RetroReview: S3759 McGrattans

I've been here a fair few times, and somehow my main memory is of managing to drop my phone in my soup when having lunch once.

No, I've no idea how I did that either

The layout here is a bit mad, if its a weekday the smoking area is a carpark for other offices, and you may run in to Anne Doyle, as she is in a long term relationship with the owner; (albeit it was not listed as her favourite pub when quizzed in 1985, years before she was dating Dan McGrattan and probably before he owned it - I just want to link to that piece I found in the archives)

1021189 Ruby Molly Hotel

This large hotel, with a huge bar, wraps around N1090 Hacienda, literally - it is its neighbour on both streets.

Go drink in the Hacienda instead. The bar here is terrible. Was bottle only when I visited, and the range was about five different bottles in total. 

Shay even takes card now, so just ignore the hotel and go to him instead.

RetroReview: S3733 Intercontinental Hotel (as the Four Seasons)

I was here once, the day of my brothers wedding; and about all I can remember from it are:

1: Alan Whicker was doing the Irish launch of his biography in another room, with people floating in to the bar with their copies of the book. I did, eventually, see him.

2: They had the heaviest single-use hand towels I'd ever seen before or since

Its changed brands since, from one five-star brand to another; and I'm very unlikely to go back here. Alan Whicker is dead for over a decade, so no chance of running in to him here, either.

1013769 9 Below

This was another place I assumed I might need to 'dress nice' to get in to.

I didn't. I still wouldn't try get in here in a pair of short bought in JD Sports, but normal clothes look to be absolutely fine.

This is quite a nice, but fairly expensive cocktail bar. The printed menu is entirely house defined cocktails, some clearly influenced by some of the classics - but I heard people ordering classics by name. 

It is sited in a basement - if the name didn't give some indication of that - specifically that of the Stephens Green Club. Many places say it is in the basement of a "former" club; but the club building that did not continue when the Hibernian and United Services Club merged in to the Stephens Green Club in 2003 is number 8, and this is definitely in the basement of number 9.

RetroReview: S3731 Farrier & Draper (as Spy)

Ah, my youth, where the feck did that go...

A premises divided across multiple rooms of a Georgian mansion, this was definitely more interesting as Spy than it is now; but its probably still worth a look. I was a regular attendee here in 2006-8; but not since.

November 2024 Register Update

This months update is delivered with thanks to Revenue's Statistics Department; who delivered me a replacement file when I noticed the original one was missing the county - which would have made it extremely hard to do an ingest and comparison on!

New licences:

1021114 Premier Inn, Newmarket Square - this means all operating Premier Inns are now on the public licence register; and I assume the few still in development will too

Reappearences:

N0029 Goya Lounge, North Strand - the former Strand House (not the current pub of that name), not currently trading 

Renumbering:

S341 Schoolhouse Hotel, Northumberland Road renumbered to 1021502

 

S0061 The Shelbourne Hotel

This was a "saving it for formal attire" premises, as I suspected I might have trouble getting served in my normal clothes. And indeed, nobody in the bar I went in to - the hotel has multiple, with the No. 27 Bars seeming to be the least formal - was dressed even vaugely like I would normally do. Chinos and a polo shirt might do it; and there were definitely people wearing runners.

However, the offering isn't stuffy - they do have an oysters menu, but they also offer burgers, toasted sandwiches and similar bar food; and a substantial tap list including multiple independent Irish offerings - Rye River are highlighted as a supplier of Irish products on their website, an element I wish more places serving tourists would do, rather than just relying on Guinness to be the Irish option on the menu.

The food isn't cheap, but also isn't obscenely priced; and the pints are actually close to reasonable - you can certainly pay a lot more in a lot less nice surroundings nearby.

RetroReview: S3723 Guinness Storehouse

This has to be the least likely "drank there with work" place, surely - but, I did.

First time was doing an outside broadcast from the Gravity Bar; where they were extremely welcoming hosts - food and drink on tap (quite literally) for myself and the presenters.

Second time was a work Christmas party in a side bar further down the structure.

I've never actually done the tourist tour of the place.

1004974 Stephens Green Hotel

EIGHT EURO EIGHTY FOR A PINT.

Didn't like the place either.

RetroReview: S3718 Peader Kearneys

A very traditional Dublin pub, named after the author of the lyrics of our National Anthem, who once lived on the site - surely this is one of Dublin's older pubs?

Nope, its one of the newer ones - indeed it was the first pub in Dublin, possibly in Ireland, to have a licence moved in from outside its local area "at par" - one licence for one new pub, rather than requiring the extinguishment of multiple licences as was the norm for standalone pubs.

I think I visited here shortly enough before starting the blog, when I vaguely thought I'd like to try every pub - but I didn't take any notes. I think I had severe trouble getting a seat, though.

Revisted Pubs: October 2024

There's a bit of a bias towards places I used to go to when I worked in the city centre here; but that was not intentional.

However, from the November writeup, it probably will be. As of the time of writing, I'm (deliberately) between jobs, starting a new one in the city centre on Monday - expect to see plenty of the old regulars come back, and some of my more recent ones (Kealys, McGraths) drop away.

N0002 Madigans Connolly - long gap before the train to Rush, writeups from their to come

N0006 Brew Dock - hiding from the rugby crowds and waiting for a train

1015426 Rubys - dinner spot one night

S0077 Nearys - regular meeting location

S0035 Mulligans - to wash away the horrors of a newly visited place beforehand (writeup to come)

1003568 The Old Spot - I was rather (>45mins) early for the place I was intending to go to open

N1130 The Foxhunter - the only bus I could get out of the city that wasn't crammed was a C1 that doesn't go anywhere near my house, so I had to change buses at the last common stop. Which happens to be outside here...

S0083 Beer Temple - food and pints in a decent spot to get a seat in before a gig in...

1001292 The Olympia Theatre - never calling it that stupid name

1020149 Premier Inn Gloucester Street

A Premier Inn where I can see the damn bar from the window, something I'm not so blessed with at the Georges Street one, which is why I've still not visited it.

