1006700 Decies County Bar

The shutters were mostly down of this pub - the one over the door opened to head height and the rest still down. Not the most inviting; and the warning about bans for use of drugs on the premises also suggests foreboding; however the pubs actually quite nice inside.

Unlike the previous pub being very clear about what they did and didn't serve; the Decies had a Beamish tap head which was not on and indeed had not been on for some time - but they did have bottled Macardles; which more than suffices.

The "County" in the name here may seem slightly odd; as this is very much in an urban area, within the Dublin City Council area; but this is because the Colgan family chain of premises all had "County" in their names - N1194 West County Hotel, N1133 Lucan County Bar and some former premises making up another chain of similarly named pubs like JG Mooney's set.

RetroReview: S0323 Stillorgan Park Hotel

In a weird coincidence, the previous two RetroReviews were places I visited for family parties; and so is this

(Actually, its only a weird coincidence if you don't realise that the old S/N series licences were issued in a vague geographic order; and none of them have yet changed licence so they're all relatively nearby... but anyway)

This was the scene of, as far as I remember, a family reunion of some kind a few years *after* the 80th Birthday mentioned in another post. There's another southside hotel I ticked off for my grandmothers 90th, as it happens.

I don't remember much about it; and while I've been here and indeed eaten here more recently it was for work - they were a customer of a previous employer.

N1112 Ruby Finnegans

The second cash-only pub I've encountered since the start of the pandemic, and the first in an urban setting (N0269 Killians of Naul is in a village), this pub has a clear line taken on a recent scourge of pubs across Ireland

The pub that has this sign up also does not have a certain draught stout that I would have sort of expected it to sell. pic.twitter.com/k17AEFPZG5

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) June 3, 2024

It does not sell the stout that starts with an F, possibly not surprisingly based on that sign... but it does do a decent pint of Beamish.

RetroReview: S0320 Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel

I attended my grandmothers 80th Birthday here when I was 19, and have the early digital camera photos to prove it.

I can't remember fuck all else about the night, though.

S4406 Hilton Kilmainham

For the second time in recent history, I walked past a sign I had clearly seen and read, with the expectation that its requirements would not be enforced.

The sign here was stating the hotel bar was for residents only; but with a very open and inviting looking bar terrace facing on to the road; I decided that this clearly only meant during gigs at IMMA. 

I didn't ask to find out if that was the case, but I was served beer and lunch - reasonable but not great, I wouldn't go here specifically for a meal anyway - without issue.

I'd probably just go to S1510 Patriots Inn across the road if I was in this area looking for a pint; but this is definitely an option, sometimes.

RetroReview: S0253 The Goat

Like the previous RetroReview, I have visited here due to my prior work in radio; but I had actually visited here for other reasons.

This was a semi-regular stopping point to grab dinner before going to see Harps games against UCD; but my most recent visits here didn't involve drinking, as they always related to getting breakfast at outside broadcasts arranged from outside the pub.

The ultimate hosts for those occasions, you'd never come away better fed from a broadcast than at The Goat; with four services of food delivered out to the broadcast vehicle during a full day. These would be slightly Hobbit like, with breakfast when the kitchens opened, Second Breakfast around the time of the show change at 10am; and lunch and dinner later on.

I can understand why, from an animal welfare perspective, the pub no longer has an actual goat in the carpark; but the website does reminisce about the days of Gertie and her kids that lived on-site prior to 1983. With The Clocks aviary having closed many years before the pub did; I'm not sure we have anything beyond a potential Pub Dog left as an animal mascot for a Dublin pub.

1019273 Big Mikes

This vast premises is the latest offshoot of the noted Michaels restaurant in Mount Merrion; and it is certainly aptly named - I don't know this centre well enough to know what was in this space before, but it is a multi-level space running from the inside of the centre out to a large terrace at the front.

There is a full pub licence in place here, and a conventional bar, and walk-ins for drinks only are welcome - assuming there are seats, I suspect that standing at the bar may not be that practical. 

There isn't a great tap list, though - some other pubstaraunt venues have a few craft taps even when they have a smaller bar - but its all macro and all quite boring here; although there were Kinnegar bottles.

