1018851 Merrion Hotel

The Merrion's main entrance features top-hatted doormen and feels rather imposing and off-putting to normal visitors; but if you walk past all of this; you will find a staircase down to a basement door at the end of the block. This brings you in to the Cellar Bar which, while still rather posh, is nowhere near as severe as up at the front.

I've now been to rather a lot of hotel bars - I'd guess at 100 - and generally know what to expect. I've even been to another hotel basement bar with vaulted ceilings; but the layout here is quite different even to that - there's multiple separate vaulted seating spaces, some quite cosy and almost like a snug in a conventional pub.

Another surprise was the tap list - there are 11 taps here; with 8 of them being Irish independent brewery product - Rascals, Sullivans, O Brother and two hotel branded beers of unknown source (Untapped suggests Sullivans supplied also). Looking at past check-ins on Untappd has shown some slight changes in what was on draught here, but sticking with Irish breweries to the fore

Another five star hotel had surprised me by calling out Rye River on their menus as one of their premium Irish food and drink suppliers; so my guess here is that the Merrion sees offering Irish beer (and whiskey - they had plenty of Irish on display too) as part of a similar offering. This is something more venues should do.

The bar isn't particularly dear, but you may need to arrange with the waiting staff for a table even at relatively quiet times - this is also one of the dining options for the hotel. Bar seating is available and there are even complimentary bar snacks. Certainly worth a look, and interesting as it is effectively a craft beer bar, but completely unlike every other one in Dublin.

S4583 The Grayson

This Press Up venue was a private members club (Residence), albeit one with a publicans licence for some reason - members clubs do not need pub licences; from 2008 to 2016; before briefly opening to the public under the same name.

It has since rebranded as The Grayson and advertises itself as a "Bar and Restaurant", albeit I struggled to find anywhere inside that wasn't a dining room space. It is also meant to be reservations essential; but a mid January weekend is not generally that busy anywhere; so a table was found for me in the ground floor dining room overlooking Stephens Green - a room with only 4 or 5 tables to begin with.

Food was fine, but very Press Up; as is the drinks list. The surroundings are quite different to some of the larger, newer structure Press Up places so may make it a bit more appealing but, it's still a Press Up cookie cutter experience otherwise. And my regular readers will know that that does not appeal to me.

Revisited Pubs March 2025

A sizeable list of revisits this month, and some odder pubs here, as I got back to more mobility and also had to go to some more far-flung parts of the county

N0304 Carnegie Court Hotel / K67, Swords - first time back here since January 2007. It has changed. A lot. 

N0006 Brew Dock, Amiens Street - dinner before a train

N0097 Underdog, Capel Street - while in the area for...

N1620 Boco, Bolton Street - meeting up with some people

N1127 O'Neills, Lucan - to figure out where the taxi rank I was going to had been relocated to 

N1129 Ball Alley House, Lucan - changing from the taxi back from a tick on to the (much cheaper) bus outside here, which left time for a pint

DG0493 The Coast, Skerries - only place showing the Brighton game in Skerries

DG0492 The Gladstone, Skerries - a brief half time check to see if anywhere else was.

April 2025 register update

Nothing.  

There's an update, it has some procedural stuff mostly still relating to the changes after Press Up renaming and sales, but nothing changing the map or my target list.

S1205 Harcourt Hotel

Harcourt Street is known for its hotel nightclubs. The Jackson Court is known for Coppers, the Russell Court for Diceys.

The Harcourt Hotel goes beyond this, with two nightclubs. The mainstream Dtwo, and the upmarket Black Door - so upmarket they wouldn't let me in for not having a collared shirt, albeit this was pre-pandemic - join two bars, the Harcourt Bar and the 1900 Bar in this hotel.

Having been refused entry to the premises before, and not dressed any differently this time; I decided to avoid the entrance, with its bouncer, and go in through the hotel lobby and ask where the bar is

I suspect this was not required, as I was going to the main bar door and not the Black Doors, erm, black door; but I've already written about hotel bars sometimes requiring subterfuge. It worked, and I was directed to the Harcourt Bar internally.

It's not particularly memorable; but this type of bar really isn't for me anyway.

The Incredible Moving Pub(s)

Pubs don't move. Except when they do.

There's been a run in recent months of pub operators moving to a new premises, leaving their old one rather than opening a second branch. There are also cases - recent and more historic - of both the operators and the name moving, or other cases where a pub can make some claim of it's own history on another site. 

The end-2024, early-2025 run of operator moves are interesting as they all involve relatively long moves, but still within the overall area you might consider the pubs traditional catchment.

In March/April 2024, the social media of the recently closed N1116 Clearys in Inchicore was renamed to Tom Tavey, as in N1124 Tom Tavey. This pub had been renamed to The Devils Cut, but had since closed down. And indeed, they are moving in here.

(it's important to note that my visits are points in time and I'm fairly certain that the operator of Clearys when I visited is not the same as those who have just moved to Tavey's - it is 6 years ago) 

Prior to that, the operators of N1195 Lanigans, the previous bar in the Clifton Court Hotel (but not the last one before it's most recent closure) moved in to 1014978 The Wild Duck on Sycamore Street, a return to pub operation closely awaited by some people I know.

Additionally, the operators of 1007228 The Clock took over the recently closed down S1472 Pifko/Pilsner Pub, but renamed it The Liffey Saint 

Clearys->Taveys and The Clock->The Liffey Saint are both ~400m moves; with Lanigans->The Wild Duck being more like 800m.

But what of a pub actually moving? Retaining its name, and potentially some of its atmosphere etc in the process. I've taken note over the years of a few examples, but these won't be comprehensive. And its all still subjective.

One clear example, and the only clear one still trading is the death of S0208 Bernard Shaw, and its resurrection in the up until then N2405 Racket Space, a premises with the same operator. The Racket Space name has been changed to refer to part of the venue only now. A number of these moves crossed the Liffey.

Another case, but one where the new location has since changed, is N2749 Cu Chulainns, Summerhill moving to 1002519 Cu Chulainns of Ongar in Ongar. This has been renamed twice and is now the Ongar House

In times before I have licence numbers, other known moves include the Barnstormers bikers bar moving from Townsend Street (pub since demolished) to Capel Street (now N0084 The Black Sheep); and the famed and ill-fated Irish House pub moving from Wood Quay (since very controversially  demolished) to Grove Road (also since demolished). I'm also aware of at least the name of the Steering Wheel, Bolton Street (since demolished) being moved to S2026 The Steering Wheel, Clondalkin.

There is an edge case amongst still open pubs - after the original John Clarkes in Irishtown (now S0160 Merry Cobbler) was liquidated, the Clarkes eventually took over a nearby pub which now trades as S0158 John Clarkes, and claims a founding date of 1932 - taken from the old pub.

1020014 The Dean Townhouse

My previous writuep covered a very large hotel bar on Harcourt Street. This covers probably the smallest.

The Dean Townhouse is a satellite annex to 1009296 The Dean, a place I've only ever reviewed abruptly and negatively (although I was back to it afterwards for a work event that was fine). 

Being physically disconnected from The Dean; the Dean Townhouse has it's own bar licence, its own bar and its own reception.

Or, realistically, its own bar-and-reception; for one staff member services both, which are co-located in a small space to the front of the hotel. Much of their tasks during my visit involved telling people with reservations for Sophies that it was actually in the main hotel, two doors down.

It's a nice, little, bar; but there is another space in the hotel you might drink in - it has an actually quite large (website claims 169 seated) function room in the basement with its own bar. There is the unfortunately limited drinks selection that all former Press Up (this being Dean Hotel Group now) properties have, though.