A very limited number of taps, an English barman who 'corrected' me to Smith-wicks, and I also suspect I might have been asked if I was a hotel guest if I wasn't wearing an expensive pile of Louis Copeland's finest (after an interview); but it's done now and I don't have to go back. And they did specifically get a public licence, so...

RetroReview: S3467 Vicar Street

I'm actually surprised I've not been back here since I started doing the revisited lists in 2019 - everywhere I have been back to is written up already, cause I did a sweep of that before.

Not sure what there is to say here. Avoid the front seats at a comedy gig unless you're up for being part of the show, I guess.

S0150 O'Connors

The history here may be more interesting than the current, in a few different ways.

Mainly, the name - O'Connors is a perfectly fine name for a pub. "Oil Can Harrys" is not.  I'm not sure where the name came from, but I believe it held that name for two decades under the O'Connors ownership before they decided to put their own name above the door instead. Everyone wants to drink in a pub named after an evil cat, I'm sure. (Seriously, I have no idea if this is what the name refers to, but it is the only obvious option)

Prior to that, it had the inexplicable-unless-explained name of "Peppers", a reference to the Pepper Canister Church nearby; but a really bad reference - cause its not obvious. This was, somehow, the winner of a competition in the Evening Herald to rename the pub!

Separately, I've a note saying it was damaged by the UDA in 1976 but now cannot find any reference to this. There was a significant UDA campaign in Dublin in 1976, primarily incendiary devices but also a bomb at the Shelbourne Hotel, and this makes finding stuff even harder. I need better notes.

Anyway, this is a nice enough pub I've just never really had any reason to go in to before now - its a little away from other pubs, so never neatly slotted in alongside others when going out specifically on trips; and isn't near anything I'd normally be doing.

RetroReview: S3452 The Camden

Is there much point giving you a writeup of my visits to the pool-hall-with-pints element of the old Camden Deluxe/Planet Murphys/etc setup here when every single element of it has changed, and its now a brewpub?

Probably not. I mean, last time I was in the Jimmy Rabbittes bar section of this place, it was half a hotel lobby, half a Belgian frites restaurant

But, it has been ticked regardless of what happened since.

S3154 Mespil Hotel

I don't particularly like having to "find" the bar in a hotel, for instance when it isn't clearly in one of the front parts and visible from the road; and I'd cased out the Mespil to see if I could see its bar on at least two occasions before.

I never could, but with some Dutch - well, Irish, Canadian and wherever else I'd had half pints from at the RDS beer festival that afternoon - Courage in me, I just walked in and looked for it.

And found it relatively easily, as its basically just straight back from the front door, albeit well in to the hotel

Its quite a fancy hotel bar, but nothing incredibly special. I doubt many people ever go here just to drink, what with the Baggot Street and Haddington Road pubs nearby, but you *could*.

RetroReview: S4236 Royal Dublin Society Showgrounds (RDS)

This is the stadium licence for the RDS, which may apply to other events here with alcohol sales... or may not. Its rather hard to tell.

Without getting in to the weeds of event licences, and potentially getting something very wrong; event bars at otherwise unlicenced premises get covered by a temporary extension on the pub licence of another licence holder in good standing. 

The main players in this game are the Madigan Group, who have a number of pubs around Dublin; and are certainly involved in the running of bars at some events here - you'll see them on your card statements from the Beer Festival, for instance. Guinness used to do this also, but sold out of the business a long time ago.

National Sporting Arena licences on the other hand are a 'new' (2003) class of licence for major sporting arenas - GAA, rugby, football and boxing stadia have these but the Minister can decide on other types if they want to.

So what events have I been to in the RDS that were definitely on the RDS stadium licence? I suspect beer festivals are not; and are using a Madigan extension. But what about gigs?

They're held in the actual stadium bowl, most of the time - indoor ones are not - but are not sporting occasions. However, the legislation refers to events "whether of a sporting or non-sporting nature" that "involves the use of some or all of the playing area or pitch in the arena" - so Linkin Park on the pitch probably *did* use the licence.

The licence also covers "functions", defined as " a conference, exhibition, seminar or reception which is held at a designated national sporting arena but does not involve the use of the playing area or pitch". Does this cover the beer festivals? Almost certainly not, they're not in the stadium bit of the RDS. Can't see it covering a Simmonscourt gig either. 

I'd drunk at a match here anyway, as well as some gigs on the pitch; so I'm sure I'm covered. But I'm also sure I shouldn't have put this on September's revisit list.

S0220 The Lansdowne Hotel / The Den

I've taken a few goes to tick off the Baggot Street area pubs, and yet somehow forgot that this hotel bar should have been considered as one of those - particularly as it has a reputation as a "rugby pub" despite not being a standalone pub.

Accessed directly from the carpark at the front of the hotel, the bar fills the not-very-underground basement level of the two townhouses that the hotel is formed from; and manages to feel a little bit more like a "normal" pub than a hotel bar, extensively due to never interacting with the hotel facilities. This is the case with most of the city centre hotel bars that people do not consider (or realise) to be hotel bars; and is why I do count hotel bars for ticking purposes. 

By finally visiting the Lansdowne, I finish off the mini-chain of pubs owned by Mick Quinn, and formerly also his brother Frank - the others being Toners, The 51 and The Waterloo

Revisited Pubs September 2024

Bit late remembering to do this one this month; but its all the same ones as usual, with one old regular reappearing, and one maybe new regular popping up:

1015462 Rubys, Point Village - back in the area ticking somewhere else that didn't have quite as appealing food, writeup to come.
N0002 Brew Dock, Amiens Street - on the way back to the train
N0083 McGraths, Drumcondra - beside the train station (different station)
N0063 Cumiskeys, Dominick Street - its on the Luas line back to my train (another different station)
S0077 Nearys, Chatham Street - my meeting that was moved from The Well closing is now trying here as its new location
S4236 RDS, Merrion Road - or was I? Considering the Dublin Beer Festival setup is run by Madigans from the bar/payment side of things, I think it may actually be an temporary event extension of one of their pub licences and not a use of the stadium licence... RetroReview writeup of the stadium is to come
N0084 The Black Sheep - I needed food after the awful new pub I'd ticked just before this, writeup to come soon
N0097 Underdog - well, it'd be rude not to when it's right there - I really need to do a new writeup here as the Beerhouse one is 8 years old!

