S2493 Speaker Connolly

This name feels odd to me, as there's a pub vastly nearer my house with basically the same name - Speakers Bar, named after William Connolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. That pub in is Celbridge, where Connolly's country estate - Castletown - is located. I'm not sure if there's a specific reason for the name here.

Built as Tallaghts environs expanded in the 80s, this was reported as being precisely over one mile (1.6km - this will be important later...) by road from the next nearest objecting pub - Delaneys Knocklyon Inn; one mile being the distance at which a new pub could be opened despite objections by other publicans under the licencing laws at the time. 

Two things are interesting about this - firstly, the now closed Firhouse Inn was closer, but they were not objecting - the Speaker Connolly being a joint venture between publicans including the owners of the Firhouse Inn. Secondly, despite the road changes since having made the distance between the pubs slightly longer than I believe it was originally, I am only meausring it at as being 1.2km!

A few writueps ago I mentioned my concern that a previous large suburban pub with a large carpark could be eyed up by a developer. Well, this is a large suburban pub with a large carpark; and it already has been - planning has been applied for twice here. 

The plans propose to keep the pub, which is often applied for but less often done; although in the south west of the city/county, this has actually happened more often than not; with the Traders in Greenhills being a recent example

The pub itself could do with a refurb if those development plans fail to come through, being a little run down; but it's clean and functional and there's plenty of space inside.