McGettigans bar brand and the McGettigan Hotels group; with the bar brand now available as a franchise.

There are 12 McGettigan's Irish Bars in the Middle East, one in London and a number around Ireland including one in Dublin - which is not the Queen Street branch. It still exists, they still own it, but it doesn't match the branding.

The one in Dublin is sited inside of their hotels - 10010900 Bonnington Hotel in Whitehall; with their other Dublin hotels, The Address Citywest and The Address Connolly - the former 1002557 North Star Hotel not having the branded bars.

McCafferty Group

Another Middle East via Donegal setup, McCaffertys started in Donegal and now have a handful of bars in Donegal, another handful in the Middle East, some in the UK and some in Spain. And one in Dublin - S0202 The Barge. Their website does not list all their current pubs at this moment, with The Barge and at least one in Donegal being missing.

The interiors of the McCafferty's pubs, with their "Sonny McSwines Bar" branding, is twee but not offensively so - there's been a lot of greebling purchased from the pub interiors companies, with things like old phone boxes as part of the interior design and shelfs of nicknacks.

"Biddy Mulligans"

This one is barely a chain, but its probably the most egregious.

Damien Smyth, a controversial London based publican and his UK based The Irish Coffee Company Limited, have purchased N1099 Sackville Lounge and rebranded it as Biddy Mulligans (albeit it has yet to open right now); with the Biddy Mulligans website strongly suggesting this this is to be a new brand exercise for pubs and drinks.

Ma Nolans

This one is at the rumour stage, but apparently this French chain of Irish Bars - which look, well, acceptable from their website - are going to purchase the Bachelor Inn, which has not traded since March 2020.

N0902 Bayside Inn

This very 70s looking pub smelled a bit like a pub from the 70s - a mix of damp and stale beer - but it has multiple outdoor areas and the weather was good, so I drank my Hope outside instead.

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There was a nice mixed crowd outside, so I hope the smell inside is not a fixture for wetter days... 

Every? Pub In The Rosses

As anyone who follows my Instagram would see, I spend quite a bit of time, particularly in Summer but not solely, up in Donegal. More specifically, this is in The Rosses area of North West Donegal. And more specifically, on its one substantially populated offshore island; which does make touring around the rest of it a tad challenging.

But its always challenging to do pub ticking when driving for the obvious legality reason; and Locallink has been fully, or almost fully at least, rolled out in Donegal - bringing 6 or 8 buses on weekdays to villages that previously had a bus a week.

So I'm going to try tick off all the pubs in The Rosses as a side project to the main one - and it could yet take longer than finishing off Dublin.

I've already done the open premises in Dungloe and Arranmore, and ticked one off in Burtonport recently - not written up along with two of the Dungloe ones. But how many pubs actually are there here?

The Rosses have fairly defined barriers, but they don't map out to the licence register - so I've had to go pluck through it to try find the ones with in. A 1993 book I have here states there are 45 pubs in the area, but time has not been good to pub figures in rural Ireland - but I've tracked down 30 premises (and mapped some of the others that once were also, like for Dublin).

I am not even certain I've got all the pubs that exist on this map, let alone the rest of them; but here we are to start:

RetroReview: S0149 The Leinster Hotel

Dublin's almost-newest hotel; and this writeup doesn't reference its current instance at all.

I visited this premises a number of times when it was Howl At The Moon, a rambling fleshpit of a nightclub, flagship and origin of the once stock market listed Capital Bars group; one notable occasion being the dregs of my then-employers 25th birthday party, where the theme was 1987 fancy dress. I'm not quite sure what the cloakroom thought of me checking in a (era inappropriate, but looked the part) Dell 320N laptop in while dressed as Gordon Gekko, though.

Dublin could do with a place like this - Coppers doesn't count - again I think; but I also suspect its era has completely passed.