N2398 Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport

This was the closest unvisited pin to work for ages, just because the opportunity never arose - but with a few hours to kill in North County Dublin, I popped in here for dinner.

Which wasn't great. Service was extremely polite but a tad under-trained/under-experienced too, so an upgrade is needed all around.

There aren't a lot of pubs in this area, and the hotel does advertise the bar to visitors; so I expect it does get a bit of trade from that; as well as from the hotel itself and its neighbouring Holiday Inn Express that I suspect doesn't have its own bar.

RetroReview: S3055 Fleet Street Inn / Buskers

I once had to drag an English stag party I was meeting up with - I knew one of the group and was asked to basically be their tour guide - out of here, and make them get rid of their Carrolls purchased leprechaun wigs.

I'm not sure if that's the entire clientele here, but on the other visit (where I actually drank something, hence ticked), there was plenty of those too; and that was on a winter weeknight rather than a late summer weekend. They do specifically advertise for hen and stag parties, something many other premises balk at.

For the domestic customer, there's an sports focus here, with the "Buskers On The Ball" secondary branding specifically covering this part of the pub.

N0354 O'Dwyers Golf Links Inn

Just before going in here, I was told on Twitter that it has a local nickname - The Widows - and that under no circumstances am I to accidentally say it to any of the members of staff.

There was one member of staff who did seem a bit frosty (the titular Widow perhaps) but otherwise, all fine and I didn't let my tongue slip.

A 60s pub, possibly the first in the village - outer areas of Dublin are very hard to trace the pub history of, so I wouldn't be surprised if there had been other pubs that have since closed - O'Dwyers has been recently renovated and has a very large restaurant area alongside the main bar areas.

I had dinner here, and due to what I found out was an error rather than a food choice, was served a gravy boat of actual gravy with my burger and chips. And extremely good gravy it was too - presumably made with the juices from the carvery joints - but it was meant to be pepper sauce. I'm not sure if I'd have preferred it to have been a bold new frontier in taste.

I managed to leave a hoody behind here, one I wore a lot, but which was very much starting to show its age. Not worth going back for it, considering Portmarnock is actually a bit of a pain to get to; I've bought its replacement now - so for the next three years or so my pints ticking hoody will be light grey, not black-increasingly-fading-to-dark grey.

RetroReview: S3053 Cafe En Seine

I've been here quite a few times, all over eight years ago and significantly before its big refit; so I can't tell you what it's like now at all. And I can barely remember much of what it was.

This was a semi-common going away party location in a previous job, one where the company would pay for an absolutely heap of drinks - the CEO, at my own one, pointed out that he did find this rather odd; which certainly won't have helped.

I also went to one of a number of the modern equivalents of "american wakes" that I had to attend from ~2008-14 here; that one for Australia. The couple in question are now back in Ireland, and owning a house by huge assistance of WFH allowing them to get away from Dublin; but unfortunately there's still a few friends that went to Australia or Canada back then that have not, and may not return... but anyway.

This is quite a big pub, although people sometimes seem to think its even bigger than it is. It was one of the first modern "superpubs" in Dublin, and also the first in an occasionally identified trend of "design pubs", or other similar terms; these being premises on which a significant amount of money had been spent on the fitout and theming. 

The theme here was, as you might guess from the name, Parisian; 1920s initially - I'm not sure what it's like now, as mentioned in the first paragraph. Extensive theming like this is less common on new or refurbished pubs now; but expensive fitouts are now the norm - something I'm sure lots of publicans curse these 1990s superpubs for introducing!

RetroReview: S3250 Brooks Hotel

My one visit here was to drop in to celebrate with two friends who had just got engaged the night before.

Oddly enough when I happened to mention this recently, on their 8th wedding anniversary (the visit was that long ago); they had no memory of it. Possibly a tad too much bubbly was had by all!

October 2024 licence register & year-on-year

Close to nothing of interest in this months Revenue list itself:

Renumberings:

1021414 - Blue Bar, Skerries - formerly DG1127 (always a pity to see an oddity like a Dublin-located but Drogheda licence court number get replaced by the new system!)

However, this is the October list, so it's time to process the year-on-year changes, edit my spreadsheets - and suffer the hit in completion rate this always brings, as places I've visited drop off the register after closure. Some come back, of course.

Prior to the annual trim, my register was 1021 premises - 812 visited, 46 marked as some form of impossible and the rest pending a visit. Impossible means its either shut, or cannot be accessed without staying in a hotel, booking a ferry or a flight, etc.

Removed from my register due to non renewal for this year, are:

1003216 - National Library of Ireland. I believe the cafe is not current open. Not visited.
1009609 - Finnstown Castle Hotel, Lucan. Closed. Not visited.
1019163 - Twin Oaks, Castleknock. Closed in May. Visited.
N0029 - Goya Lounge (former Strand House), North Strand. Not visited.
N0062 - T O'Brennans, Dominick Street. Closed. Visited.
N1638 - Cardiff Inn, Finglas. Closed. Not visited.
S0178 - Kielys of Donnybrook. Demolished. Not visited
S0252 - Lamb Doyles, Sandyford. Closed. Not visited.
S0285 - Ramblers Rest, Ballybrack. Closed. Not visited.
S0836 - Hampton Hotel, Morehampton Road. Closed. Visited.
S1526 - Rosie O'Gradys, Harolds Cross. Demolished. Not visited.
S2410 - Furry Bog, Whitechurch. Closed. Not visited.

