S1994 Killinarden House

We continue a series of pubs in what I can only really describe as "suburban Tallaght" here - in the overall, huge, area that people think of as Tallaght; but not in the village - where I ticked the pubs off ages ago.

Without attempting to rehash the history of Tallaght, much better documented elsewhere - with that blog having spawned a book which I've yet to find on-sale and may have trouble finding as it appears to be out of stock in many places - I've always found the rapid development of the housing areas around Tallaght to be very interesting. 

A primary reason for this is that my parents, in one of the many housing crises gone past, had their first home in one of the many poor ideas that get thrown around during a crisis - a trailer park - outside Tallaght village. They managed to sell the 'house' on before it rotted away, and I believe the site is now under the M50 interchange; but they were amongst the earliest of the tens of thousands of families that moved to Tallaght in the 70s and 80s.

I also worked in Tallaght and latterly Citywest for a good number of years, but relatively poor bus connections back then meant I never really went beyond the village. This has changed, and that is the main reason for this run - and a future run to come - of Tallaght area pub visits.

So, on to the pub - this was built in the late 70s as part of that rapid development; but unlike some of the Tallaght pubs, it isn't a giant barn. Instead it resembles the 50s and 60s suburban shopping district pubs that much of the rest of Dublin have; although the shop section of the site looks to have been redeveloped in the 00s with apartments above.

Inside, it is still a fairly big pub though; with the lounge having a view in to the kitchens and a stage for the various performances held here. There's a piano on that stage, a piano which at the time of my visit was being played / played with by a kid.

Normally, this would cause a discordant clanking enough to drive anyone out of a pub; but from what I could tell, the kid was watching a basic instructional video on YouTube while playing with the piano - result being something almost approaching music. Still not quite my idea of a relaxing setting for a pint though!