N0169 The Elphin

One of the pubs built for Dublin's incessant suburban expansion of the 1940s - it appears to have been first licenced in 1950 - The Elphin doesn't have another pub particularly close to it - even my previous writeup is a (small) hotel bar, not a pub; but when much of your potential coverage area is sea, you don't always get much competition. 

The bulk of the tables here were set up for food service, and there was a party on in the lounge area; but there's a nice semi-enclosed area outside which was welcome on a sunny day. This has TVs, encased in weather shields, but they were not on at the time. I was beginning to run extremely low on battery, so should maybe have poked around inside for a table with a socket near it; but the weather wasn't worth giving up at this stage of the day.

RetroReview: S0140 Clarence Hotel

As I write this - even the RetroReview posts go in to a posting queue - it is exactly nine years since I sat in the Octagon Bar of the Clarence, reading the Saturday papers as I had brunch. I was actually working, having set up an outside broadcast elsewhere in the city; so there wasn't much booze involved (I wasn't driving). This is a coincidence, date wise, as I'm doing this writeups in order of the licence number.

This was the day of the results of the Marriage Referendum and the city was particularly lively, and there was a nice contrast between the quiet bar and the buzz of everywhere else - although I eventually went out in to said buzz instead.

This was my only visit here; and only ~15 months before the start of the blog; but I didn't write up any old stuff at the time.

N0168 Marine Hotel

A very early 00s suburban hotel bar - deep stuffed couches, a lot of dark blue (Marine blue, perhaps) to the decor, and a staid drinks list. 

That staid drinks list is matched by having very conventional tastes glassware; and for some reason this appeared to be driving other customers bonkers.

While my pint was being poured, a customer comes in asking for their gin to be poured in to a gin balloon - they had come back in to the bar from somewhere else in the hotel; having either left the bar with their Collins glass or had it brought to them. The bar did not have balloon glasses; or berries for garnish which was the next request - but a white wine glass and a second slice of lemon was sufficient for them.

In the time I was there, there was a further request for a balloon that was settled with a white wine glass - for a vodka and coke in this case - and a request to re-pour (again, someone left the bar and came back) a whiskey and ginger from a conventional whiskey glass to a Collins glass.

I was there for the time it took to drink one pint; and the place wasn't particularly busy. What on earth is in the water in Sutton that makes people so antsy about glassware?

The balloon vs Collins gin glass does remind me of an incident from the early days of the blog; when the bar woman in N1127 O'Neills of Lucan stated that she'd have poured a G&T in a Collins glass instead, if she'd realised "it was for a fella" - time has moved on since that I think everyone expects a balloon.

RetroReview: S0127 The Swan

I've visited here a few times, and little stands out other than the 1970s sign announcing that they have a colour TV. As often discussed, this is a good thing when it comes to writeups of frequently visited places.

A big rugby pub; it wouldn't always be top of my list to go to when in the area, but I do recommend it to frequently.

1018663 Lennans Yard

This place - The Lennan pub section - was very busy inside, but offered me a seat at the bar - a seat which had to be magicked up from somewhere; as they do not leave seats there normally. I can understand why, to an extent - you may not want to encourage bar drinking, but be perfectly OK with taking the sales from on it.

On leaving, I noticed that the vast outdoor area - the Yard bit of the name, one assumes - was almost completely empty. That may have been slightly less tight than sitting at the bar with a number of shopping bags. Oh well.

This is a restaurant primarily, and while you can definitely go in for a drink, you may still want to arrange a seat; or ask to go outside. Tap list isn't great, but do have Open Gate Citra which is fine for my tastes.

RetroReview: S0115 Bankers

This is a handy coincidence - its next on the sorted list of prior visit pubs *and* it's on the May revisited list, so would be due a writeup anyway.

A nice smaller bar, usually busy but rarely rammed beyond being able to get a seat. Food is quite good, from memory - it has been a number of years since I ate here; but the pub has barely changed. 