In addition, sometimes I ignore a pub being missing in the end of year list as I know, or assume, its still open. But checking against two years lists sometimes makes a quiet closure or change of status obvious. Removals due to this are:

1015429 - former Barts/Eden, South William Street. Replacement premises (Saba) holds restaurant licence only. Visited.
N0005 - O'Sheas, Talbot Street. Has only opened on about five days since 2020, recent planning appears to remove most or all of the bar. Visited.
N0022 - Hill 16, Gardiner Street. Has actually opened as recently as a year ago, but closed and not renewed this year. Visited.
N0197 - Soup2, North King Street. May reopen as something new soon. Visited.
N0305 - The Estuary, Swords. Closed, up for sale. Not visited.
N1195 - Clifton Court Hotel, Eden Quay. Closed, up for sale. Visited.
N2354 - 12th Lock Hotel, Castleknock. Closed. Visited.
N2538 - Jack O'Neills, Tyrrellstown. Long closed, only relisted briefly to sell the licence. Not visited.
N2649 - Movies@Swords. Cinema open, website no longer mentions bar. Not visited.
S4288 - Movies@Dundrum. Cinema open, website no longer mentions bar. Not visited (well, I've seen movies here - but never drank here)
S4542 - The Globe/RíRa, Georges Street - Theatre Licence only. Still has a Publicans licence, even though the bar is currently closed for redevelopment.

I also found that 1014863 The Yacht in Clontarf was on my list twice due to multiple licence number changes; and that N1099 Biddy Mulligans, Sackville Place had not been returned to the list when it reopened.

End result - a ridiculously perfect 1000 on the register - for now! - 803 visited, 37 impossibles; 160 pending.

N0319 Portmarnock Hotel

This bar was near impossible to get in to. Not in a "not tonight" way, but in a "does not have a street entrance" way - you really need to drive to get in here; but you can enter one of the carparks from the beach pathway that runs near the hotel, and walk in from there.

The bar is very much a normal hotel bar, and has some signs of a golf club bar as well (which it basically is) - lots and lots of zero options available on draught.

It was still a nice night, and there's a range of outdoor seating options here; so I sat out - there did seem to be very few seats available inside.

One minorly humorous occurrence here was the barman being unable to find the card reader when I ordered - I suspect a lot of people order on their room and they may not need multiple units. I had cash, though, so didn't have to leave him hunting.

RetroReview: S3250 Nyx Christchurch (as Arlington Hotel)

I visited this premises one rebuild and two rebrand ago - when it was the Arlington Hotel (yes, there were two Arlington Hotels, owned by the same person at the time) and it still had a nightclub - Copper Alley.

But virtually nobody ever knew what the nightclub was called, and it was best known as the long term (and I believe) original home of the gay clubnight Mother; the only thing I was ever aware of ever being held there.

Since those visits - there were many - the hotel rebranded as the Parliament; then shut for a refurb and reopened as the Hard Rock Hotel, then rebranded to Nyx. It has been about 15 years, but that's quite the set of changes for one hotel.

N0318 White Sands Hotel

Tamangos! Where the gang goes!, said the ad that everyone living anywhere near Dublin the 90s and early 00s probably heard multiple times a day.

It was pretty much the norm for a hotel to have a nightclub in that era, and while nearly all of them are now gone (excepting on Harcourt Street, where most remain); Tamango - the s has gone missing - was one of the last ones standing. But it hasn't opened regularly since 2020; although it does open for specific performances, underage nights and fundraisers.

The hotel bar, however, is still very much open. I visited on a warm end-of-Summer/early Autumn evening, and sat outside as the bar was pretty close to full. With the nearly-local Hope on tap, this is definitely a nice place to spend a bit of time. It'd be even nicer if they could make the carpark vanish to improve the view, somehow

One of the nicer pint vistas in Dublin, but it does suffer a lot when you sit down and the carpark becomes your eyeline pic.twitter.com/6Am9dRJEii

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) August 30, 2024

RetroReview: S0366 Johnnie Foxes

Dinner, a show, and an argument about whether this is actually the highest pub in Ireland. What more could anyone want?

This is somewhere else I attended due to work, but did actually imbibe (a half, as far as I remember) - shortly after some major yet careful refurbishments, which upgraded electrical and safety systems but left the pub looking almost identical to before, I did the tech ops for a breakfast show outside broadcast from here.

The pub is not the highest in Ireland, but uses the terms "famed as" or "reputed as" to make the statement seem like someone else's fault. It is, I am quite sure, the highest in Dublin and is also the furthest South in Dublin by a reasonable amount (I direct those who believe that Little Bray is still in Dublin to look at the 1898 boundary changes - The Coach Inn is in Wicklow)

It is twee, but if you stay away from the main show hall there are nice niches in the bar to bury yourself in, amongst the huge amount of greebling. My memory is that the food is quite good.

N0317 Grand Hotel Malahide

I entered this, well, Grand sized hotel through the door closest to the road entrance, which brought me in right beside a relatively small bar that appeared to have been dropped out of the 1980s - dark wood, dark carpets, chandeliers, and a limited range of drinks but with lots of fortified wines - a nice nostalgia trip.

But as I later found out, this is not the only bar in this hotel; and indeed might actually be intended to be the Residents Bar - the website describes it - the Griffon Bar - as being open for special occasions, or for residents at night. It was early evening and not a special occasion when I dropped in, so perhaps it opens when the hotel is busier too.

The Matt Ryan Bar is the main one in the hotel, which is rather more modern; but I'd made my tick before realising it existed.

RetroReview: S3221 Drury Court Hotel / Caribou (when PMacs)

Dark. Drippy candles. Monster Munch. 

You know what to expect in a Cassidys setup, but unfortunately there's now only two of them left; this not being one of them

You also know what to expect in an Animal Collective place - mid-century modern furniture, pizza - and I'm fairly sure this is what's available here now.

1020397 Motel One

This isn't my first trip to *a* Motel One; having gone to the rooftop cocktail bar in the Leipzig Post branch of the chain before. So I thought I knew what to expect - cocktail heavy, with a signature cocktail on the menu.

Instead its gin-heavy here; and the rest of the setup appears to have been decided on by looking at what people report as their likes from traditional Dublin pubs. They sell Guinness - just Guinness - on draught; and the only food is toasties.

For the entire hotel. Residents are told they can order takeaway to their rooms.

So there's a vast bar, on a busy shopping street, where you can only get draught Guinness, or a few other beer options - Irish independent products featuring heavily, thankfully for me - in bottle. I would not be surprised if this changes over time, as the potential to make money here on busier weekends has to be quite high.