RetroReview: S0304 McCormacks

This was my grandparents local, so to speak; and they were certainly regular customers - but my grandfather on this side didn't drink; and my grandmother was likely not sneaking out for a sherry so they went here primarily for food.

Indeed, every visit I've made here involved food. There was one date, with someone who lived nearby and picked the place, which was a tad awkward lest my grandmother actually sneak in for a sherry (I'm sure she never did); and I went here for dinner with a friend who lived nearby some other times - but otherwise the rest of them were family events, from parties to meals after memorial services.

EPITR: LEP073 McCaffertys, Dungloe

There aren't all that many pubs in The Rosses; but as two of them are operated by the one chain, and they also have one in Dublin; I need to put the town name in the title to clarify it.

This is a large pub, fitted out to a very high standard, and you may end up paying for that depending on what you buy - a €6 pint is exceptionally expensive for Dungloe; but I was drinking a local APA rather than my usual for ticking Smithwicks, which I imagine is a bit cheaper.

They also do food here, which most of the other pubs in the town don't.

RetroReview: S0232 The Glenside

Erm, its got a thatched roof... and I had lunch here a few times, at least once with a pint...

The last time was over a decade ago and I honestly can't remember much at this stage.

S0296 Kelly & Coopers

The last of the 'traditional' pubs in Blackrock village that I had yet to visit, this pub once had a name that sounds like the Whatsapp message you may get before an indecent proposal - the "U Inn". That was around 90 years ago; though.

As mentioned in the previous (non-retro) writeup, Blackrock is a bit rugby mad. Kelly & Coopers interior designer may have latched on to this, with the window to the toilets being shaped like rugby balls, the light fixtures in the side of the staircase in the main bar being shaped like rugby balls, and some other rugby references around the place.

And yet, the pub-wide sound system was playing the sound of the FA Cup Final instead.

From memory, there was a reasonable tap selection here - there's quite a few places in Blackrock with a reasonable selection, although not everywhere as we'll see soon...

EPITR: LEP079 Patrick Johnny Sallys

This is the first individual writeup for my summer/holiday fill-in series of Every Pub In The Rosses.

Patrick Johnny Sallys was not open on the day I attempted to knock off every pub in Dungloe; but opened again shortly afterwards. It had not opened at any point during the restricted opening periods during the pandemic - it does not do food, and although it does have a very nice deck area at the back, Donegal weather is rather against outdoor drinking outside of peak summer!

This is a nice pub, semi recently extensively renovated - there are photos of the premises before and during the renovation in the toilet lobby - and filled with historical artifacts. One display case contains the log book of the local midwife during the 1940s, another various receipts from the local co-op for hardware, and a further display had a programme for the towns former Ritz Cinema (a Donegal-wide chain in the 50s and 60s), the site of which is now partially used by The Bridge Inn which was visited in the previous attempt to cover the town.

Had it been slightly warmer I might have stayed a bit longer here, out on the deck rather than inside; but this was not a warm June in Donegal and I also needed food, so on to the next one...

S0399 Wishing Well

In comparison to the previous pub, it was exceptionally clear that only one sport was important here; that being rugby; possibly more of a religion than a sport for the people of Blackrock. The pub was rather busy, but I managed to find a table in a corner that had been left empty due to having a shockingly poor view of any of the screens; and as I'm not from Leinster I didn't really care about the match in the first place.

This pub was once overshadowed by its bigger, brasher, and very expensive (the pub, that is - it once sold for €8.1m) Playwright around the corner; but that has now devolved in to being a Dunnes Stores outlet; leaving this as the areas only pub.

A fairly standard modern suburban pub all in, in good condition with a strong focus on food. An interesting item within the pub is their timeline of the affects of the pandemic on the operation of the pub, featured prominently at the end of the bar

Wishing Well in Blackrock chronicles the ~21 months of pandemic disruptions. Other than some remaining signs and stickers, and the odd partition there isn't much obvious left of that era inside pubs. Outside, improved seating areas are the legacy; and a few pubs still closed. pic.twitter.com/bZoY8AXQOm

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) May 25, 2024

RetroReview: S0201 Bleeding Horse

The eventual outcomes of the nights started here could fill a book - a particularly boring book, with one or two exceptions, but a book nonetheless. As this is where I generally started any nights out in S3032 Tripod (part of the Pod complex); which was the main venue for "big" trance nights in mid-late 00s Dublin; most of which I attended.