The pub has its own rebranded house beers - although untappd cannot be accurate as it claims the lager is brewed by a long since defunct brewery.

1019507 O'Riordans / Wellington Hotel

EIGHT EURO for a pint of SMITHWICKS

EIGHT EURO.

On a quiet Sunday afternoon.

There is no excuse for that, other than the owners of the building overpaying for the entire thing.

This used to be a guesthouse with an Italian restaurant on the ground floor; the restaurant I went on the first date with my now partner of 14 years in; but I won't be having an anniversary dinner here while it remains so incredibly expensive.

RetroReview: S0112 O'Neills

I'd be almost tempted to do a re-write of the ridiculous statement that was written on the front of the original Zanzibar in Dublin; but change my picked out line to "random beer selection and the smell of carvery"; as that's my abiding memory of every visit to O'Neills.

O'Neills is a rambling pub which always seems to smell of carvery; but has more interesting beer options than most similar pubs in Dublin. Some of this is due to it having a huge number of taps - they are not sacrificing the bland and/or common for the interesting here; they just have space for it all.

There is; or now potentially was, as I can't find the damn thing; a write-up online of a four-way stout blind taste test of Guinness, Murphys, O'Haras and Beamish performed here, being the only pub in Dublin which regularly sold all four. It's also the first place I ever had a Brewdog beer on tap - Punk IPA many recipe alterations ago, the same type I eventually got in the Brighton branch as "Original Punk" in what I now realise was already nearly a decade ago.

My most recent visit was post the blog starting, but before the revisited lists - potentially 2017 - and was a quiet, sunny, weekday early evening out in the smoking area; which does not smell of carvery.

N2805 Krewe North

I have recently-ish written up my visit to Krewe South, a probably-has-a-pub-licence premises in the redeveloped Charlemont area.

This is quite similar, except this time its definitely a pub. The food was good, but I couldn't book a seat in advance as a single diner; and the tap list is appalling for somewhere with such diverse food.

June 2024 Register Update

One addition amongst a very sparse update this month, and I've actually been there - nearly a year ago

New: 

1020304 Ciss Maddens, Drury Street 

Renumbered:

1021191 James Gill, NCR / Jones Road - renumbered from N0025

RetroReview: S0107 Lundy Foots

I haven't been here since this was the Czech Inn; a former name and indeed very different incarnation of the pub as a mix of a theme pub and a social centre for the Czech community in Ireland.

The pub was renamed - after an 18th Century tobacconist - in 2018; and while there was an indication at the time that part of the pub was going to remain much the same, it doesn't appear to have done so.

There is still a Czech pub in Dublin, S1472 Pilsner Pub, formerly and still sometimes called Pifko; which is in a less in-demand location for tourist pubs and I suspect is less likely to get changed over.

My only visit here was an enjoyable afternoon of knocking back Czech beers before going to Kilmainham to see New Order play; quite some time ago at this stage.

Dublins Boomtime Pub Chains - Thomas Read and Capital Bars

A substantial bulk of Dublin's pubs are still owned by an owner with only one or two pubs; but there are a handful of significant multi-site operators - Press Up, Louis Fitzgerald, Charlie Chawke, Madigans, David L'Estrange, Mercantile and so on; some of which are growing their pub estates at a significant pace.

I previously wrote on Dublin's now defunct 1960s pub chains - the Madigan Group are an extant chain from that era - but there are two notable chains that have fallen by the wayside after being a significant presence during the Celtic Tiger - the Thomas Read Group and Capital Bars.

Both of these chains started off with single, existing pubs and both expanded primarily by construction of new venues; eventually taking advantage of the increased ease of moving pub licences - although both had considerable holdings even by then. 

If you drank in Dublin from the early 90s to the late 2000s, particularly at night; you'll probably have spent a fair bit of time and money with these operators.