RetroReview: S3214 Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium

I had one evening here in the posh seats, a very long time ago, with table service for both booze (employer paid for) and betting (unfortunately not employer paid for, but I did leave with a few quid more than I went with).

I wouldn't go back these days, as I've no interest in supporting the greyhound industry.

1021092 Clink i Lár

There is something odd about international chains thinking that Irish is in more common use than it actually is; and using it in signage or names here. At least this time it's something substantial, and not Homebase putting up mangled translations for every aisle in the shop...

Dublin now has a number of fully pub licenced hostels, and this is far and away the biggest, with 628 beds. On opening, it made an obvious impact to the price of a hostel night, which had been around what a hotel room cost anywhere else prior to opening.

A small-ish bar sits to the rear of the ground floor of the hostel, beyond the check-in terminals and seating areas; and offers a limited enough range of drinks - but featuring some Irish independent products. 

Some of the decor may be more suited to an Irish bar abroad; but it is likely what the mainly tourist customer base of a hostel expects to see 

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Said customer base also may expect different drinks, as there was someone rather surprised to find they didn't sell Fireball cinnamon liqueur (it isn't strong enough to be called whiskey in the EU).

RetroReview: S3178 Street 66 (Front Lounge)

A pub I've not been to in years, and which I doubt I can give a good idea of what it is currently like. I was semi-regular here in about 2008, but opening of Pantibar moved a lot of what I would have been going here for across the river.

The pub came to some notoriety recently when someone who moved in nearby during lockdown made significant complaints about the noise - noise they couldn't have heard when moving in, but surely had to be aware was going to come back. Due to the timing of when they moved in, this is not a clear-cut case of someone moving in beside something noisy and looking for it to be removed afterwards, but still...

I occasionally reference the Dying For A Pint blog on here, and note that this is one of the only cases of where a pub killing isn't on their yearly lists - a oft forgotten and harrowing guilty-but-insane case. The pub has changed its name since, but not for over a decade; usually any name changes after a killing are nearly immediate; so this was not done for that reason.

S3802 College Green Hotel

This hotel, formerly a Westin and named as such, had a specific rather than generic name applied to it in recent years; a process fraught with danger as whoever doing the naming didn't realise that the name of the street it sits on is a tad contraversial these days - the initial announcement of it as the Westmoreland Hotel was backed out from.

As it was changing category within Marriot from a Westin to an Autograph Collection hotel, a new name still needed to be picked - so they looked to the other side of the building and called it the College Green Hotel instead.

Formerly the headquarters of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, one of the constituents of the 1960s formed Allied Irish Banks; much of the ornamentation inside the hotel relates to its past banking days. The primary bar, with relatively limited opening hours, is in former vaults and is certainly one of the more interesting places to go for a pint - although its also one of the most expensive around, at €8 at time of visit

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I'd been put off trying this for a long time as there are often uniformed doormen, and the attitude of five star hotels towards people wearing skate shoes and tshirts can sometimes be a little bit off-putting; but I would assume that many of their actual hotel residents would be dressed similarly these days; and the doorman was nowhere to be seen, so in I went. 

I shouldn't have had any concerns. A comment on Instagram claims this is a decent place for a quiet Christmas time pint, a hard enough thing to find and something I'm loathe to reveal my own locations for, lest they become as mobbed as everywhere else - but someone else put it out in the open this time!

Revisited Pubs August 2024

Due to The Well closing, my regular meeting was moved to a coffee shop (the horrors!), so the only revisited pub this month is N0097 Underdog

September 2024 Register Update

A few things of interest this month:

1020149 Premier Inn, Gloucester Street - open for a good while, licence number is about a year old; so possibly conversion from residents bar licence (the only time a number stays the same, that I've seen)

1020767 Premier Inn, Castleforbes Road - open not quite as long as above, but easily the same in terms of residents -> public conversion

1021439 ?????, Montague Street - new premises with same directors as 'ohana, built but as far as I know, not open yet.

Renumberings:

1021467 Fidelty, Queen Street - renumbered from N0215 

Reappearances:

DG0480 Dempseys, Balbriggan - reopening (renamed, renovated) after many years closure

N1114 Bridge Inn, Chapelizod - reappearance with a new owner recorded, not someone I can find anything about

RetroReview: S3037 Dylan Hotel

I'm not sure how much detail I can go in to about my first visit here; as it involved some level of subterfuge to get in to the residents bar during residents hours (a room was booked) on the assumption that a band would be drinking there; which they were. Some people involved may not want the details of how revealed, even over a decade later as it is now.

The second time is OK to mention though, as it was my then employers 25th birthday celebrations, and we were asked to 'dress 1980s'. Only a few members of staff managed to do a general 1980s look - some of the women managing to find dayglo leg warmers etc - and the rest of us did 1980s movies; with a passable Gordon Gekko for myself being assisted by finding an old fashioned menswear shop to sell me the white collar/blue body shirt and the braces required. 

Probably not the most normal reasons for drinking in a hotel bar, but definitely counts for a tick.

1019597 Hyde

This premises was under construction for so long that I wasn't sure if it was ever going to open - construction began in 2014, and the premises were marked up as 'opening soon' when I visited the nearby 1004917 Lemon & Duke in 2018. Not having opened by early 2020 meant it then got pushed out even further, and it finally opened in November 2022. Once open it was often closed when I went past - possibly related to going through the SCARP process (a lesser financial restructuring than examinership, to over-simplify) at the time.

But it was finally open when I went past last time. 

The ground floor bar was empty, with the staff guiding you to the lifts to the rooftop bar - I suspect you could get served in the ground floor bar also; but the rooftop bar is more appealing anyway.

The bar area here isn't massive, with a small-ish area inside and an even smaller outdoor area wrapping around, which was pretty close to full on what was a nice day. Other floors have a cocktail bar and a restaurant.

The building itself isn't massive, taking up some of what was once the Creation Arcade - the postal address on its licence is still down as Creation Arcade as it happens - a very early indoor shopping mall noted for its fashion retailers.

There is something oddly appealing about being in a rooftop bar that is primarily accessed by lifts - you hear the arrival ding and can look as the doors sweep open to see who is joining the crowd in the bar. It was primarily staff members, rather than additional patrons; but the bar did begin to get fairly full before I left.