Like a lot of frequent visit pubs, this means a fairly short writeup - one thing I do remember is trying and failing to convince a friend from Belfast that the large backlit "paintings" of Arthur Guinness with wooden frames up in a few places in the pub were actually sideways mounted flat screen TVs (they were) and that occasionally, the "painting" would wink at you (it would) - I wasn't vindicated until the next time I met her and she revealed that she'd seen one somewhere else since.

Ah, to be young again...

S0402 The Grange

This trip co-incided with a particularly busy/messy (depending on perspective, location, and potentially results) day of sporting fixtures, with the rugby Champions Cup final, the FA Cup final and the Scottish Cup final all vying for pub TV capacity; along with racing, golf and other weekend regulars.

This can often cause friction in pubs as people ask for specific events to be shown on the TV they can see; but The Grange had decided to avoid all of this by clearly designating the TVs in advance

The Grange is having no shit about changing TVs to a different one of the three big sporting events on today pic.twitter.com/ddr5o6U4LT

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) May 25, 2024

 

This was a slightly more traditional pub than I was expecting for some reason; with more TVs dedicated to the football options, and a rake of newspaper clippings on the wall. There's a major food focus, as is now the norm in suburbia.

RetroReview: S0200 Ryans

I had just sat down here with my pint when I got a frantic phonecall asking me where I was - I was due to turn up at a 30th birthday party a bit down the road in about an hour; or so I thought.

It had been moved forward by an hour, and everyone assumed that someone else had told me - it was my best mates birthday, I'd end up being the best man at his wedding within the same year, it was assumed I knew what was going on. But for once, I didn't

My pint, and half of my partners, knocked and legged out the door to the restaurant, which was nearby (hence why coming in here), thankfully.

S0406 Bakers Corner

There was a slight last-chance-to-see element to planning the ticking trip to this pub; as the premises is currently for sale with full planning permission for a student accommodation development. 

And indeed I was slightly worried I'd missed it, as their social media hadn't been updated in a few weeks. This feeling got stronger when I arrived and couldn't find a door in to the pub - the actual corner section of Bakers Corner had all doors locked; but I could see the lights in the taps were on at least.

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The pubs adjacent off-licence was open; and inside I was told that the corner doors hadn't been used in quite some time and that the pub was indeed open - you now enter through the carpark. Or through the off-licence, should you so wish, as it has a door through.

As for when it will close - I've no idea. I'm sure we'll hear about it, as its quite well known; but the pub website seems to be more up to date than any social media channels for once - it has June 2024 live music listings, so only a few days out of date at time of writing.

The impending closure of the pub will extend what's already a bit of a growing pub graveyard - the Rose Park Hotel across the road closed in the 2000s, the Farmhouse Inn in Monsktown Farm in the 2010s; and heading South East, The Thatch and The Deerhunter are both also gone in recent decades.

However, the planning for the new development does include a replacement pub. From experience, only about two thirds of these actually ever come to fruition - we are still awaiting any development of a new S1709 Belgard Inn for instance - but the market already exists for this pub, and 276 students living upstairs can only provide a bit more demand.

RetroReview: S0164 Horse Show House

I was served here underage (by weeks, not that that changes the law). 

In a school uniform.

During the Young Scientist, which was directly across the road.

Now, I've been the same abnormally tall height since I was ~13; and I've been able to grow a full beard since about the same age - not that I do - so was rarely asked for ID anywhere. But this is still a rather unusual occurrence. They weren't the only pub in Ballsbridge to serve me, but at least Bellamys (now The Bridge 1859) served me in jeans and a hoody, not a school uniform.

Its also almost two decades ago; so I doubt is a reflection on the place as it is now; but I've not been back since.