Thomas Read Group / Thomas Read Holdings

The name Thomas Read has an odd route to being involved in pubs to begin with - Thomas Reads was the oldest shop in Dublin, a cutlers (manufacturer of swords, cutlery, shaving blades etc); opened in 1670 and which closed in the 1990s. The building has been recently extensively restored and now houses a barbers amongst other uses.

The pub that took the cutlers name, and named the owners group, was next door; itself a 1994 extension towards the corner of the historic The Oak. It, as we'll see, was the last asset left as the group collapsed and has most recently reopened as The Beer Temple, a branch of the Galway Bay Brewery chain.

Thomas Read Group - Sharmane Limited in legal terms -  was majority owned by Hugh O'Regan, who began his life as a publican by buying what was Flannerys on Temple Bar / Temple Lane and renaming it as The Temple Bar in 1988. This pub did not stay with the group in to the era by which it had taken the TRG name.

The TRG name begins appearing in job ads and other media coverage in 1998, by which time Hugh O'Regan had a number of pubs under his belt; and a continual development pipeline of new premises.

In addition to the normal pubs, hotels and restaurants, the group ran eight bars in Dublin Airport - I suspect that was absolutely all of them at the time - under licence from the DAA. These were all in Terminal 1 - Terminal 2 hadn't opened yet - and would have included the airside bar above security and a bar in Pier C, both gone.

O'Regan sold the bulk of group in two tranches (to the same purchaser) over 2004/5; retaining the Morrison Hotel, Stephens Green Club and the Dublin Sports Hotel amongst other assets. These unfortunately suffered financially during the post Celtic Tiger crash, with eight figure debts by the time O'Regan lost control. At the time of writing, the redevelopment that he began at the Dublin Sports Hotel still remains unfinished, albeit it has been in the control of the Comer Brothers for nearly a decade.

TRG continued after O'Regans exit, expanding with some further premises and taking on substantial debt in 2007 to fund further expansion. One late, uncompleted expansion attempt was buying in to the former Bewleys on Westmoreland Street in 2008 - there were already bars on the premises at the time; but the intent was to reopen the cafe, apparently as the first of a Thomas Read Coffee chain.

Their last new bar, the Cu Bar on Pier D (now the 100 gates) in Dublin Airport, opened in October 2008.

It entered examinership in November 2008, falling rapidly to receivership by May 2009. The Airport bars were rapidly reassigned, to the pub company of Senator Donie Cassidy; and other pubs either closed (one permanently) and were taken up by other operators, or continued under receivers until the final sale in 2013.

Hugh O'Regan died in 2012 at the age of 49.

Pubs operated by Hugh O'Regan or the Thomas Read Group at some stage:

Thomas Read, Dame Street/Parliament Street - now S0083 Beer Temple
Thomas Read Smithfield, Smithfield Square - now 1006953 Oscars
1009287 The Temple Bar, Temple Bar
The Crane, Crane Lane - closed
S0090 Hogans, Georges Street
S0056 The Bailey, Duke Street
S0173 Searsons, Baggot Street
S0026 Lincolns Inn, Lincoln Place
40 Foot / Bodega, Dun Laoghaire - now S3795 The Forty Foot
S0138 The Globe / Rí Ra, Georges Street - closed since my writeup
N1833 The Harbourmaster, IFSC
Pravda, Liffey Street - now N1994 The Grand Social
Floridita, Abbey Street - closed
S0010 Dawson Lounge, Dawson Street
Ron Blacks, Dawson Street - now S3947 37 Dawson Street
N2057 Morrison Hotel, Ormond Quay
Budabar, Blanchardstown - closed
Spi, Eden Quay - now 1018821 Meaghers
8x bars in Dublin Airport Terminal 1, airside and landside

They also had some interests outside Dublin (primarily Galway) and in non-pub restaurants.