This is an interesting addition to the venues of Dublin, although it could benefit from being a little bit larger on each floor - not something actually possible with the site, though!

RetroReview: S3035 Irish Film Institute

I used to drink here quite a lot; as they didn't check for ID if you were eating. 

The bar/restaurant were very nice, by 2003/4 standards anyway. I presume they've been upgraded since, but I dunno.

Every? Remaining Pub In Glenties

I sometimes stay overnight in the small Donegal town of Glenties - population 927 as of the 2022 census, a significant increase on the 805 from 2016; which I think is roughly what the baseline was for many decades before that.

There's a recently modernised, but old/classic rural town hotel which is about the furthest I'm willing to drive to after work on the way up to Donegal (and its usually cheaper than the hotel in Dungloe). My Dad was also born in the town, back when Glenties had a hospital (closed 1960) and that sort of care was hyper-localised.

My main memory of Glenties of old was that the town was absolutely rammed with pubs; and with such a small population to support it. Even to this day, there's a reasonable number, but far less than what there was.

The town was once more important than its nearby neighbour Dungloe (which I have previously written about), with the workhouse - which became the hospital; a thriving market - the market house still stands and is used as a community centre, and there are occasional street market days and so on; but Dungloes industry has helped it grow to become the retail and commercial centre for all of North West Donegal, leaving Glenties to fall behind. 

Despite the changes in business and administrative focus; Glenties has some literary history to fall back on. Brian Friel, who set most of his plays in a fictionalised version of the town, is to receive a visitor centre here shortly in the former courthouse; and the poet Patrick MacGill is remembered annually with the MacGill summer School. The local museum features items relating to both men (and to some of the former pubs, as we'll get to).

Working North to South down Glenties Main Street, I'm going to list the pubs that I'm aware of having existed - and I'm absolutely sure I'll miss some out here. I have drunk in all of those that are trading as of August 2024; bar potentially one - see the Inishkeel Co-op entry.

That many of these closed premises still have current licence numbers, or were licenced within the ~15 years for which I have old registers, but are not trading shows that you cannot use the Revenue register as an indication of how many pubs are still going.

Kelvon House / Glenmore House 

This Victorian (probably) structure is a former hotel and nightclub, but which has not traded for a very long time - the latest reference I can find to the Kelvon House name is 1998,

The oldest Streetview passes - 2009 - show it in a state of dereliction, albeit still identifiable as a pub, and even the 1998 Tidy Towns judging report, when it was probably still trading, refers to its poor state. A discount store has recently opened in the former bar area of the pub.

DOP156 The Limelight and M25 Superpub

An immense late 80s nightclub, the club section initially closed in 2012; while I believe the pub section struggled on until at least when it entered receivership in 2014. The entire site was described as "derelict" when planning was granted to demolish in 2016, but it briefly reopened that year and only closed finally in 2018.

The Limelight opened in 1988, converting the former St Dominics Hall - a 1940s dance hall and sometimes cinema, which played host to all the famed showbands and even Phil Lynott on a solo tour in 1982 - and the adjacent McHughs pub in to a 1,800 square meter nightclub and bar complex. 

This conversion is claimed to have cost IR£750,000 (now about €2.7m with inflation) with a fifth of that on the lighting alone. Some newspaper report reports refer to it having been "on the site of" St Dominics Hall, but it is clear from old photographs that they are the same buildings, just with that quarter of a million spent on them.

As the largest nightclub in this part of the county, the Limelight was known for people coming in by bus from all around. It was one of a number of clubs across Ireland that would open at midnight on Christmas night; a thing of borderline legality (although endorsed by local judges) but probably providing an escape from stifling family events for hundreds in the process.

I was actually in here in my teenage years, but don't remember much about the night at this stage... or possibly didn't remember much about it the morning after either!

This is still licenced, as of August 2024.

Kennedys

I... think... this was a pub - it now appears to be a house, but still has the Kennedys name sign-written on to the wall, this sign writing being reinstated after building repaints. It is somewhat hard to find out, as another pub in the town is owned by, and was formerly called, Kennedys. 

DOP149 The Tavern Bar

This wonderful single-roomed pub is still open, and is like going back in time - the pricing alone (€4.50 for a Guinness) is enough to bring you back. Cash only, Guinness and Carling only on draught when I visited.

DOP152 Roddys

Another survivor, this is a little bigger and a little more modern than the Tavern. Has a back/outdoor area for live music.

DOP155 Mellys / Glen Inn

Attached to Mellys supermarket, this does not seem to have traded for some time - the licence seems to go away in ~2016

DOP154 Sonnys Bar

This only closed in September 2023, is listed for sale as a pub, and as such is something that may reopen. Was also Keenys Bar prior to being Sonnys.

DOP158 O Faolains

This premises still shows signs of having been a pub, with fading Guinness and Bulmers stickers in the windows; but has not traded in a very long time despite the licence hanging on until at least 2020. 

In 2024, the former bar counter was donated to the local museum, where it now forms the reception desk

DOP150 Leo's Bar

Not to be confused with the famous Leo's Tavern further North in the county, this trading premises is a small pub but which manages to wedge in live music acts.

DOP151 Inniskeel Co-op

This co-op supermarket and hardware store states it has a pub in it on the outside. And it has a pub licence. But the shop is never open in the evenings, and doesn't have a website, so I haven't been able to figure out what precisely is going on.

It's next door to Leo's, and until checking for licence numbers I didn't realise that Leo's was not the pub in question!

DOP153 Highland Hotel

The aforementioned renovated older hotel - apparently built as a hotel in the 1830s, used as a private guest house by the Marquess of Conyngham thereafter and returned to hotel use in 1882. Bought by a Canadian financier in 2016, he funded the full modernisation, but died in 2019. The hotel has since been sold and is operating normally.

DOP159 The Thatch

Recently reopened after having closed only in January 2024, this is a modern bar and restaurant that wouldn't look particularly out of place in any much bigger urban centre. This has also been called Paddys Bar, An Cluid and Kennedys Bar in recent years.

