S3175 Mercantile Hotel

My first new bar in weeks - work night out. This is a sprawling enough complex of rooms in the hotel formerly called Adams Trinity Hotel and indeed still registered as such on the licence list, so it took me a while to get the licence number.

Its a bit dear, it got very crowded, but I've been in much worse venues for the size of group we had.

Residents Bars

I've only just noticed somehow that there are two categories of hotel licence on the register - public bars and residents bars. A premises with just the latter is not open to the public and hence isn't a pub; so I'm removing them from my list. Its not a huge reduction but improves any vague chance of completion as they would never have been possible - but it still leaves us with 1008 pubs!

The hotels were:

1001634 Maple Hotel, Gardiner Street
1006451 Phoenix Park Hotel, Parkgate Street
N0115 Dergvale Hotel, Gardiner Place
N1925 Hotel St. George, Parnell Square
N1986 Travelodge Castleknock
N2218 Lynams Hotel, O'Connell Street
N2241 Airport View, Coldwinters
N2600 Maldron Hotel, Smithfield
N2771 Metro Hotel, Ballymun
N3326 Ibis Hotel, Clondalkin
N3606 Roxford Lodge Hotel, Northumberland Road

January 2017 Licence Update

I didn't get to a single new pub in December, hence no updates. January's licence update has landed and continues to have many returnees from before the cutoff in November - of 74 additions, only 5 which weren't recent 'removals'

I realised that comparing a new month to my master list won't catch any which have actually been removed - as I'm not removing anything from November's expiration. So I'm now back-comparing with the previous month as well which is adding significantly to the time to do this. None were missed in December's update this way.

Additions:
S0040 MacTurcaills, Tara Street (currently closed)
S0270 O'Neills, Dun Laoghaire - I think I may have been here when it was Scotts
S0285 Ramblers Rest, Ballybrack
S4428 Beer Traders, Dun Laoghaire

Returns:
1010888 Shearys in Crumlin

Removals:
N0026 Jack Humphreys (Five Lamps) which has been closed for some time.

December 2016 licence update

Hefty licence file increase this month, but not back to the size of October so not a huge amount of additions:

1001897 - Charcoal/Bunker, Point Village (been here)
1006937 - "Unit R-A8 Block A Beacon South Quarter", also licencee listed as a receivers. Haven't got a clue!
1011787 - Salmon Leap, Leixlip (I had always assumed this had a Kildare licence like the hotels further down the Dublin Road, but clearly not)
1012141 - Holiday Inn Express, O'Connell Street
N0062 - Gallaghers/O'Brennans, Dominick Street
N1553 - Ploughmans (former Kinsealy Inn), Kinsealy
S0155 - Beach Tavern, Irishtown
S2517 - Kate McCauleys, Clanbrassil Street

N0007 Clearys

This was my second - and last - of the day and is another one near my current office. Very much a traditional Dublin pub and cheap to match.

The pub has a claimed link to Michael Collins and the interior is decorated suitably.

Has a regulars/locals feel to it, although its not somewhere I'd have any problem returning as an outsider.

1002557 North Star Hotel

I had a few hours between work ending and a dinner booking and decided I may as well start closing off the remaining pubs near my office. First up was the North Star on Amiens Street

My memory was that this was very run down once, but it definitely isn't now. Its a McGettigans Group premises now, with the hotel 4* and the bar quite fancy. The hotel has a huge extension under construction connected under the railway line at the moment.

The bar seems more geared towards food and a non-restaurant dining option for the hotel guests, but it'd suit anyone else looking for food. Pint range was normal enough for Dublin these days and prices were fairly standard as well.

Stats & Info Sources

As I've not been to any new pubs in a few weeks now, I thought I'd ramble on about some of my info sources and also give a stats update

As of the October 2016 licencing register + the additions from November, there are 1007 qualifying pubs in Dublin. I would estimate there are 50-100 more which are open and licenced but not on the register at the moment the export was done.

I have drunk in 157 of them to date, and 22 of those that I haven't are currently (or realistically permanently) closed.

Beyond the Revenue updates, I use a few sources of information to find out what premises have opened, closed or reopened

Publin reports on changes, mostly in the city centre but also in other parts of Dublin and is well worth following. Various historical articles have been invaluable.

Morrisseys' are a specialist licenced trade estate agent - a premises appearing for sale there is not necessarily closed, but Google will often indicate if it is. John P Younge also do this.

Lovindublin will report on rebrands and new openings if a bar is suitably fancy.

The Dublin City (and to a lesser extent, the regional county) forums on boards.ie as well as Beers & Wines & Spirits sometimes turn up something I've missed

Dying For A Pint is a very detailed (if slightly mental, in a good way) blog of pub killings in Ireland going back to Victorian times. It is useful for tracking name changes more than anything else - nothing causes a pub name to change quicker than a murder.

Askaboutireland's collection of scanned Thoms Directories has provided many closed premises and former names, or verification for info sourced elsewhere.

Various books including Frank McDonald's Saving The City