Capital Bars Plc

The Currency has a - non-paywalled - long form obituary for Liam O'Dwyer of Capital Bars who died in 2023; which provides much of the type of summary I would intend to here; so this is really just the list of premises

Basically - Capital Bars was the eventual outcome of a somewhat convoluted process involving the O'Dwyer families pub holdings, a UK Plc, a buyout and a return to focusing on pubs, nightclubs and hotels in Dublin; followed by a delisting as a Plc. Amongst all that mix was a bid by Thomas Read Group to buy that UK Plc, just to add to the confusion.

Capital's end as a separate firm didn't come until 2016, when what remained merged with Mercantile Group. Mercantile Group later split in an acrimonious manner; with the former Mercantile head Frank Gleeson forming the Townhouse Leisure group to manage his part of the group (containing no former Capital properties). A few former Capital premises are still trading in the remaining Mercantile Group; others have been sold outside the chain.

Former Capital Bars premises:

S0149 Howl At The Moon, Mount Street - now the Leinster Hotel
S3053 Cafe en Seine, Dawson Street
Grafton Capital Hotel / Break For The Border, Stephen Street - now S3012 Grafton Hotel
S2793 Sinnotts, South King Street
S0085 Bad Bobs, Essex Street
Major Toms, South King Street - now S2860 Harrys On The Green
S0092 The George, Georges Street
SoSuMe / The Dragon, Georges Street - now S3871 Nolita
Rathmines Capital Hotel / Savannah, Rathmines - hotel now Travelodge, bar now an Aldi!
Trinity Capital Hotel / Fireworks, Pearse Street - now 1014500 Trinity City Hotel
Dandelion, Stephens Green - now S3908 The Well
Zanzibar, Ormond Quay - now 1017192 Zanzibar Locke Hotel

They also latterly operated Dublin's doomed Planet Hollywood franchise, which became Dandelion listed above

Pints Afloat - the boat bars of Dublin

In two previous jobs, that covered a full decade between them, I would semi-frequently go for lunch and/or drinks in the Liffey, via the N2741 MV Cill Airne / The Boat pub, which is in a former liner tender, permanently moored on North Wall Quay.

This is the only current full pub licenced boat in Dublin; but its not the only place you can get a drink afloat. Ignoring the Irish Sea ferries plying in and out of Dublin Port, there are currently three Dublin registered vessels with boat liquor licences (Passenger Vessel Licence - allowing sale of drink for people being conveyed from one place to another) - the Dublin Bay Cruises St Bridget (which I have had the pleasure of drinking on); and the two Grand Canal barges - 1014816 Canal Boat Restaurant (MV Cadhla) and N2427 La Peniche (MV Riasc)

However, Dublin has had a few other floating licenced premises. I'm going to cover the three former that I currently know about now, all of which are rather more chaotic than the four we currently have:

MV Arran

This venture from 1983 has some superficial similarities to the Cill Airne - a converted commercial vessel (the Islay car ferry), permanently moored to the North Quays, and holding a conventional publicans licence. However, unlike the Cill Airne, it only stayed open for a few months.

Costing Eamonn Andrews Studios - the media and entertainment company founded by TV presenter Eamonn Andrews - £750,000 to convert - €2.95m after currency conversion and inflation calculations - in 1983. Notably, the champagne bottle failed to smash at the "launching", something that is usually seen as a bad omen - however, the boat was neither being launched or even renamed at the time, so this shouldn't apply...

...except maybe it did. The MV Arran closed in Dublin in January 1984. The vessel was moved to Manchester for an attempted re-launch as a nightclub in 1986; but this also failed and she was broken up in 1993.

Maid of Allen

A 1928 built Grand Canal Company barge (serial 57M), this vessel seems to have come to Dublin for use during the 1988 Millennium for tours; obtaining a boat liquor licence at some stage in 1989/1990.

Rather rapidly, however, the boat came to the attention of the OPW - the then operators of the Grand Canal - for not actually moving at all during its alleged voyages, and serving people whilst parked up - the owner eventually being fined for multiple sample counts of this

A normal pub licence would have sufficed for being parked up (as we see with The Boat and the MV Arran), except newspaper reports of extremely late service, after other pubs had shut, suggests that it was still claiming to be a passenger vessel and not just a tethered boat pub.