RetroReview: S2949 The Old Storehouse (Eamonn Dorans)

I was in Eamonn Dorans once.

I may have been 17. Probably 18, but maybe not.

A band consisting of lads I was in school with were playing, and we left after they finished; as it was expensive by 2004/5 Kildare standards 

But a tick is a tick. And the new version does not appeal to me at all.

S2096 Finches

There's another set of pub tickers that always seem to come to bother in pubs that most people wouldn't even consider vaguely rough. So its not that much of a surprise that they don't appear to have gone here at all.

I'm not scared of "rough pubs", most of the ones that people - one set of other pub tickers particularly, it seems - consider "rough" are nothing of the sort; but this is the first pub where someone sort-of warned me about it when I was going in; claiming to recognise me and asking why I'd go to a "pub like the Finches". 

I didn't know who they were, they may recognise me from the very public place I work (a non promiment or public facing job) in; or they may have just realised I wasn't local and thought I needed warning.

The only thing I needed warning about were that the jacks are particularly smelly, and actually make some seating areas a bit unpleasant as the smell comes out. 

Don't bother coming here on a "rough pub" safari - actually, please don't do that anywhere, its ridiculous and someone has already done the video - and maybe it will be different if you're not a physically huge male, going in daylight.

RetroReview: S2747 Conrad Hotel (Alfie Byrnes)

I drank here which the bar was Alfie Byrnes - named after "The Shaking Hand of Dublin", the multi term Lord Mayor and sometimes IPP MP / Independent TD Alfie Byrne. He also has a road named after him that's usually best known for the wars over coach parking on its cycle paths.

This was a Galway Bay Brewery pub when under that name, potentially their largest; and usually also quiet enough to hide away in on busy days in the city centre - just being a tad outside helps.

The bar is no longer GBB, and now seems to be called Lemuels, Lemuel being the first name of Gulliver in Gullivers Travels. 

I already feel like I'm in Lilliput a lot of the time, due to my (increasingly less - late Gen Z are tall) abnormal height; so I don't think I'll bother going back.

S1476 Rory O'Connors

Another pub that was replaced after redevelopment? 

Well, yes, but the redevelopment was a very long time ago. The large 1940s Submarine Bar, formerly Hills Road House, on this site was subsumed in to the Ashleaf Shopping Centre when it was built; and continued to operate as a similarly, if not even more vast venue until the financial crisis, at which time it reduced down to just the bar area - trading as Rory O'Connors

This closed, I believe, at the start of the pandemic; but reopened this years - ruining a nicely ticked off area of the map for me. So I had to head back.

What is still open is a medium sized single area bar; with exceptionally cheap Beamish (fiver).

Some of the rest of the Submarine still sits empty, which other bits have become a gym - an odd conversion that has afflicted a number of other huge pubs like Liz Delaneys (The Blacker) and the upper portion of the former Night Owls in Ranelagh; the ground floor being a Supervalu.

(The latter still features some of the artwork from its brief latter incarnation as Il Mondo; making me wonder if there's any Submarine related stuff left in this one)

RetroReview: S1510 The Patriots Inn

The summer of Outdoor Dining decided for me whether somewhere counted if I only drank outside it - it does; its my blog and my rules. But on recollection, I probably needed to make that decision when doing up the initial "already visited" list; as I never actually drank a pint *inside* the Patriots.

Instead, I drank on the footpath; like thousands of people a year do after attending gigs in Royal Hospital Kilmainham. 

The interior looked nice enough, I think....

1017978 The Traders

Like S2821 Kingswood Lodge, a recent writeup, this is a suburban-pub-with-parking which has reopened after the complete redevelopment of its site with apartments. Although this time, it looks like relatively little has actually gone on top of the pub unit itself.

Another reopened after redevelopment suburban pub. This one reopened in an area I had previously finished ticking, so I have legitimate reason to grumble about the bus trip out pic.twitter.com/6abqlQdl9o

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) July 27, 2024

Indeed, looking at Streetview I'm beginning to wonder if some of the actual core of the pub was retained, as there is no shot where its a completely empty site... and certain features of the pub inside have definitely been salvaged from before, like branded mirrors, doors, older tables and so on. 

And the layout inside is a bit, well, weird too - there's what looks like a door from outside, but has tables across it; and its a bit tight around the bar area. 

Odd layout and questions about just how demolished it was, this is a perfectly normal suburban pub. Formerly themed as "The Colosseum", it is now thankfully just the type of pub you'd expect to have in any similar part of Dublin.

Regardless of whether it was demolished or just built-around, it is clearly possible to not have to entirely eradicate this type of suburban pub; and this would have been a pub desert without it - until the Cuckoos Nest reopens (planned for late 2024) there really is nothing even vaguely nearby.

 

RetroReview: S1308 Kellys Hotel / Bar With No Name

I have been in here a few times, weirdly never at my own behest. Every single time has been meeting up with someone, generally before heading on somewhere else - but I've been early, or they've been running late.

This area of the city wouldn't generally be my sort of thing - as you'd be able to tell from the quite late reviews of 1008192 Drury Buildings and 1007719 Fade Street Social - both visited in odder circumstances too; but The Bar With No Name is fine. I just won't be going back, until next time someone needs to meet me for a gig in the Olympia and is already there, probably.

S2287 Red Cow Inn

Want to drink in a hotel lobby but not a hotel?

Well, you're in luck here. The hotel (S3276 Red Cow Hotel) might actually be closed currently, but this pub in its carpark, with the same owners, is definitely open; and definitely feels like you're still in the hotel lobby. 

Some of this is because this functions as part of the hotel normally - a second eating area, the entrance or side rooms to some function rooms and as part of one of the last remaining hotel nightclub complexes anywhere in Dublin - currently branded as Buzz.

But with the carvery, the hotel signage, the huge windows and the rather odd mix of customers; the main bar area of the Red Cow Inn cannot escape feeling like it is a hotel. And there's rarely a reason to drink in a hotel lobby, unfortunately.

There aren't many pubs nearby, but there's also not many *people* nearby - those currently living in the hotel and the tiny amount who live amongst the industrial units in Ballymount are the only real population bases that aren't closer to another pub. I'm not sure who the crowd here are, but it was still pretty busy.

RetroReview: S0967 River Bar

I visited this pub long enough that you had to make a special effort to find places showing Brighton matches on TV - mid table Championship teams don't get the same coverage that any team at all gets when in the Premier League; and when they do, there's often another game on as well. But the River Bar has lots of areas and more than one satellite box; so I was able to watch it there,

This bar has existed, under one name or another, since O'Connell Bridge House was built in the 1960s; but it effectively replaced McDaid's White House; which stood on this site originally - its closure was covered on the then very new RTÉ in 1962, the licence was transferred to the new premises.

One notable feature of the pub was the Wetherspoons-alike epic (in length) trip to the toilets, albeit rather than through corridors, you pass through the underground section of the bar - which had a latin dancing class on the evening I visited.

It was also one of the only places that was serving Harp in Dublin, prior to its post-2020 relaunch at least.

This pub is run by the Meaghers, who also have a pub directly across the river, and the suburban N1433 Hartstown House; making up one of the smaller pub chains in the city.

EPITR: LEP208 Jimmy Johnnies (O'Donnells Bar)

This substantial premises was once a railway hotel, as Burtonport was the terminus of the Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway of the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway. It is still quite an imposing structure for a small village to have:

Pub 4, the old railway hotel, apparently should be open. It isn't. My ferry goes from here anyway so I'll be hanging around waiting regardless pic.twitter.com/TPW6aPZKiE

— Cian Duffy (@cian_duffy) June 18, 2024

(this photo looks quite dark because it was actually incredibly bright, despite the clouds, which was overloading the camera sensor - it just wasn't very warm!) 

But it doesn't have the same effect as when it had the ornate pediment that it once had, as seen when captured in the Lawrence Collection.

The bar and lounge occupy pretty much the entire ground floor, and while I think I can remember a different layout - possibly more snug-like in the lounge - from when I was a kid; it has been recently renovated in part so this may have changed recently enough.

When I turned up, the bar was not actually open; but the owner turned up shortly after; and within an hour was replaced behind the bar by the afternoon shift staff member - presumably he decides whether to bother on quiet days, and it was indeed a very quiet day; with just me and one other customer there during the time he was solo on the bar. That owner is the fourth generation of his family to run this pub; having had it since its first days as a hotel.

The wooden pods visible outside in my photo are seen all across this part of Donegal, a standard addition during the pandemic outdoor service era and possibly subvented by the council or another body. They have stood up quite well to the harsh weather conditions in this area.

S2821 Kingswood Lodge

This is a suburban pub with a carpark that has survived the biggest threat to suburban pubs with a carpark - redevelopment.

It has not survived being redeveloped - far from it. Instead, it now exists on the ground floor of an apartment block. Something so incredibly normal across the world, but something that is exceptionally rare in Ireland, outside of city sites.

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What exists in the new premises is probably - I was never in the old Clocktower, so I'm guessing here - quite different to the old pub; in that its mostly a single big room with no bar/lounge separation. 

Beyond the building, nothing massively stands out here for me - its a very normal big suburban pub. Plenty of people have these pubs as their locals, and they are a critical part of the pub culture of Dublin  - I doubt I'll ever be back here, as I have no reason to; but there's no reason I'd not come back if I was nearby.

August 2024 Licence Update

Revenue have removed the .csv format of the licence update, so this took a while to do and could actually miss some minor changes... but it'll do

New:

1021189 Ruby Molly Hotel, Arran Street East - new hotel opened earlier in 2024

RetroReview: S0336 Johnnie Foxes

This is not the highest pub in Ireland. It is probably the highest pub in Dublin; but it gets away with stating it is "reputed" to be the highest pub whenever the statement can be legally challenged.

The pub is an incredible tourist trap, but I'd still consider it worth a visit - the interior is greebled to a ridiculous extent with proper antiques; there's a lot of archival materials on the walls about celeb visits, and the food I had was pretty decent - although I was not there when it was busy by any means whatsoever. And it was a decade ago.

S3208 Boomers

A decent pub with a terrible name - "boomer" isn't an insult for a generation here like it is in the US, mainly because we didn't have a baby boom at the same time; but we're all aware of it.

I visited the pub on the first day proper - the day after the opening ceremony basically - of the 2024 Olympics; which is apt as the bar has piles of memorabilia relating to their local Olympian, Kenny Egan, who won Silver in 2008. There's photos, gloves, and something that at first glance looks like a medal; but is not - its bronze-coloured, for starters. 

I should probably have asked the barman if he knew what it was, and if the gloves were from the actual Olympics fights come to think of it.

This is a big pub, with a large outdoor area and also a large lounge; neither of which I headed in to. I'm never a fan of betting machines in pubs, but I can easily ignore them in somewhere with a decent atmosphere and good staff like there were here.

Something interesting to me is that the pubs extremely neglected Twitter page has a header photo featuring some of the great artwork on old Trouble Brewing bottles - I like their current can artwork too; but miss the old designs - and the naming scheme that implied various types of trouble too.

Revisited pubs July 2024

(note: I did not revisit any pubs in June, or more accurately, did not drink in any - I ate in 1003309 Hogs & Heifers though)

S0115 The Bankers - a rapid reoccurance here - I had to pick a (sonically) quiet-ish, city centre pub to meet someone in

S0106 Tapped - for the first time since its rebrand, albeit I was actually in Hartys, for the first time since its own rebrand. The roof leaked.

N0097 Underdog - days late for its 7th birthday

(I also revisited a pub in The Rosses, but I'm not going to make that summer series take over every regular feature)

RetroReview: S0237 Kodiak

This is going to be the most useless RetroReview ever; as not only was it a different operator and name - Copan - when I visited, I had a single pint early in the evening; in what was then very much a night venue.

Like a few other of the pre-2016 premises that are quite different to my usuals; I visited this one while doing the tech operations for an outside broadcast here, in late 2013. This was from 7-9, so I arrived at about 5:30 and had dinner and a pint before setup; and barely left the area around the front door of the pub the entire time

I really need to revisit, but as yet, haven't

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.