 

Irish Independent, April 23 1991

The OPW seized the vessel in February 1991 and sold by tender in April 1991; with further less formal sale ads in May 1991 looking like it was bought and flipped.

It relaunched in September1991, actually moving while serving this time, and the last reference I find to it is in May 1992 - when someone is charged with stealing the till, some alcohol, and some pictures from the walls in April 1992. 

The vessel is now a houseboat, details are not entirely clear as to where and indeed as its now someones house, I wouldn't tell you even if I had found them.

Laura Lucy

This one is possibly the most bonkers - a former German police boat, this spent a brief period working the Grand Canal with a boat liquor licence (1002841 - this is in the era I have documentation for) as a party boat with; allegedly the staff dressed as German police.

Oddly, for something potentially connected to clubbing in Dublin at the time, I had never heard of it; but it seems to have been an after party location. I first learned that it had even existed when Revenue provided me with some pre-2016 licence registers

There was a drowning of someone who had been attending an event there, which may have hastened the end of its time in Dublin. 

It then moved to Galway, and had a more sedate use as a cafe; and is now a moored rental accommodation venue, linked up above with the German police uniforms claim. The bar appears to be intact, a Pioneer sound system definitely is, and I'm sure you can buy replica German police uniforms online if you want to recreate the club days.

1018542 Point A Hotel

This hotel opened in 2022, and then got scaffolded up for an extension almost immediately; putting me off from trying its bar. But I finally did, and found that its quite odd.

Its a hotel lobby bar, but with a small and unexpected tap list - I had a pint of Killarney Full Circle, not something commonly on tap in Dublin and particularly not something you'd expect to get in a hotel lobby bar.

Interesting pint aside, I don't think I'd be back here.

Revisited pubs: May 2024

A larger and eclectic selection this month

S0081 Dame Tavern, Dame Lane - offered as an alternate to the originally suggested pub across the road owned by my second least favourite pub group; I think I've made a convert to the smaller option.

S0015 Bankers, Dame Lane - when already on Dame Lane we may as well make a visit to one of my favourites

S0002 Madigans Connolly - one of those 29 minute waits again

S0022 Workshop - needed to decide what I was going to do and didn't want to dither without a pint to dither over

N0084 Black Sheep - popped in to check what had happened since the pub was "sold" out of the chain - its still exactly the same.

N0097 Underdog - why not, after verifying the Black Sheep was OK. Also had seats.

RetroReviews: S0106 The Porterhouse

So, I've turned to the remains of my exhaustive (I hope...) pre-blog list, to write up those that weren't written up during the pandemic.

(There's definitely some inaccuracies there, though - I think I've finally fixed it in most/all places, but to give an example, N0081 Tolka House and N0079 Botanic House somehow keep becoming the same pub in my mind, even though they're 900m apart, and I visited one in ~2009 and the other in 2018.)

I'm sticking with those that are still open, for now - I may wait til the depths of winter before doing a depressing series of writeups for the pubs that are long gone.

The next pub on the sorted list is The Porterhouse - the original Temple Bar one - and a place I'm actually a bit surprised I've not been in since I began logging re-visits in 2019. I've certainly stuck my head in checking to see if there was a space a few times, including a few weeks ago; and I was definitely there between 2016 and 2019.

Since 2019, the Porterhouse group has undergone some very significant changes. The "Central" branch has rebranded to Tapped, and the brewery has been sold to [redacted], making his stout; with the Porterhouse beers now being brewed at White Hag and Kinnegar. But the original branch remains.

I don't know if its exactly the same as my last visit; but what you get is a rambling space, full of copper brewery pipework (albeit beer is not made on-site) across multiple split level floors. It's usually very busy, but if you can get a table, you'll enjoy your time here.